FireEye parts ways with EMEA boss Turner - sources
Richard Turner's rumoured departure comes after anti-malware vendor announced it was cutting headcount by nine per cent
FireEye has parted company with its EMEA president Richard Turner, multiple sources have told CRN.
The anti-malware vendor, which installed a new CEO in May, earlier this month announced that it is cutting nine per cent of its 3,400 workers to shave $20m (£15m) off its cost base.
On a Q2 conference call, new broom Kevin Mandia revealed the NASDAQ-listed vendor is enlisting a new head of worldwide sales and a "new leader" in EMEA.
Turner's rumoured departure is believed to have been announced internally and FireEye confirmed in a statement to CRN that it is looking to recruit a new EMEA sales head.
FireEye generated just 31 per cent of its sales from outside the US in its Q2 ending 30 June. EMEA was the only region not to see sequential growth.
In a statement FireEye said: "Over the past few months, we've been fine-tuning our strategy to adapt to a changing threat landscape and focus on the big opportunities that lie ahead. This includes continued development of our next-generation end-point offering, sales of which increased more than 65 per cent over the course of the last year.
"We are looking forward to bringing in a new head of sales for EMEA to capitalise on our competitive advantages. This will help reinvigorate our growth and focus on profitability."
FireEye was the toast of the industry at the time of its September 2013 IPO, but since then its share price has bombed and partners say its virtual machine-based security technology has not always been an easy sale in Europe.
One UK partner, who wished to remain anonymous, said FireEye had "never really got going internationally" because it "didn't understand the channel".
"There was an enormous volume of proof of concepts coming out, but by the time budgets came things like WildFire [from Palo Alto Networks] had come out and that slowed them down."
"We are now seeing some large deals but absolutely no run rate, as they didn't engage the channel. The end-user pricing was set by the reps and they set stupid prices to close the deals, so no-one in the channel made any money. Partners were therefore minded to say 'if you're using FireEye, Palo Alto and Fortinet do this as well'."
Rob Swainson, sales director at Blue Cube, a former FireEye partner, said the security VAR now partners with LastLine in the advanced persistent threat space.
"It has been two or three years since we worked with FireEye. LastLine has good technology and I think it is priced in a more competitive way," he said.
Mandia argued on the Q2 conference call - a transcript of which can be found here - that FireEye's products are becoming better suited to resellers. On this front he highlighted MVX detection in the cloud, an offering designed to help FireEye reach small, more price-sensitive customers that is slated for general availability in Q4.
Turner (pictured), a former CEO of Clearswift, joined FireEye two years ago. His rumoured departure comes hot on the heels of the arrival of a new northern Europe vice president in the form of Adam Bangle, who joined in May from Splunk. Some are now tipping him for the EMEA top job.