Ericsson's M&A Leader Resigns

Ericsson acknowledged Monday that Douglas Gilstrap, who has been senior vice president and head of Group Function Strategy for the last five years, and a key player in Ericsson's M&A activities, is resigning. He'll be leaving the company in August, but Ericsson's interest in M&A likely will remain.

Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC) CEO Hans Vestberg said in a statement that Gilstrap played a leading role in all M&A activities during his time with the company. After bingeing on buyouts of Telcordia, Conceptwave, Tandberg TV, Nortel assets and others, Ericsson grew quieter on the M&A front in the last two years -- though it did buy Microsoft's IPTV assets last year (See Ericsson Buys Microsoft's IPTV Unit.)

Now, with an active search for Gilstrap's replacement already in motion, Ericsson might be looking for a strategist and M&A driver to hunt down possible acquisitions and other endeavors in the SDN space to complement the OSS assets and expertise it gained with the Telcordia buy. (See What's Ericsson's Next M&A Move? and Ericsson Closes Telcordia Acquisition.)

— Dan O'Shea, Managing Editor, Light Reading

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