IT 100 Special Report 2006 >

  THE INFOTECH 100 COMPANIES
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19

Seagate Technology

(NYSE: STX)

USA

The Big Dog in the disk drive business took big steps to increase its lock on this booming industry in 2005. It grew 32%, to $8.88 billion, and that was before its $1.9 billion acquisition of rival Maxtor. In an effort to minimize the turmoil that often accompanies mega-mergers, CEO Bill Watkins has set clear marching orders. No Seagate products will be discontinued, and no Seagate employees will be fired. That's tough talk, but may be the most pragmatic way to ensure that Seagate doesn't lose focus as it tries to win even more share as consumers load up on gigabytes for their digital cameras, iPods, and for those new PCs once Microsoft's Vista appears next year.

Company Info

2005 Rank

50

Sales*
($ Millions)

8,856.0

Sales Growth
(over prev. year)

32 %

Profits*
($ Millions)

1,113.0

Return on Equity

32.3 %

Total Return on Sales (12-mo.)

11.8

Share Price
As of 5/31/06

23.35

CURRENT
MARKET INFO

NYSE: STX

No. of Employees

44,000

Industry Computers & Peripherals
COMPANY WEB SITE >
*Trailing 12 months
Stock price data as of 5/31/06
DATA: Standard & Poor's Compustat

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Company Snapshot

Seagate Technology engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of hard disk drives, providing products for a range of enterprise, desktop, mobile computing, and consumer electronics applications. The company produces a range of disk drive products for enterprise applications, such as Cheetah and Savvio family, which are primarily used in enterprise servers, mainframes, and workstations. It also produces U Series X and Barracuda ATA/SATA family disk drives for desktop applications, which are used in desktop computers; Momentus family disk drives for mobile computing applications that are used in notebook computers. In addition, the company produces ST1, U Series X, and Barracuda ATA/SATA family of disk drives for consumer electronics applications, which are used in digital video recorders, digital music players, gaming devices, global positioning navigation systems, and photo printers. It sells its disk drives primarily to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as well as to dealers, system integrators, and retailers worldwide through distributors. Seagate Technology was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in George Town, Cayman Islands.


Data provided by Capital IQ
 
William D. Watkins

William D. Watkins, 52

President and Chief Executive Officer

Total Compensation

$997,888

Value of Options

$16,730,871

William Watkins has been chief executive officer of Seagate Technology since July, 2004, and serves as president. Watkins also serves as president of New SAC of Seagate Technology. Watkins previously was executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Seagate Technology. He joined Seagate in February, 1996, upon Seagate's merger with Conner Peripherals. Previously, he was president and general manager of the disc division at Conner from January, 1990, until December, 1992. Watkins has been a member of Seagate's board of directors since November, 2000. Watkins serves as a director of New SAC of Seagate Technology. Watkins is on the board of Iolon. He also serves on the Executive Advisory Council for IDEMA (International Disc Drives & Equipment Manufacturer Assn.) and the Executive Advisory Board of Juran Center for Leadership in Quality. Watkins served as a director of MEMC Electronic Materials since 2002.



Executive Data provided by Capital IQ