Rollins Out As Dell CEO; Michael Dell Assumes Role

Kevin Rollins has quit abruptly as Dell CEO, and company chairman and founder Michael Dell is taking over the chief executive post, the computer hardware giant said Wednesday.

The move goes into effect immediately, the Round Rock, Texas-based company said. Rollins is the second high-ranking Dell executive to quit in recent weeks, following the departure of former CFO James Schneider.

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"Mr. Rollins has resigned, effective immediately, from his position as CEO and as a member of the board of directors," Dell said in a statement.

"Kevin has been a great business partner and friend," Michael Dell said in the company statement. "He has made significant contributions to our business over the past 10 years. I wish him much success in the future."

Rollins' exit comes four months after Michael Dell gave his then-CEO a public vote of confidence.

"I think Kevin Rollins is an outstanding executive," Dell said at a company presentation for media in September. "Characterizations of the company's challenges being only of Kevin's doing are inaccurate. Kevin and I run the business together. If you want to blame somebody, you can blame me, too."

In the company's statement on Wednesday, not only was the Dell board not blaming Michael Dell, but it also said it was turning to him to pull the company out of the mire of more than a year of one disappointment after another.

In the statement, Sam Nunn, the former U.S. senator from Georgia and current Dell director, said company is looking to its founder.

"The board believes that Michael's vision and leadership are critical to building Dell's leadership in the technology industry for the long term," Nunn said. "There is no better person in the world to run Dell at this time than the man who created the direct model and who has built this company over the last 23 years."

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