Phil White replaced as Informix CEO

Informix (IFMX) announced that former 3Com executive Robert "Bob" Finocchio, Jr. has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the company, and will join the board of directors.

The company's stock gained over 11 percent in active trading today, from yesterday's close of 9-23/32.

Finocchio replaces Phillip White, who will continue in his role as chairman of the board.

White has been under fire recently from angry shareholders; some called for his resignation at the annual meeting in May. Investors blame White for Informix's sinking fortunes in recent months. An Informix spokesman declined to elaborate on White's departure. The company reported an unexpected first-quarter loss of $140.1 million as revenue plunged 34 percent to $133.7 million.

In April, Informix was slapped with a handful of shareholder lawsuits as the company's financial disclosures came under increased scrutiny. The suits alleged that Informix and certain of its officers and directors violated federal securities laws by misrepresenting the company's earnings growth potential. The suit also alleges that the company reported inflated and deceptive earnings because of improperly recognized revenue.

The company also took on rival Oracle (ORCL) and then withdrew in June its accusation charging Oracle with improperly hiring away 13 former Informix engineers, alleging they took trade secrets about a forthcoming database product with them.

Most recently, Finocchio was president of networking giant 3Com Systems (COMS). He contributed to the company?s growth from $419 million in 1990 to over $3.1 billion in 1997.