Michael Dell, one of the most familiar names in corporate America, yesterday gave up the chief executive role at Dell Computer, the company he founded 20 years ago.
The company said he would remain as chairman of the business, which is second only to Hewlett Packard in the personal computer market. Current chief operating officer and president Kevin Rollins will step up to chief executive.
A company spokesman said the changes reflected the roles of the two executives. "Michael's emphasis has been on customer trends and research and development while Kevin's leanings are strongly to development and execution of strategy. The titles to a certain degree are catching up with that." He said Mr Dell would "remain deeply involved in the company's day-to-day business."
Mr Dell follows the lead of other high profile technology bosses who have given up the chief executive's role. Bill Gates at Microsoft passed the title to Steve Ballmer in 2000 and Intel's Andrew Grove handed the job to Craig Barrett in 1998.
Mr Dell still owns around 10.6% of the company, a stake worth roughly $9bn. Shares in Dell fell modestly on the announcement dropping 12 cents to $33.01 on Wall Street. Analysts said there was little cause for concern.
Mr Dell started the company in his college dorm room and built it into a market leader by pioneering the model of selling to consumers directly over the telephone and more recently the internet.