This Is Why Juniper's New CEO Was Ousted (JNPR)

Juniper Networks Shaygan Kheradpir

Less than a year after appointing outsider Shaygan Kheradpir to be its new CEO, Juniper Networks announced late Monday that Kheradpir has left the company.

And he was asked to resign for a really odd reason: "his conduct in connection with a particular negotiation with a customer," the company said in the press release.

People are calling the abrupt departure of Kheradpir a mystery because no one seems to know what went down with that customer.

Here's what we do know about his departure.

In an internal email to Juniper employees obtained by Jim Duffy at Network World, Kriens gave another hint as to what went down with Kheradpir.

Kriens wrote that Juniper's own leadership was causing people in the industry to have "doubts" about the company.

While many still believe in us, others are skeptical, and we have given them some reason to be. ... While some of our challenges are felt by the entire networking industry, some are made more difficult by doubts about Juniper and some of those doubts have been brought on by Juniper itself. That stops today. ... In this time of opportunity, Juniper must have trusted, clear, decisive, and courageous leadership at the very top of the company. 

Wall Street analysts were uniformly surprised at the news that Kheradpi was out. MKM Partners’ Michael Genovese (neutral rating, $20 target price) summed up the street's thoughts, as reported by Barron's:

The news is particularly surprising not only because of Kheradpir’s short tenure, but also because he was front and center presenting the company’s strategy and business model just two weeks ago at Juniper Network’s Investor Day ... We remain unclear in regards to the real story behind why Juniper brought Shaygan Kheradpir in a year ago from the outside to be CEO but has suddenly changed course and appointed Rami."

Analysts are, however, also uniformly pleased with the choice for the new CEO, 17-year Juniper veteran Rami Rahim.

Rahim was employee #32 at the company, a key engineer for Juniper's flagship networking equipment products. He is well-liked inside the company and out. Genovese called Rahim "extremely smart and charismatic."

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