Report: Maritz Out as VMware CEO, EMC’s Gelsinger In

According to a published report late on July 16, Paul Maritz is headed out the door after four years as CEO of VMware. He ostensibly will be replaced by EMC Chief Operations Officer Pat Gelsinger, a former 30-year veteran at Intel.

EMC is the parent company of virtualization software market king VMware, which it bought in 2003. VMware has operated as an independent entity — officially as a wholly owned subsidiary of EMC.

When contacted by eWEEK late July 16, representatives of VMware and EMC refused comment on the report. Maritz and Gelsinger both have been discussed as potential successors to EMC’s longtime President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Joe Tucci, 65.

Tucci told an interviewer a year ago that he would call it quits in 2012. However, Tucci told investors and analysts during the company’s quarterly earnings call in January that EMC’s board of directors had asked him to stay on into 2013.

“Besides, I’m having too much fun doing this job!” he said on the call.

If Maritz (pictured) indeed is leaving VMware, he exits with a clean record. Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware has been extremely successful during each of his four years, setting sales records each year and continuing to innovate into other IT sectors, such as cloud and mobility systems.

Maritz came to EMC, and later to VMware, via his startup, Pi, which EMC acquired in 2008. From 1986 to 2000 he worked at Microsoft, leaving as executive vice president of the Platforms Strategy and Developer Group and part of the five-person executive management team.

Maritz was often considered as the company’s No. 3-ranked executive behind founder/Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer. Maritz was the executive responsible for supervising most of Microsoft€™s desktop and server software, including such major initiatives as the development of Windows 95, Windows NT and Internet Explorer.