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06.26.20

Mixed Loyalties, Including to a Surveillance Industry

Posted in Finance, IBM, Red Hat at 3:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

…And not just Red Hat’s ties to the NSA (and IBM’s)

AltaVista Cormier
From “AltaVista–Almost Google“

Summary: Having cashed in on $27,325,797 worth of Cloudera shares while still sitting on the board of Cloudera and its NSA assets, in addition to a position in SolarWinds Corp (proprietary software), Red Hat’s CEO is a rich man; the question is, how loyal is he to Free software and Red Hat’s goals?

THE new CEO of Red Hat is a technical and seemingly decent/modest man. I was personally relieved what they announced he had been appointed CEO, having followed him since his earlier days at Red Hat. The only thing or the main thing that gives me discomfort is his Cloudera and Hortonworks role (they merged amid troubles). Based on public information, more than a month after he became Red Hat’s CEO he is still involved in that:

Cormier shares

As noted above and elsewhere, he’s still on the board of an NSA-connected company and a Board Member of SolarWinds Corp (proprietary software), which describes him as having “served on our board of directors since October 2018. Mr. Cormier previously served on our board of directors from July 2014 until the Take Private. Mr. Cormier has served as President, Products and Technologies of Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) since April 2008 and as Executive Vice President of Red Hat since May 2001.” A page last updated a week ago says: “The estimated Net Worth of Paul J Cormier is at least $28.5 Million dollars as of 15 June 2020. Mr. Cormier owns over 40,140 units of Cloudera stock worth over $912,561 and over the last 13 years he sold CLDR stock worth over $27,325,797. In addition, he makes $285,002 as Independent Director at Cloudera.”

Maybe the solution to all this is simple; as Red Hat’s CEO under IBM’s leadership (the IBM Board) he should leave those other companies — and boards — behind. Too many companies out there have mixed loyalties; board members are members in many different corporations, so there’s no true dedication to any one in particular. Board members of IBM can still recall that Microsoft got 'the big break' only because of the mother of Bill Gates. █

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