After seven years of struggle, James Unruh, chairman and chief executive officer of Unisys Corp told the company’s board that he’d had enough yesterday, handing in his resignation. Unruh will stay on as chief executive until a successor is found and will help to choose his replacement. He will continue on as chairman until the company’s next annual meeting in April 1998. The board of directors put a brave face on the decision. Under Jim’s leadership we have transformed and repositioned Unisys from a mainframe company into a balanced business, said the official statement. Through a difficult and wrenching period, Jim has achieved much. But when Burroughs Corp and Sperry Corp merged back in 1986 to form Unisys, there were promises of a $60m turnover company that never materialized. After numerous re- structuring and layoffs, the combined company ended up smaller than its original individual parts. Unruh took over at Unisys from Michael Blumenthal in 1990 (CI No 1,410), and was faced with huge debts. In two years he had stemmed the losses. But them the mainframe business disappeared faster than anticipated, leaving a hole that could not be filled by mid-range open systems boxes or services. Unruh says that steadily improving results over the last six quarters makes him confident that the company will see quarterly year-over-year financial progress and full-year profitability in 1997.
