Unisys CEO quits under pressure from shareholders

Two decades after the merger of mainframe makers Sperry (maker of the UNIVAC) and Burroughs created Unisys (then the second-largest computer company after IBM) and a decade after Unisys blew its remaining geek cred by trying to charge license fees for GIF images on the Internet, the company is floundering in loss after loss. That's despite more than $5 billion a year in revenue, most of it from services to supersize clients including Dell and the baggage-rifling TSA. MMI Investments LP, a Manhattan investment firm that holds just under 10% of Unisys stock, has pushed CEO Joseph McGrath to announce his departure by the end of the year. The Wall Street Journal summarizes: "Unisys moved into the computer-services field with mixed results. Some of the biggest contracts it won, such as a check processing deal in the U.K., turned into money losers that hurt results for years." (Photo by Unisys)