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Szulik Relinquishes Red Hat CEO Slot

Exec drops bombshell during earnings call; cites family health issues.

In a move that shocked open source watchers, Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik said Friday that he is leaving his post. The company named Jim Whitehurst as new president and CEO.

The bombshell was dropped during the company's earnings call Friday.

Szulick cited family health issues. He will remain chairman of the Raleigh, N.C.-based company.

Whitehurst was COO of Delta and also spent time at Boston Consulting.

Szulik posted a statement about his decision on Red Hat's Web site.

Red Hat fields arguably the largest and most mainstream Linux distribution which has found favor in some corporate accounts. Since its acquisition last year of JBoss, it also backs that popular open-source Web server and related middleware as well.

About the Author

Barbara Darrow is Industry Editor for Redmond Developer News, Redmond magazine and Redmond Channel Partner. She has covered technology and business issues for 20 years.

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