The problem that I think brought us to this point was a philosophy of financial management. Walker is a chartered accountant as are CFO Paul Harrison and as Paul Stobart, CEO of Sage's United Kingdom and Ireland operations. They represent half of the Sage Group’s six executive directors. And if you think accountants are conservative, then you probably aren’t surprised at Sage’s single-minded focus on margins. I thought Sage should have pumped more of that money back into R&D for strategic advantage. It didn’t. I remember when Microsoft Business Solutions was losing money and Doug Burgum was in charge, he said MBS was making strategic investments and the competition would have to do the same thing later, but would have trouble catching up. He was right. Wasn't there a previously unknown Paul Simon number, "Paul Walker, Sage, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne"?
WALKER LEAVING SAGE
There shouldn’t be too many people in the Sage world who don’t know that Sage Group announced earlier this week that Paul Walker will be leaving after 26 years with the company and 16 years as chief executive. That would seem to signal a change in direction. What change? I don’t think any of us know the secrets of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, home of the mother ship for Sage North America. His departure, which seems contingent on finding a replacement, came after last week’s speculation by CitiGroup analysts that the healthcare group is ripe for being sold off. I continue to read their remarks as applying to healthcare, not the whole company.
