When Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) reported earnings just recently, the world's second largest computer maker showed above-average revenue but profits lagged expectations due to higher costs in the quarter. Meanwhile competitor Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) reported a stellar quarter on everything from revenue to profit to future guidance. It seems as though Dell and HP have completely traded places from where they stood in 2004, no?

Dell brings up the issue of bigger-than-expected costs being a problem in the third quarter as it tries to explain why its profits sunk. Inquiring investors want to know why component prices were a problem for Dell in the back half of 2007 when HP saw lower component costs in the same period?

Your guess is as good as mine, but the questions won't stop there. For a company that built a reputation around being lean all the way around, what happened to Dell's cost structure recently? That has not been answered directly -- yet.

When word of Carly Fiorina's hiring by the yet-to-be-launched Fox Business Network got out, you can bet that ousted CEOs started ringing up News Corp (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch.

Robert Nardelli is busy now at Chrysler LLC., but Gary Forsee has recently left Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to pursue other career opportunities as has former Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) CEO Kevin Rollins. Maybe former Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) Chief Executive Jill Eckert or former Motorola Inc. (NASDAQ: MOT) head Chris Galvin wants to be a talking head.

The former Hewlett-Packard Co. (NASDAQ: HPQ) chief executive will no doubt be a lively television commentator. It's too bad that Bernie Ebbers, John Rigas, Dennis Kozlowski and Jeffrey Skilling are presently incarcerated. They were always good for a lively quote.

If anyone has any other suggestions for former corporate honchos that Fox should hire, let me know and I'll pass on your suggestions to Fox. Of course, they'll be ignored.

Kevin Rollins, the former CEO of DELL (NASDAQ: DELL) has gotten $48.5 million for stock options he earned while at the company. The odd part about the deal is that, according to The Wall Street Journal, the "cash payment program [will] include expired options." That is, options that he no longer has any rights to.

Such an arrangement is unusual. Normally such payment would be made only for options still owned by a former officer or employee.

Well, it is good to be king, or ex-king anyway. The buyout becomes another in a long line of special treatment given to CEOs who have been pushed out for lack of performance. Dell's earnings faltered under Mr. Rollins and the company ran into accounting problems that are still being investigated by the federal government.

Dell and Mr. Rollins will undoubtedly be criticized for the special deal, but he has his money to keep him warm at night.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

With the potential for great riches, private equity has become a magnet for top-notch executives.

Take a look at TPG (Texas Pacific Group). Today, the firm announced that it has hired Kevin Rollins as a Senior Advisor.

Of course, his latest gig was as president and CEO of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), where he spent 11 years. Before this, he was a partner and director at Bain & Co., a firm that has made lots of money providing strategic advice to private equity firms. In fact, the firm spun out Bain Capital in the 1980s, which has emerged as one of the largest private equity firms in the world.

As a Senior Advisor, Rollins will be kind of like a Bain consultant. Although, if there is a company that needs a veteran CEO, he may go back to being an operator.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

No sooner does former CEO Michael Dell return to the helm of the company he founded over 20 years ago than Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) announces its plan to not give any bonuses to any employees this year based on the performance levels of the company. This is according to a statement released over the weekend by the Round Rock, Texas based company.

Although Dell has seen its market share lead get run over by resurgent competitor Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) recently, the one person who most likely understands how to fight with HP CEO Mark Hurd (an operational wiz like Dell ex-CEO Kevin Rollins) is going to be Michael Dell. It's hard to see the company finding another CEO that has the passion its founder does -- and sometimes that is what it takes to return a company back to former glory.

Michael Dell said in a prepared statement, "We had great efforts, but not great results. This is disappointing and unacceptable." In addition to that statement, the release from Round Rock described other management changes, including a reduction to 12 from more than 20 of the number of people reporting directly to the CEO. This is a good change I think -- and quite frankly, 20 people reporting to the CEO is a touch too much for a $50+ billion global company.

Well, we've heard here on BloggingStocks from many of the folks in the last 24 hours or so -- here, here, here and here are just a few examples. Why not add my own perception of the situation and analysis to the mix? Here we go, then. But first, take a look at an interview with Michael just today with Fortune. It's quite telling.

After looking at the market's reaction to Michael Dell's return as CEO of the company he founded, this piece over at Forbes.com was one of the most appropriate. It tells of qualities like being a champion/people leader/visionary and being a colder/machine-like/numbers-oriented person. If you have two choices here -- with Michael Dell and Kevin Rollins, it's not too hard to match the person with the qualities.

Sometimes a nuts-and-bolts approach is needed to running a business -- while staying profitable -- and especially in a commodity business like the one Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) operates in. Like it or not, there is no doubt that Dell runs -- and runs well -- in the most extreme commodity tech business of all, the computer industry.

So, it seemed like a match made in heaven when the logistics mind of Rollins met the leader/visionary mind of Dell and the duo teamed up to tackle new heights and try to distance themselves from Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) (its largest competitor). But here's a question -- would the same scenario that's been happening at Dell for the last two-and-a-half years have happened under Michael Dell's CEO leadership? Was the timing just not right for Rollins? Was there a confluence of factors that did him in, and can Dell return his company to where it was, even as pricing pressures and margins are not going to go anywhere but down?

Check back in about 18 months -- then we will all see.

24/7 Wall St. generated a list of 10 public company CEOs in December where investors in the underlying companies would be better served by a new CEO. Three of these have already been axed, and that is in roughly 6 weeks. Some calls aren't actually calling for the CEOs to be fired, but a title change or strategy shift was in order. There were few outright "He's Gotta Go!" and there still are. The FIRED CEO's are first, and the others are alphabetical by company. The names are highlighted so you can see the full comments and suggestions from the original article on each, and the original comments left on Bloggingstocks are here for the 7 of the 10 that are still pending:

Dell's (NASDAQ:DELL) Kevin Rollins.
STATUS: FIRED! His name will be forgotten by Wall Street most likely and will be referred to as 'That guy that took Dell down.'

Gap Inc.'s (NYSE:GPS) Paul Pressler.
STATUS: KIA! He's done and he'll have to go in for that old Japanese executive retraining boot camp before anyone speaks to him again.

The Home Depot's(NYSE:HD) Bob Nardelli.
STATUS: FIRED! But beware, he took a huge exit-payout and only has a 1-year non-compete. He'll probably end up in private equity and his name won't quietly disappear.

Amazon.com's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Jeff Bezos. He doesn't need to go away entirely! He just needs to do a partial title change. But will anyone inside the company tell the emperor he is wearing no space suit?
STATUS: Earnings are today, but either way the company could use an add-on here. I like Bezos and this will give him the latitude needed.

Citigroup's (NYSE:C) Chuck Prince. The prince calls for Draconian measures, and maybe the prince didn't mean just THIS Prince.
STATUS: Everyone has told this prince he isn't wearing clothes and he keeps ruling and ignores this. Sally Krawchek wasn't the problem. The stock is up in hopes that he'll leave and that new management can run the beast better.

Eastman Kodak's (NYSE:EK) Antonio Perez. Maybe he's nice, but for heaven's sake get the restructuring over with and get some mojo. Bring in a digital media leader.
STATUS: The earnings have turned, but the long painful restructuring continues and the last medical imaging sale funds might not be used aggressively enough. EK would still be better under a different digital leader.

Qualcomm Inc.'s (NASDAQ:QCOM) Paul Jacobs. He isn't being sent home yet, but his dad's shoes are proving very hard to fill.
STATUS: The note here is still in the pending file and he may survive if he can keep the stock from falling and if he can keep the company's patents and contracts alive.

Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) & XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:XMSR). It is a dead heat in the race, and if two companies need to merge, it's these two. There can be only one.
STATUS: Still pending, still a tie! They should just merge and get it over with. A merger wouldn't be great for consumers and competition, but would be best for investors.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s(NYSE:WMT) Lee Scott. The company is struggling under its own weight, and it needs some good PR. Getting rid of the Darth Vader of Corporate America and bringing in someone fun and likeable would be the best start.
STATUS: He's still gotta go. If he is still there at the end of this year it is because he intimidated every internal external challenger. Darth Vader wasn't a hero until the last 10 minutes of the original series after almost 6 hours of being the bad guy. Lee Scott could become a good guy if he would just leave.

Yahoo!'s (NASDAQ:YHOO) Terry Semel. Yes, when you see him leave or forced out, Yahoo! holders should be happy.
STATUS: Panama may save him, but Wall Street would rather see Semel leave. Sue Decker is better suited for the role.

A lot of these may be controversial, and there are plenty of other companies that might benefit from a new CEO. None of these attacks are personal and these are merely based on observation and analysis. The list could probably be 100 CEO's long.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St. LLC; He does not hold securities in the companies he covers. He also not been compensated to represent any of these companies in any light.

As we have already blogged about, Michael Dell finally decided to step back into an operating role at Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL). This follows a tough period for Kevin Rollins and Jim Schneider, both of whom had a tough time anticipating where technology was going.

The old Wayne Gretzky line "you have to skate where the puck is going to be" was seriously lacking with Rollins and Schneider. Both were good executives and diligent but were not tech guys.

But just because Michael Dell is back, do not chase today's rally in Dell's stock. Dell needs to hire a whole new management team. Wait to see if he can convince executives to join him or if he can find people from within Dell to run the company. It will take a couple of quarters for Michael Dell to have an impact.

Our very own Jon Ogg just hit this story a few minutes ago. After two years of disappointing sales, battery recalls, a slumping share price and possible accounting irregularities, Kevin Rollins is leaving the post of CEO for Dell, Inc.(NASDAQ:DELL). The founder and chairman of the board for the company, Michael Dell, is resuming his role of CEO after more than two and a half years of serving solely as chairman of the board.

I, for one, saw this coming -- did you?

This move -- not entirely unexpected -- will be talked about this week and the next, most likely. It was a move that was bound to happen, as Rollins -- handpicked by Mr. Dell himself -- has just not measured up as Dell has gone through the cheese shredder lately and the former Bain & Co. consultant (Rollins) just could not bounce back from all the issues under his tenure at Dell.

Stay tuned for further updates.

As reported in the Red Herring, Dell (NASDAQ (GS):DELL) CEO Kevin Rollins may be made to exit the company in the face of trying times. The report casts no blame on Rollins in particular. In fact, the article is tacitly defensive of him while still expressing that there are issues at Dell that Rollins has allowed to get out of control. It should noted that CEO Rollins has remained steady at the helm while many of the individuals beneath him have left the company in search of a new vessel. It is rumored that many of them have found sanctuary at Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ). I find this indicative of a pattern that has become much too familiar, where a management team runs a good company onto the rocks and then seeks higher ground.

Dell had returned earnings beyond expectations at its last quarterly report. This is believed to have bought some time for Kevin Rollins, but has it given him a reprieve? The analysts aren't saying so. Share holders are expecting something that can be termed a "turn around" for the company. I think possibly a few impatient people are expecting too much too soon.

We have yet to see any big and bold adjustments to the way Dell does business. There seems to be some particular disdain building for Dell's unrelenting grip on their tried and true customer direct marketing approach. I think they had better keep doing business that way because it worked very well in the first place and made Dell what they are today. I agree with many people who say that Dell needs to create a new spin and to find ways to invigorate growth. But in my opinion, they had better not just blow out the old marketing plan just to try something new.

We'll see how the SEC investigation into Dell's accounting and reporting practices goes. We'll see if any of those executives who have fled the company will be made to answer for company ills. We'll see if the investors decide to give Kevin Rollins more time to adjust. Personally I hope they do.

Analysis provided by Eric Buscemi of Fly on the Wall:

The SEC is moving from an informal to formal probe. In addition, Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) announced it is delaying its earnings release.

What is troublesome about the delay in earnings is that Dell did not make any general comments on how business is doing. In other SEC probes, if a company is doing well, they will provide some revenue or general level of profitability guidance. But Dell provided nothing.

Dell still has not released its second quarter 10-Q. Not good!

For Kevin Rollins, Dell's CEO, when it rains it pours. Since Rollins took charge of the company, Dell has had a very difficult time. It will be interesting to see how long Michael Dell will remain this patient.

Wait until unfolding tech slowdown comes to an end before playing around with this stock.

Does it really mean a lot in the grand scheme of PC sales who is number one in sales from quarter to quarter? If it doesn't don't tell either Dell or Hewlett-Packard, which have been fighting an intense tug-of-war for almost a decade when it comes to trying to out-muscle each other in terms of being able to claim that one of the companies is the "world's largest computer manufacturer."

That title is vague when it comes to examining financials. I'd rather be the leader in several highly-profitable segments of the computer industry than be the overall world leader in sales with slim to zero margins. Who cares if you are the leader if you're unprofitable? I don't care, and if you're a savvy investor, you shouldn't care either.

But, as luck would have it, HP recently stole back the crown from Dell after three years to claim the "world's largest" again. Whether it lasts is another matter, but it does make for good (but useless) headlines. It's true that market leadership does mean a lot when profitability enters the picture. And it is in this case. HP's resurgence under CEO Mark Hurd has shown great gains in profitability recently, as well as growth in marketshare, like this latest crown change shows. This is the meat of which investors should take note.

At the same time, Dell has been experiencing one snafu after another, from public relations messes to product recalls to profits that aren't matching analyst expectations. It's pretty obvious that Dell is not sitting idly by waiting for things to change, but is being proactive in making the changes happen so that investor confidence returns as largely as possible while it continues to fend off the HP threat that is growing by leaps and bounds.

With Dell in a strange public slump recently, company founder and chairman Michael Dell publicly reiterated his support for current Dell CEO Kevin Rollins this week at "Dell 2.0", a business plan meeting with analysts. Dell has faced a slew of public stumbles recently, from the larger-than-life laptop battery recall to slowing quarterly sales to being one-upped by re-energized competitor HP (which is now in a small piece of turmoil itself). In addition, shareholders learned that Dell has, for an entire year, been under an investigation from the SEC. Dell just disclosed last month that the company is under an SEC investigation about how it reports is revenue, although the investigation is informal.

It's probably just very bad luck that so many events unfolded in such a short time that made the market and world look to current CEO Kevin Rollins as the cause, which is probably wholly inaccurate. Michael Dell, which is quoted below, also thinks that Rollins is doing a great job:

"I believe that Kevin Rollins is an outstanding executive," Dell said. "I think characterizations of the company's challenges being only of Kevin's doing are inaccurate. Kevin and I run the business together. So if you want to blame someone, you can blame me, too."

That is a solid piece of verbal support if you ask me. But with Dell in the crosshairs about improving its customer service and getting back on financial track to meet the saucy demands of Wall Street *analysts*, the job is far from over for Dell, Rollins and Company. There are many things to look at and possibly change to correct the course of this rather large ship. Long-term: how can Dell survive on commodity computer sales and server sales alone? First, it's the best at wrenching out costs from every possible angle, but that may not be enough in the future.

With Dell these days the seemingly unending trail of bad news knows no end. Dell Computer, Inc. said just this morning that it was suspending its latest quarterly financial report and was also going to temporarily stop its share repurchase activity amid the U.S. Government's probe into accounting practices at the world's largest computer manufacturer and seller. This informal probe is looking at Dell's financial reporting from 2002 to current day. As 24/7 Wall Street reports, Dell's possible accrual troubles cannot be fixed overnight, nor can other larger accounting issues (if there are issues). But full disclosure to the investment community would have seemed to be in order sometime in the last month, yes?

Dell's 10-Q for the period ended August 4, 2006 will be suspended until questions raised by the Government's informal probe into the computer giant's accounting practices are sufficiently answered. Dell's financial reporting from 2002 to current is what happens to be under the microscope right now, as the computer manufacturer has been cooperating with the probe for over a year now, but only publicly disclosed what was going on last month. Transparency? I think not.

The accounting issues being looked at specifically relate to accruals, reserves and other balance sheet items that may affect Dell's previously reported results for the last four years. In what I can safely call a brazen lack of respect for Dell shareholders, a Dell spokesperson said that the company did not disclose the matter earlier because "we are under no obligation to disclose it". Hogwash -- something as important as an SEC informational (yet informal) probe should *always* be disclosed to shareholders -- especially institutional ones with significant holdings. Why these large companies aren't more transparent, even when not legally required to do so, is beyond me. Dell shares seem to be priced at a discount for the current environment it is in (a reduced-margin, commodity business). The question is, will the company try to dig itself out of the proverbial hole?