Rollins rolls out of Dell

Dell has announced that Kevin Rollins has resigned as chief executive officer, and company founder Michael Dell has retaken the helm of the PC company.

A Dell spokesman said: "This is not a short-term assignment." Dell, who founded the PC company in 1984, will retain his duties as chairman of the board of directors.

Rollins has also stepped down from the board of directors. In addition to announcing Rollins' departure, the company said it now expects its fourth-quarter results to be below analyst expectations for both revenue and profits per share.

The board of directors was involved in Rollins' decision to resign from the company, said the spokesman. But he did not elaborate on whether Rollins was asked to resign by the board.

Rollins' departure comes after a terrible year for the company, during which it lost its lead in PC market share to HP and an investigation by the SEC for possible accounting improprieties began. Several executives have left the company in recent months, including CFO Jim Schneider, who was slated to leave the company at the end of January.

Dell said in a press release: "Kevin has been a great business partner and friend. He has made significant contributions to our business over the past 10 years. I wish him much success in the future."

The spokesman would not comment on whether Rollins' departure was tied to the investigations into the company's accounting procedures. Dell is currently under investigation by the SEC over accounting issues that the company has said could result in significant restatements to its profits before the 2006 fiscal year. The company has not specified the exact nature of the accounting issues but has said they involve revenue recognition, and they do not appear to be associated with the stock-options backdating practice that has ensnared hundreds of companies over the past year.

Rollins took over the CEO reins in 2004 after several years spent as president and chief operating officer, during which he was characterised as a co-leader of the company with Dell. Rollins was brought into Dell in 1996 from management consulting firm Bain & Co as an experienced business veteran tasked with helping Dell grow the company he founded in his dorm room.

Dell's stock rose four per cent in after-hours trading. Trading was briefly halted from 16:45(EST) to 16:50(EST).

Dell had stood by Rollins throughout 2006, when some financial analysts were looking for someone to blame for the company's struggles but the pressure appears to have become too great, analysts said.

Richard Shim, an analyst at IDC, said: "It's surprising. Rollins had the confidence of [Michael] Dell but when you look at the numbers you can see why [Dell has retaken the helm]. They have been suffering from a corporate market slump, and the usual bag of tricks - leveraging the supply chain and their economies of scale - haven't worked."

CNET News.com's Stephen Shankland contributed to this report

Michael Kanellos writes for CNET News.com