By Colin Kellaher
Louis Gerstner, the former International Business Machines chairman and chief executive who engineered a turnaround at the then-struggling computer giant in the 1990s, has died at age 83.
Gerstner, who led IBM from 1993 to 2002, died Saturday, according to the Armonk, N.Y., company.
Gerstner joined IBM from RJR Nabisco in 1993 to rescue the company at a time when it was reporting multibillion-dollar annual losses and oversaw a regimen of job cuts and plant closings as he slashed the company's operating expenses and worked to return it to its strengths.
During his time at the helm, IBM reported double-digit annual earnings growth and saw a more than eightfold surge in its stock price.
"Lou arrived at IBM at a moment when the company's future was genuinely uncertain," IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna said in an email to employees on Sunday. "The industry was changing rapidly, our business was under pressure, and there was serious debate about whether IBM should even remain whole. His leadership during that period reshaped the company. Not by looking backward, but by focusing relentlessly on what our clients would need next."
Gerstner retired from IBM in 2022 and served as chairman of private-equity firm Carlyle Group from 2003 until 2008.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-29-25 0649ET
