Kertzman moves to Oracle

Mitchell Kertzman, chairman of Sybase, has defected to rival Oracle despite making assurances just two months ago that he would continue to lead the database software vendor.

Kertzman was named president and chief executive officer of Oracle software spin-off, Network Computer Inc (NCI), on 4 November. His former position will be taken over by John Chen, currently chief executive office at Sybase.

Kertzman had already stepped down as chief executive in September, following a seven-month management transition. This was a result of financial problems at the beginning of the year when Sybase laid off 600 employees and took a $70 million restructuring charge after posting a loss of $55 million for 1997 (PC Dealer, 30 September).

Colin Tenwick, UK managing director of Sybase, played down Kertzman's move, claiming it was 'no great surprise' and Chen's succession had been on the cards for some time.

He also dismissed suggestions of increased competition from the Oracle spin-off: 'NCI is a separate company and it operates in a separate part of the market.'

George O'Conner, research analyst at Granville Davis, said: 'It's a logical move because Oracle is the strongest player in the market. There is little loyalty in database companies.'

NCI's biggest shareholders are Oracle and Netscape. It was originally set up to develop software for network computers.

Kertzman had played a key part in reorganising Sybase to make the vendor profitable after its share price hit a six-year low of $8.88 earlier this year.