E-BIZ BRASS COMPANY IBM Corp., Chairman and CEO AGE 57 ADDRESSwww.ibm.com/lvg BIO He's been credited with pulling IBM out of an $8 billion hole and putting it $6
billion in the black. But Lou Gerstner's best trick has been to turn staid Big
Blue into a giant, cutting-edge e-commerce and computer-services company. With
almost every corporation wanting a play in cyberspace, IBM is sitting in the
sweet spot; clients include Monsanto and Charles Schwab. Gerstner delivered a 21%
increase in global services revenue for 1998 and an additional 19% jump ($15.5
billion) in this year's first half. And the stock, up 1,200% since Gerstner took
the reins in 1993, has never been stronger.
BEST LINE "The greatest value being created by networking technology is not
these new 'dot-com' Internet companies ... The storm that's arriving--the real
disturbance in the force--is when thousands of institutions seize the power of
global computing and communications infrastructure and use it to transform
themselves. That's the real revolution."
FORWARD TILT As it strives to become everybody's e-business adviser, IBM faces
tough competition from new players like Intel Corp. and old consulting stalwarts
McKinsey (where Gerstner worked as a director for 13 years) and Andersen
Consulting. And things are heating up on the hardware side. Earlier this year IBM
struck a deal with Nintendo to build the brains of the video-game company's
next-generation console, which will go head to head with Sony's next PlayStation.
Now that's hip.
