Belluzzo jumps heir-apparent seat

Belluzzo jumps heir-apparent seat

Chief of HP computer business takes Silicon Graphics CEO post as reorganization looms

The leader of HP’s computer business and the heir-apparent to the company’s CEO post left the company unexpectedly on January 22, heading for the top spot at Silicon Graphics.

Rick Belluzzo, who many said was first in line to assume the top post at HP whenever CEO Lew Platt retires, resigned from the company and left observers guessing at who might replace him.

The 42-year-old Belluzzo, whose responsibilities included every HP computer division including the HP 3000 group and its allied support operations, is more likely not to be replaced, according to sources in HP’s corporate offices.

Platt issued a statement that he would be assuming Belluzzo’s duties in the near term. Observers say the CEO is unlikely to replace him, and will instead opt for a reorganization of the company’s computer operations that would not put a single executive vice president in charge of $35 billion of HP’s yearly revenues.

Belluzzo, who departed a little more than two years after assuming his duties as HP’s Number Two executive, will be prompting the third reorganization of HP’s computer business. A May 1996 shuffle after Belluzzo was in place put the 3000 division in a special Commercial Systems Business Unit. Beluzzo directed another shift in June of last year that shortened the 3000 reporting chain to two executives between GM Harry Sterling and Platt. One of those executives was Belluzzo.

Belluzzo left a 22-year career with HP to take on the job of returning Silicon Graphics to profitability. It’s the second time an HP executive has taken the leadership for Silicon Graphics. Ed McCracken, the manager who many credit with the decision to bundle IMAGE with the HP 3000 in 1976, founded Silicon Graphics after he left HP. McCracken steps aside after 13 years of leading SGI.