BBC NEWS | Business | NTL boss steps down
NTL boss steps down
Barclay Knapp steered NTL through a restructuring process last year
Barclay Knapp, the chairman and chief executive of troubled cable TV and telephone firm NTL, is stepping down.
The company said on Tuesday that Mr Knapp would make way for its current chief operating officer, Simon Duffy, by the end of the year.
News of Mr Knapp's departure came as NTL said it had cut its losses for the three months to June to £159m ($254m), a 38% decrease on the same period last year.
Sales for the April to June quarter edged slightly higher to £551m, lifted by subscription revenues from 40,000 new customers.
I did wonder when Mr Knapp would finally step down from CEO. He has been at the helm of the cable company since the beginning and by all accounts was perceived as something of a demi-god, especially when ntl were riding high on the wave of tech euphoria.
The bubble bursting was a definite a shock to Barclay, and I think to a certain extent how bad a state he, and his then mangement team got the company into.
The new owners (the Huffs) I suspect have finally gotten their way and have finally gotten ntl a CEO who merits the title. While Barclay is undoubtably a clever man he is not really the CEO of a large comapny. He is a start up man, who does best when he builds something. That was his mistake with Cabletel (the original name for what is now ntl), he couldn't let his 'dream' (as he put it in an email to staff) go.
I await to see what impact the introduction of Simon Duffy has. I have only seen him speak once and he was pragmatic, amusing and unlike the rest of the Executive level, English. Is that important? I don't know. It was just noticable.
I haven't really commented on the numbers but they are obviously good. ntl does have so much potential to really give customers an excellent set of products and a great customer experience. It might not be fast enough for everyone's liking but I really believe progress is being made to turn ntl: Home (at least) into a mature, efficient and effective consumer business.
Posted by Paul Goodison at August 12, 2003 11:40 AM | TrackBack