Five companies that foundered when their figurehead left

As ConnectWise bids farewell to CEO Arnie Bellini, we run down the times companies have stumbled once their leaders leave

The news last month that ConnectWise CEO and founder Arnie Bellini had sold the company to private equity firm Thoma Brava caught many in the channel off-guard, with partners believing it to have been one of the vendors least likely to sell up.

Bellini has been the face of the company since he established it with his brother in 1982. He is stepping down from his CEO role, to be replaced by COO Jason Magee.

History has shown time and again that companies can struggle when a talismanic CEO departs, and Magee might find it a tough battle to establish himself as leader of a company that has become synonymous with Bellini.

We run through five companies that foundered in the years after their leading lights left.

Microsoft - Bill Gates

Gates co-founded what would become Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. He led the company to great success, establishing the company's trademark Windows operating system and Office products.

Though the company was found to have anti-competitive practices in a US court case in 2000, that did little to affect Gates' (pictured below) reputation as a genuine innovator.

Gates' name became (and continues to be) synonymous with Microsoft, and though he stepped down as CEO in 2000, he continued to have a hand in the day-to-day running of the business as executive chairman, as well as the self-made role of chief security architect.

His successor Steve Ballmer - who joined Microsoft in 1980 as its 30^th employee - struggled to steer innovation during his 14-year stint as chief exec.

He oversaw some of the company's biggest flops, such as the much-maligned Windows Vista operating system, the late-to-the-market Zune which was supposed to be a rival to the already well-established Apple iPod, and the Windows Mobile phone which was criticised for not having enough apps in its store.

Ballmer became famous for his on-stage antics at events and for laughing at the just-launched Apple iPhone. "That is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn't appeal to business because it doesn't have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good email machine," he said at the time.

Ballmer headed the company from 2000 to 2014, and in that time the company's share price hovered between $20 (£15.35) and $30 - half of what it was at the end of Gates' tenure as CEO.

However, he did see the advantages of early investment in the cloud. He allowed Satya Nadella, then head of the organisation's cloud division, the necessary resources to grow the business.

Nadella took over from Ballmer in 2014, at the same time as Gates stepped into a non-executive chairman role, removing himself from the daily goings-on in the company.

Microsoft has since experienced its second wind under Nadella's leadership, becoming a cloud leader and one of the most innovative companies in the world.

Five companies that foundered when their figurehead left

As ConnectWise bids farewell to CEO Arnie Bellini, we run down the times companies have stumbled once their leaders leave

Steve Jobs - Apple

The story of Apple is one of the most famous in recent corporate history and has spawned two movies.

Founded by Steve Jobs (pictured below) and Steve Wozniak in Jobs' garage in 1976, Apple saw interest from a number of investors straight away. Jobs became the face of the company, but never actually held the CEO role in its early years. He constantly clashed with his colleagues and management, before a failed boardroom coup saw him ejected from the company in 1985.

Apple, which had seen success with its Macintosh computer, declined gradually over the next decade, under a series of different CEOs. Jobs went on to found another company called Next, which made high-end computers for universities, as well as buying animation studio Pixar for $10m.

By 1996, Apple was in major financial trouble after a series of products that failed to take market share away from dominant rivals Microsoft and IBM. It bought Next for $430m and took on Jobs as an adviser.

A year later, Jobs was appointed interim CEO, a role that would become permanent two years later. In 1998, Apple launched the colourful iMac desktop PC, which helped turn the struggling company's fortunes around. In 2001, the company revolutionised music with its iPod MP3 player and Music Store, which allowed consumers to download music legally. This was followed by innovative PCs, desktops and, of course, the iPhone.

Jobs headed Apple until August 2011, when continuing ill health caused him to retire. He died two months later.

Current CEO Tim Cook replaced Jobs and has overseen the company's growth to become the first publicly listed company to be valued at $1tn last year.

Five companies that foundered when their figurehead left

As ConnectWise bids farewell to CEO Arnie Bellini, we run down the times companies have stumbled once their leaders leave

Mark Hurd - Hewlett-Packard (HP)

Hurd took over from Carly Fiorina, who struggled for years with disappointing earnings reports and a controversial merger between HP and Compaq valued at $25bn at the time.

Hurd (pictured right) took the reins in 2005 and immediately started a process of aggressive cost-cutting, including guillotining nearly 10,000 jobs globally. The following year, HP launched a number of new products, including PCs and notebooks, and grew its market share in inkjet and laser printers significantly.

The company's stock price more than doubled during Hurd's first year, with the company smashing the $100bn revenue barrier for the first time in 2007. He managed to succeed where his predecessor failed in successfully combining HP and Compaq.

Hurd was riding high as HP's golden boy until a sexual harassment allegation by a HP contractor (of which an internal investigation found him not guilty) brought some creative expense reports to light and he was forced to resign in 2010.

His sudden departure led HP's share price and investor confidence to fall.

He was replaced by ex-SAP CEO Léo Apotheker in 2010, who lasted just under a year in the role before being ousted for failing to execute on his strategy to move focus away from hardware and into software services, as well as missing earnings.

Meg Whitman succeeded Apotheke, overseeing the successful division of HP and its enterprise products and services business HPE into separate publicly traded entities in 2015.

The controversy didn't seem to do Hurd's career any harm either, as he joined Oracle after his departure from HP and is now co-CEO of the tech giant.

Five companies that foundered when their figurehead left

As ConnectWise bids farewell to CEO Arnie Bellini, we run down the times companies have stumbled once their leaders leave

Nokia - Jorma Ollila

Ollila was head of the Finnish firm's mobile phone business before being promoted to chief executive in 1992. Prior to his appointment, the company had sold off a number of business units it didn't deem necessary for its strategy, including a tyre producer and a rubber factory. It was also operating during one of the worst recessions in Finland's history, as well as losing a major customer after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Ollila (pictured below) had earlier advised against selling off the company's mobile phone unit, and when he became CEO undertook the task of turning Nokia into a telecoms firm.

His strategy paid off as Nokia became the definitive mobile phone brand of the late 90s and early 00s, beating rival Motorola to become the best-selling mobile phone brand.

Part of its success over the likes of Motorola, Siemens and Ericsson was that it catered its phone designs to a fashion-conscious youth market that could customise the phone covers.

In 1998, Nokia hit revenue of $20bn, sold its one hundred millionth mobile phone and held 30 per cent of the mobile phone market. Later, it became one of the first brands to incorporate cameras into their phones.

Ollila retired as CEO in 2006 and was replaced by Nokia's COO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who was soon challenged to lead the company through a huge disruption in the mobile space.

Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 and Kallasvuo struggled to guide the company in the smartphone era - even a partnership with Microsoft for the Windows phone failed to boost interest.

In 2014, Nokia began a second life as a networking firm after selling off its mobile and devices business the previous year.

Five companies that foundered when their figurehead left

As ConnectWise bids farewell to CEO Arnie Bellini, we run down the times companies have stumbled once their leaders leave

Dell - Michael Dell

The founder of Dell held the position of CEO from the day he founded the company in his university dorm room in 1984.

In 2004, Michael Dell (pictured below) announced that he would be stepping back into a chairman role, with then CFO Kevin Rollins taking on the chief exec mantle.

Rollins then presided over a turbulent period in the tech giant's history, as its dominance in the affordable PC market became eroded by the likes of Acer and HP.

The company's dependence on that market and failure to diversify its portfolio at the time led to slow sales growth for Dell.

By 2007, Rollins was shown the door for underwhelming financial results, and Michael Dell came back to steer the company out of troubled waters.

He took drastic action, closing down manufacturing plants and axing thousands of jobs.

In 2013, he joined with Silverlake Partners to take the organisation private. This proved to be a canny move, as the company bought storage giant EMC for $67bn in 2016, and it is now a market leader across servers and storage.

Dell also instigated and negotiated the company's recent return to the stock market.