Hoping to breathe new life into business-to-business (B2B) software
supplier Ariba, the company announced on 30 April that it has
promoted Larry Mueller to chief executive officer (CEO).
Formerly president and chief operating officer, Mueller was tipped
to head the B2B prodigy's comeback following disappointing
first-quarter earnings, redundancies and the failed US$2.55bn
(£1.79bn) acquisition of Agile Software, which the company has
blamed on a choppy US economy.
Mueller replaces Keith Krach as CEO. Krach will continue as company
chairman.
Mueller, 48, joined Ariba in October 1999 after stints as president
and CEO of 3D-modeling company Imageware, executive vice-president
for financial software company JD Edwards, and a decade of
management positions at IBM.
At Ariba, Mueller has been responsible for championing client
cost-savings while growing the business, the company said in a
statement.
Mueller has also been awarded a place on the company's board of
directors, along with Softbank president and CEO Masayoshi Son, who
replaces board member John Mumford, founder of Crosspoint.
According to Ariba, Mumford left to concentrate on his
entrepreneurial endeavors.
Mueller's promotion is one of a number of staff changes the company
has undergone recently in an effort to strengthen its position in
the volatile technology market.
Following the announcement of Mueller's promotion, the company's
stock (ARBA) was up 4.87% to $7.75 in mid-morning trading on 30
April.