Louis Gerstner Quotations

This was a solid quarter, with earnings per share up 20 percent and an acceleration of revenue growth relative to the first half of the year,

On a positive note, our services business continued to overtake the Y2K pause that pressured the first half of the year, ... Our PC business rebounded strongly, with particularly good demand for our server and ThinkPad products. In addition, our business in Asia continued to grow strongly.

On the positive side, our services revenue grew by nearly $1 billion and this business made a major contribution to the company's earnings. Our software revenues showed good growth and the software gross margin improved for the fifth consecutive quarter,

Business conditions remain difficult as we enter the new year, although we believe that our business will strengthen as we move through the year,

From my perspective, it's a little too early to predict that what we're seeing is in fact a slowdown in any (national) economy, ... Having said that, if in fact (an economic slowdown) does happen, I think what you'll see is a reallocation of technology spending dollars, not a diminution.

we are facing a number of significant short-term issues, including an uncertain global economic environment, ongoing weakness in some parts of Asia and Latin America, and continued price pressures in semi conductors.

I think the visit is very important...very important for China and very important for the United States,

Our second-quarter results are right in line with our expectations and with the view we've been expressing since last October, ... Essentially, we've had three quarters of slow revenue growth, driven by a combination of the Y2K slowdown and a series of actions we've taken to improve our business portfolio. During that time, however, we have been able to produce satisfactory earnings growth.

Results from these areas more than offset revenue declines in some other segments, most notably our consumer PC business

Looking forward, we continue to believe that 2000 will be a good year for IBM,

Looking forward, we believe we will continue to feel the effects of the Y2K slowdown in the fourth quarter and into early next year, ... Next year has the potential to be a very good year for IBM, once we get past any lingering Y2K effects.

I would admit to you that we could take some credit, but there's a fair amount of luck in that too,

We would like to have seen more revenue in the quarter, but we were held back by three items, ... First, demand for our microelectronics products -- from both outside customers and internal IBM customers -- far outstripped our ability to supply components. Second, the upcoming release of our new high-end server slowed demand for the System/390 family of servers. Finally, parts of our software business slowed unexpectedly in September.

These results show the ongoing strength of our broad business portfolio, ... We saw very good customer response to our new System/390 servers and continuing strength in services and hard disk drives.

As we enter the next phase of IBM's transformation, we need a new organizational approach that will strengthen our focus on both day-to-day marketplace results and future growth opportunities, ... I believe this new structure is the best way to accomplish these goals, under the leadership of two of IBM's most experienced and capable executives.

The next thing is: we can make IBM even better, ... We brought IBM back but we're gunning for leadership.

Services is clearly the largest and fastest-growing portion of the information technology industry, and we continue to extend our leadership position each quarter, ... Our software business continues to gain momentum.

In 2001, the company faces concerns that economic softness in the United States could worsen and expand into non-U.S. markets, ... Increasingly aggressive price competition and the potential effects of ongoing adverse currency movements are other areas of volatility.

In each instance, Sam has done far more than manage operations effectively, ... He has made it both his personal mission and that of IBM to become the number one competitor in each of these markets. Sam's unique mix of strategic vision, passion and discipline, combined with his intimate understanding of IBM, make him the right person to become IBM's next CEO.