His job complete, William C. Keiper is leaving his post as Hypercom Corp.'s chief executive, the Phoenix point of sale terminal maker said Thursday.
Hypercom said Mr. Keiper would resign as a director and CEO on Aug. 15 but would stay on as a consultant for at least three months to steer a major restructuring announced last month.
He initially took the CEO job on an interim basis in 2005, when the company was in the midst of an accounting scandal. A few months later he was given the job permanently. Since then he has corrected the bookkeeping issues, cut costs, and reorganized the sales, distribution, and marketing approaches. Most recently he helped develop a plan to outsource manufacturing.
Hypercom said Mr. Keiper was unavailable for an interview, but Pete Schuddekopf, a spokesman for the company, said it was simply time for him to move on.
"It was always the plan for Will to lead the restructuring of the company and then" for the company to "be led by a person who could take it to the next level in terms of sales and marketing success," Mr. Schuddekopf said.
The company hopes to hire a new CEO this year, he said.
But some observers said the leadership change could signal Hypercom is on the block.
George F. Sutton, an analyst with Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC, said that Thursday's announcement "suggests more so than before that the business could get sold."
Hypercom "has struggled for a long time and has gone through meaningful changes and really cleaned up its balance sheets, cleaned up its operations," Mr. Sutton said. Also, it is poised to release a new product line this year, and a suitor might want to negotiate a deal now before the new products or a new organization drive up its value, he said.
The most likely buyer would be the French terminal company Ingenico Group, which "could use an increased U.S. presence," Mr. Sutton said. Ingenico is the world's No. 2 terminal provider, after VeriFone Holdings Inc. of San Jose.
Jerome Goaer, a spokesman for Ingenico, said it does want to grow in this market, but would not say whether it has any interest in purchasing Hypercom. In 2001, Ingenico bought an Atlanta terminal vendor IVI Checkmate Corp. for $55.3 million.
Robert J. Dodd, an analyst for Regions Financial Corp.'s Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc., agreed that Hypercom's board might be considering a sale. He noted that the company said in its May earnings call that it had rejected an offer, "so I think the board is certainly willing to consider that."
Still, "as far as I know, there is no official 'For Sale' flag out," he said.
Mr. Schuddekopf denied the company has any plans to sell.
"The company is not for sale and never has been," he said. The board rejected the earlier offer, a "strategic proposal of a combination," because it was not in the best interests of Hypercom, Mr. Schuddekopf said.
A new CEO has not been named; Philippe Tartavull, Hypercom's president, has been promoted to chief operating officer.
Until a CEO is named, Hypercom will be directed by a committee made up of Daniel Diethelm, the company's chairman; Thomas Liguori, its chief financial officer; and Mr. Tartavull.
Last month Hypercom said that it had shifted production of its printed circuit boards to a company in Malaysia, and that it would
Mr. Keiper was named Hypercom's interim CEO and chairman March 30, 2005, succeeding Christopher S. Alexander, who retired after a series of class actions were filed against the company and several top executives that year.
The suits came after Hypercom restated its results for the first three quarters of 2004, because it had overstated its revenue for those periods by about $2.9 million and its operating income by $2.2 million.
The accounting issues stemmed from Hypercom's incorrect definition of thousands of leases in its U.K. leasing business.
Hypercom eventually sold that business, and in July of last year a federal judge dismissed a shareholder lawsuit against the company.
Mr. Keiper was appointed the permanent CEO and president in August 2005; Mr. Tartavull was named president in February.
From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Keiper had been the chairman and CEO of Arrange Technology LLC, a software development services outsourcing company. He joined the Hypercom board in 2000.
During his term Hypercom lost market share to its main U.S. rival, VeriFone, and he oversaw numerous belt-tightening initiatives.
When Hypercom was having trouble selling its multilane checkout products last year, Mr. Keiper announced during its third-quarter earnings conference call that the company was moving to an "indirect" sales strategy, contracting with Symbol Technologies Inc. to sell its multilane systems.
Mr. Dodd gave Mr. Keiper a mixed report card. "I think he did some good things, particularly on the cost control side. I don't generally disagree with the decisions he made in terms of shifting to a distributor for multilane," Mr. Dodd said. But at the same time, Mr. Keiper was "a little slow in making decisions, which is something that the market wasn't happy with."
By Thursday afternoon Hypercom's stock had climbed 0.49%, to $6.15 a share.
