The thorny question of the succession to Ken Olsen, 65-year-old head of Digital Equipment Corp is raised by the Wall Street Journal, which concludes that he will stick around at least until the launch of the Alpha RISC successor processor for the VAX and Unix lines: Olsen told the paper I’m not going to crown anyone – there’s no need to discuss succession when the chief executive is young and healthy, adding that while the post is the prerogative of the board, if he found any of them talking to the press about it, he’d fire them – something he is legally not able to do; Olsen also dismisses speculation that senior vice-president John Smith will be appointed chief operating officer by saying that the company might do that, but it would only reflect what Smith is already doing at DEC.
