VMware taps Raghuram as CEO, triggering Poonen's exit

By Jessica DiNapoli and Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) - VMware Inc on Wednesday named its co-chief operating officer Raghu Raghuram as its new chief executive, prompting Sanjay Poonen, the business software company's other co-COO, who was vying for the top job, to depart.

Raghuram is tasked with guiding VMware as a company free from majority owner Dell Technologies Inc, which last month said it would spin off its 81% stake in the cloud computing giant in exchange for a special cash dividend of $9.7 billion.

Raghuram's predecessor, Pat Gelsinger, was named Intel Corp's chief executive in February.

Raghuram, an 18-year veteran of VMWare, was offered the CEO job after external candidates turned it down, people familiar with the matter said. VMware declined to comment on the other candidates.