One handheld maker shored up its leadership front while another lost one of
its top executives Thursday. Handspring Inc.’s
Chief Financial Officer Bern Whitney resigned Thursday
for personal reasons.
Whitney’s resignation will become effective on July 1, when Handspring completes its fiscal year. In the meantime, the Mountain
View, Calif. company retained executive recruiting firm Spencer Stuart
to find a new CFO.
Handspring Chief Executive Officer and President Donna Dubinsky spoke
glowingly about Whitney in a public statement: “He joined
Handspring as an early employee, helped guide the company through our
initial public offering, put in place the infrastructure
needed for a fast moving technology company, and brought strong financial
management to our business operations. Bern’s involvement
with Handspring through the end of this quarter will ensure a smooth
transition and support our efforts to launch a number of new
products, including three new additions to our Treo communicator product
family.”
The move comes just hours after cross-town rival Palm Inc. anchored its chief operating officer, Todd Bradley,
to the position of president of Palm’s hardware division.
Like most hardware makers, Handspring saw its sales dip in 2001. In April,
the firm said it is selling fewer Visor handheld
computers at lower prices, yielding more than half the sales from a year
ago.
For the quarter ended March 30, Handspring lost $23.7 million, or 18 cents a
share, on $59.7 million in revenue. A year ago,
Handspring lost $27.2 million, or 26 cents per share, on sales of $123.8
million. Analysts surveyed by First Call expected a loss, excluding one-time charges, of
12 cents per share on revenue of $64.6 million, but Handspring lost more —
$19.2 million, or 14 cents per share.