International Business Machines Inc. shares fell Friday after the company announced that Jim Whitehurst was stepping down as president.
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Whitehurst became IBM president in January 2020, the same time Arvind Krishna was appointed chief executive, after the company’s $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat, which closed in July 2019. Whitehurst had served as Red Hat’s CEO at the time of the deal.
In a statement, IBM’s Krishna did not give a reason for Whitehurst stepping down as president but said Whitehurst would continue on as a senior adviser. A successor to Whitehurst was not named.
Over the past 12 months, IBM shares have grown 17% while the Dow has advanced 35% and the S&P 500 index SPX,
