Avaya announced the appointment of Jim Chirico, currently its chief operating officer and global sales leader, as chief executive officer, effective October 1, 2017, while the current president and CEO Kevin Kennedy is to retire as CEO and a member of the board, but will remain as an advisor to the company.
Avaya noted that Mr. Chirico joined the company in 2008 and has since held a number of positions with the company. As COO and global sales leader, he is responsible for operations, global sales, sales operations, HR and quality.
Prior to Avaya, Jim Chirico served as EVP, global operations, development and manufacturing at Seagate Technology; previously, Mr. Chirico served as an executive with IBM, including in a leadership role for the Networking Division.
Avaya stated that under Mr. Kennedy's leadership, the company transitioned into a software and services company, with for the second fiscal quarter of 2017 software and services accounting for approximately 79% of Avaya's total revenue. Mr. Kennedy also played a key role in positioning the company for its emergence from Chapter 11 proceedings following the divestiture of the Networking business.
Separately, Avaya announced preliminary financial results for its most recent third quarter, ended June 30, 2017, including revenue of between $802 and 804 million, flat sequentially and down 9% year on year, with adjusted EBITDA of $202 to 206 million.
Avaya also announced that it has entered into a plan support agreement (PSA) with holders of over 50% of its first lien debt, including certain members of the Ad Hoc Group of First Lien Creditors, and that it had reached agreement with U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to provide for the termination of the company's obligations under the Avaya pension plan for salaried employees (APPSE) and the related transfer of those obligations to PBGC, with the support of the Ad Hoc First Lien Group.Key terms of the amended plan include: the reduction of debt by more than $3 billion from pre-filing levels; the settlement and transfer to PBGC of Avaya's obligations under the APPSE; and initiation of steps to enable the company to emerge from chapter 11 as a public company.
Extreme to acquire Avaya networking for $100m with winning bid
Extreme Networks announced that, having entered into an asset purchase agreement under which it would serve as primary bidder in a sale under the bankruptcy code to acquire Avaya's networking business for approximately $100 million, it has been approved as the winning bidder to acquire the Avaya business.Under the bidding process, the assets of Avaya's networking business unit will be sold to Extreme f
