San Francisco – Scott McNealy, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems Inc., said today he will step down immediately as chief executive of the company he has led since 1984.
Jonathan Schwartz, the company’s president, will retain that position and take over as chief executive, company officials said on a conference call to announce third-quarter earnings. Sun posted a wider fiscal third-quarter loss, as costs for acquisitions, stock-based compensation and restructuring chipped away at higher revenue.
McNealy, whose vision of large, networked computers helped shape today’s Internet, will remain as Sun’s chairman.
McNealy, 51, co-founded Santa Clara-based Sun Microsystems in 1982, leading it from a Silicon Valley startup to a leading provider of network computing infrastructure with nearly 40,000 employees worldwide, according to the company’s Web site.
Last year, Sun bought Louisville-based StorageTek.
