The Information Technology 100
50
Seagate Technology
The Big Kahuna of the disk-drive market may have finally put to rest one of the industry's ongoing debates: Is vertical integration good? In the past, critics said Seagate's insistence on making all the components, such as magnetic heads, was too costly and time-consuming. But two years after emerging from a leveraged buyout as a public company once again, Seagate has the biggest economies of scale, the broadest product line, and is now in the driver's seat as demand for disk drives grows.
That helped Seagate post revenue growth of 10%, to $5.8 billion, through the first three quarters of its fiscal year -- impressive, given the relentless pricing pressure in the disk-drive business. Indeed, unit shipments jumped 28% in its most recent quarter. There's excitement ahead, too. Seagate is strong in consumer markets, where many believe that hundreds of millions of cell-phones will soon have drives to handle home videos and digital music. And then there's the TV crowd that's starting to store terabytes worth of HDTV-quality flicks. The Big Kahuna could get bigger yet.
Company Info
| STOCK INFO | STX |
| Revenues* | $6.7 BILLION
|
| Revenue Growth | 4.2%
|
| Return on Equity | 17.3%
|
| Total Return | 75.7%
|
| Profits* | $394 MILLION
|
| Industry | COMPUTERS AND PERIPHERALS
|
| CORPORATE WEB SITE
|
All figures are for the most recent available 12 months.
* Latest available data for the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, Jan. 31, Feb. 29, Mar. 31, or Apr. 30. For companies that do not report quarterly, the most recent annual data were used.
Data provided by Standard & Poor's Compustat, BusinessWeek
Related BW Stories
Company Snapshot
Seagate Technology engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of products for storage, retrieval, and management of data on computer and data communications systems. It offers rigid disk drives that are used as the primary medium for storing electronic information in systems ranging from desktop computers and consumer electronics to data centers delivering information over corporate networks and the Internet. Seagate sells its rigid disk drives primarily to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, dealers, system integrators, and retailers throughout the world. The company was founded in 1979.It was formerly known as Seagate Technology Holdings and changed its name to Seagate Technology in 2002. The company is headquartered in George Town, Cayman Islands.
No. of Employees
40,000
Data provided by 
William D. Watkins
Bio
William D. Watkins has been Chief Executive Officer of Seagate Technology since July 3, 2004. He joined Seagate Technology as Executive Vice President of its Recording Media Group in February 1996 following its merger with Conner Peripherals, Inc. In October 1997, Mr. Watkins took on additional responsibility as Executive Vice President of the Disk Drive Operations and in August 1998, he was appointed to the position of Chief Operating Officer, with responsibility for disk drive manufacturing, recording media and head operations and product development. In June 2000, he was appointed to the position of President, and in November 2000, he became a member of Seagate’s board of directors. Mr. Watkins is a member of the boards of directors of Iolon, Inc. and MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. He also serves on the Executive Advisory Council for IDEMA (International Disc Drives and Equipment Manufacturer Association) and the Executive Advisory Board of Juran Center for Leadership in Quality.
AGE: 51
Titles
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Total Compensation*
$ 1 MILLION
Total Value of Options**
$ 16.7 MILLION
Degrees Held
NA
* Latest available fiscal year
** The sum of the net value of options exercised and held in the latest available fiscal year
Key Executives
William D. Watkins, Charles C. Pope, David A. Wickersham, Brian S. Dexheimer, William L. Hudson, John P. Weyandt, James M. Chirico, Jr., Jaroslaw S. Glembocki, Mark H. Kryder
Board Members
William D. Watkins, Stephen J. Luczo, William W. Bradley, James G. Coulter, James A. Davidson, Glenn H. Hutchins, Donald E. Kiernan, David F. Marquardt, Lydia M. Marshall, Gregorio Reyes, John W. Thompson
