In Business This Week

ONE OF DELL'S LAST BABIES WALKS AWAY

Dell Computer, long considered the enfant terrible of the PC industry, is down to its last enfant. 29-year-old CEO Michael Dell remains, but on Sept. 14, longtime sales and marketing chief Joel Kocher quit the $2.8 billion Austin (Tex.) company to become chief operating officer of Artisoft, a Tucson-based networking company. Known for passionate speeches and take-no-prisoners sales tactics, Kocher revved up Dell's phone-sales outfit. But when CEO Dell brought in Motorola veteran Morton Topfer as co- CEO in May to help bring order to Dell's operations, there was little room for Kocher. "Joel just couldn't go much further," says Dean Witter analyst Eugene Glazer.EDITED BY THANE PETERSON