IT Winners and Losers: Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Facebook Up; Bill Gates and Apple (Stock) Down
Winners this week included a Web 2.0 Wal-Mart, a SaaSy Microsoft and a grown-up Facebook. Losers? Apple shareholders, Credit Suisse IT and computer science graduation rates.
CIO — Which tech vendor had a week to remember—and which had one to forget? Which IT department needs a "do over," and which exec should be looking for a new job? On Fridays, we chronicle what went right and what went wrong in the IT world during the past week.
WINNER: "Web 2.0" Wal-Mart
An article published this week noted the quiet launch of an authentic, interesting and (relatively) unfiltered blog by Wal-Mart's merchandise buyers. Called Check Out, the site launched during the 2007 holiday shopping season and has "become a forum for unvarnished rants about gadgets, raves about new video games and advice on selecting environmentally sustainable food," the article stated. CIO's October 2007 article on Wal-Mart noted that the world's number-one retailer had faltered in the Web 2.0 world (with some infamous efforts) and struggled with new online customer service initiatives. But in 2007, execs seemed to get "religion" on what they should be doing and contracted with social networking consultancy Bazaarvoice. This type of innovation was a long time coming for the retailer, but score one for Wal-Mart.
WINNER: Microsoft
Microsoft delivered another important and telling announcement on Monday: The world's biggest software company will begin offering online software services (as opposed to just on-premise software) to "businesses of all sizes" by the end of 2008. The "software plus services" strategy, as Microsoft terms it, has been a long time coming. The acceleration of Microsoft's software-as-a-service play shows that it's finally accepted the power and inevitability of the cloud—and also reveals just how big a threat Google really is—though Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates would surely disagree. In a quote for the ages this week, Gates said, in reference to Google's buzz-worthy product announcements, "to be frank, the day they announce them is their best day."
LOSER: Bill Gates
Speaking of Gates...the former richest person in the world is now just the third richest person in the world. Gates had held Forbes magazine's "world's richest person" title for an incredible 13 years. Supplanting him at the top is his good friend and investor extraordinaire Warren Buffet, with an estimated $62 billion fortune. In second place is the richest-guy-you've-never-heard-of: Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican communications industry honcho, at $60 billion. Poor 'ole Gates was valued at a paltry $58 billion. Sorry, Bill.
WINNER: Facebook
On Tuesday, boy wonder and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (worth a respectable $1.5 billion on the Forbes list) announced the hiring of a COO. Zuckerberg was able to pry Sheryl Sandberg away from Google (a rare occurrence), where she was the VP for global online sales and operations. (The news sent Google's shares down 4.2 percent, to a 52-week low.) Sandberg had joined Google in 2001 and championed its AdWords and AdSense programs, which accounted for the overwhelming majority of Google's $16.6 billion in revenues in 2007, according to a New York Times article. Now a multimillionaire, Sandberg will have a hand in shaping Facebook's future and helping Zuckerberg figure out how FB will make money. Bet she's got a lot more "friends" now.
