By Don Clark
John Akers, who led International Business Machines Corp. as its
longtime dominance of the computer industry began to wane, died
Friday. He was 79 years old.
The former fighter pilot served as IBM's chief executive from
1985 to 1993, a time characterized by the rising influence of
personal computers and suppliers for those machines, such as
Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp.
Businesses in the 1950s began relying on large mainframe
computers from IBM to handle back-office operations. But companies
began shifting jobs to other machines, including minicomputers and
later PCs
IBM branched into other computers and built its own successful
PC business. But the company lost control of that market as rivals
began to sell clone machines that emulated the circuitry of the IBM
PC. The company's later attempt to reassert its influence failed,
as Microsoft's Windows software rose to dominance and IBM's OS/2
software failed to gain traction.
Mr. Akers joined IBM in 1960 and rose through its sales ranks.
Four years later, the company released a machine called the
System/360 that far outdistanced the products of other large
computer makers of that era.
The company, in a statement on its website over the weekend,
noted that Mr. Akers received 16 promotions in a span of 23 years.
He was also well known for hewing to the classic IBM uniform of
blue suits, white shirts and striped ties. "We were very square,"
the company quoted him as saying in a 2010 interview.
As IBM's mainframe sales tanked in the 1980s, Mr. Akers ordered
reorganizations and job cuts. During his tenure, IBM posted its
first operating loss and recorded more than $15 billion in
charges.
Mr. Akers later resigned under pressure. In search of
more-dramatic action, IBM's board named Louis Gerstner Jr. of RJR
Nabisco Holdings Corp., to succeed him.
Mr. Gerstner delivered big changes, including plant closings and
a shift away from hardware and toward software and services. The
company's stock price, which had slid to $40 a share in 1993, by
May 1997 had topped $175.
Mr. Akers was "the last of the Great Big Blue
Mohicans"--executives who respected the original IBM corporate
values such as respect for individual employees, said Bob
Djurdjevic, a market watcher who has tracked IBM since 1978.
He sometimes wrote critical articles about the IBM chief. "Akers
took it in stride. He was a gentleman," Mr. Djurdjevic wrote in an
email.
Sam Palmisano, who served as Mr. Akers's executive assistant and
succeeded Mr. Gerstner to become IBM's eighth CEO, described his
former boss as the ultimate company man. "People liked John Akers
because they knew he cared about them, as employees, as people and
as IBMers," Mr. Palmisano said in the IBM posting.
Mr. Akers died in Boston of a stroke, an IBM spokesman said by
email.
Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com
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