Symantec fires CEO

Symantec has sacked CEO and president Enrique Salem in a bid to buck falling revenues, replacing him with chairman Steve Bennett.

Outgoing CEO and president Enrique Salem.

Bennett joined Symantec's board of directors in February 2010 and became chairman of in 2011. He was previously president and chief executive officer of Intuit for seven years.

Bennett said that although progress had been made over the last three years in many areas, it was the board's judgment that it was in the best interests of Symantec to make a change to the CEO.

“Enrique Salem has been a significant contributor during his 19 years' associated with Symantec, including the last three years as CEO," he said.

"My view is that Symantec's assets are strong and yet the company is underperforming against the opportunity.

“I'm looking forward to working with the team to build upon the significant assets in place to help Symantec accelerate value creation for all of its stakeholders.”

Salem's departure follows the exit of Australian director Craig Scroggie in May.

Dan Schulman, who was appointed as lead independent director by Symantec, said that the board's decision was not based on any particular event or impropriety but was instead made after ongoing consideration.

“We are fortunate as a board to be able to name Steve as CEO and achieve continuity in leadership," Schulman said.

"Steve understands the company well, had a great track record at Intuit and General Electric and is a perfect fit for moving the company forward.”

This article originally appeared at scmagazineuk.com