Citrix loses founder, CEO shifts to president

Citrix Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS) said Friday its founder and chairman, Edward E. Iacobucci, has resigned, and its CEO, Mark B. Templeton is shifting gears to president. The company is reshuffling amid a troubled stock price and a spate of class-action law suits.

Shares plunged June 12 after the software developer warned that its second quarter sales and earnings will fall dramatically short of analysts' estimates. At that point, investors were still wondering whether the stock was a bomb or a bargain. The stock was down another 23/32 to 22 1/32, or 3 percent Friday morning.

Iacobucci left his position to pursue his vision of software as a service in cooperation with Citrix and other industry leaders, the company said.

Templeton, the company's president and former chief executive officer, will remain as president and a member of the board of directors. The company has also started a search for a new CEO.

Citrix's former CEO from 1990 through 1998, Roger W. Roberts, has assumed the role of chairman.

During the CEO search, Roberts will assume the role of chief operating officer, and Templeton and Roberts will be responsible for the daily operations of the company.

The company also announced that Michael W. Brown resigned from the board of directors but will continue to be available on selected matters. Brown served on Citrix's board as a director since July 1997, and previously served on the board from December 1991 to February 1994.

The company also had yet another class action law suit filed against it Friday, for the Southern District of Florida on behalf of all persons who purchased stock between October 20, 1999 and June 9, 2000. Citrix issued a statement June 15, after a string of suits were filed against it, that it "believes the allegations in the complaint are without merit and intends to contest them vigorously."

Citrix also said Friday it has invested $1 million in a private placement of V-ONE Corporation common stock.

V-ONE Corp. (Nasdaq:VONE), a provider of client/server Virtual Private Networks (VPN), saw shares up 7/16 to 5 7/16 .

Earlier this week, V-ONE announced an extranet licensing agreement that allows Citrix to license and distribute products based on its VPN technology.

Citrix's competitors include GraphOn (Nasdaq: GOJO), Network Computing Devices (Nasdaq: NCDI) and Santa Cruz Operation (Nasdaq: SCOC) according to Hoover's Online.