- Ericsson (ERIC +0.4%) "faces some tough decisions" of a strategic nature that will call for "courage," incoming CEO Börje Ekholm says, calling for reinvestment after a rough year where the company's market value has been nearly halved.
- Ekholm was named early today to take over for interim chief Jan Frykhammar, who had taken over when Hans Vestberg left in July. Most observers had been expecting one of Hakan Eriksson, former company CFO Karl-Henrik Sundstrom and Vodafone CTO Johan Wibergh to take over.
- Speaking to Barron's, Ekholm says "the struggles lately are more of an overall market question" than something fundamentally problematic at Ericsson.
- "I don't think you can cut your way to success," he said, emphasizing some capital rearrangement: “We need to invest in technology and development, that’s what is going to drive the top line. We need to re-invest in our business.”
- Mergers and acquisitions are on the table as well. “We will need to make acquisitions for our product offerings,” he says, “if we can buy complementary assets.” But he declined comment on whether a merger with a traditional firm like existing partner Cisco Systems might be possible.