Dell CFO Tom Sweet. Image: Dell Technologies
The company posted record revenue for its latest fiscal year, but warned that cautious customer spending will make the upcoming year ‘challenging’.
Dell Technologies CFO and executive VP Tom Sweet is retiring from the company after nearly 26 years of service.
Sweet plans to retire at the end of the company’s second fiscal quarter, after which time Yvonne McGill will take over the position.
Dell said Sweet and McGill will work closely together over the next two quarters to ensure a “seamless transition”.
Sweet first joined Dell in 1997 as a finance director for the company’s education sales segment. Prior to this, he had experience as an accounting and finance VP with Telos, along with various positions in PwC.
He has had multiple leadership roles within the company, including business unit CFO, chief accounting officer and internal audit VP.
Sweet has been Dell’s CFO since 2014, during which time he oversaw all aspects of the company’s finances including accounting, planning, analysis, tax, investor relations and corporate strategy.
He has been with the company during key events in recent years, such as its massive $67bn takeover of EMC in 2016 that saw Dell also acquire VMware.
McGill has also been with Dell for nearly 26 years and is currently the corporate controller within the company. She also oversees the vision, strategy and overall performance of Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group.
Challenges ahead
Meanwhile, Dell managed to beat analyst expectations in its latest earnings report, but has seen a stock price drop as it gave a cautious outlook for the year ahead.
The company has felt the slump in PC sales since last year and has been taking cost-cutting measures as a result. Last month, Dell revealed plans to eliminate around 6,650 jobs, or roughly 5pc of its total workforce worldwide.
Despite this slump, Dell posted a new record in full year revenue, though its growth has slowed down like many other tech companies.
For the company’s fiscal 2023 year ended 3 February, Dell reported revenue of $102.3bn, up by 1pc compared to the previous year. But Dell’s fourth quarter revenue was down by 11pc, reaching $25bn.
In an earnings call, Dell co-chief operating officer Chuck Whitten warned that the “broad caution in the IT spending environment” continues, as “customers continue to scrutinise every dollar in the current macro environment”.
“Though Q4 was a very good storage demand quarter, we saw lengthening sales cycles and more cautious storage spending with strength in very large customers, offset by declines in medium and small business,” Whitten said.
“Given that backdrop, we expect at least the early part of [the next fiscal year] to remain challenging.”
10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.
