Red Hat company profile

Red Hat, Inc. is a catalyst for a technology movement that has changed the world. The Raleigh-based company is engaged in providing open source software solutions to the enterprise, including its core enterprise operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, its enterprise middleware platform, JBoss Enterprise Middleware, its virtualization solutions, and other Red Hat enterprise technologies.

Red Hat went public in August 1999. Much has changed since the Bob Young and Matthew Szulik-led company turned Wall Street red and black with their fedoras. Opening on the NASDAQ, Red Hat shares exploded, the RHAT symbol attracting so many buyers that shares tripled in value. After opening at $14, RHAT closed at $52.06. Suddenly, Red Hat, which was then a small company based in Durham, had a market cap of $3 billion.

A serious threat to Microsoft and Unix seemed to have emerged. A lot of Red Hat employees and investors also became millionaires that day. Much has changed since then.

Red Hat shares now trade on the New York Stock Exchange under RHT. The company is based at N.C. State University’s Centennial Campus in Raleigh.

Young has gone on to found self-publishing company Lulu. And Szulik is retired. But, the respect for its Linux work continues to build.

Red Hat makes its money from supporting servers and corporate networks, with many of those clients doing business on Wall Street while its software has received top security classification from the Pentagon. The Hatters are driving hard for cloud business and virtualization now and into the future, focusing the new version of its cash-cow Red Hat Enterprise Linux version as a cloud solutions provider.

And, now that the company is staying in Wake County with an expanded facility and new jobs flowing in by 2015, Red Hat will continue to be a Tarheel Titan for years to come.

Jim Whitehurst was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Hat in December 2007 – replacing long-time chairman and CEO Matthew Szulik. Before putting on the Fedora, Whitehurst spread his wings with Delta Air Lines, serving in various roles dating back to 2002, including Chief Operating Officer.

Prior to Delta, Whitehurst served as vice president and director of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and held various leadership roles in their Chicago, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Atlanta offices.

A native of Columbus, Ga., Whitehurst graduated from Rice University with a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Economics. He also attended Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, Germany, holds a general course degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Hugh Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Bill Clinton and a native of North Carolina, was named chairman at Red Hat in 2010. He had been a board member at Red Hat since 2003. He succeeded Szulik, who retired last year. Shelton played a key role in recruiting Whitehurst as Red Hat's CEO. Before becoming chairman, Shelton was Red Hat’s lead director. He also served on the board’s audit and compensation committees.

 Charlie Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

 Alex Pinchev, Executive Vice President and President Global Sales, Services and Field Marketing

 Paul Cormier, Executive Vice President and President, Products and Technologies

 Michael Cunningham, Executive Vice President and General Counsel

 DeLisa Alexander, Senior Vice President, People and Brand

 Lee Congdon, Chief Information Officer

 Brian Stevens, CTO and Vice President, Engineering

Name: Red Hat, Inc.

Ownership: Publicly held (NYSE: RHT)

Website: http://www.redhat.com

Headquarters: Raleigh, N.C.

Employees: More than 2,500 in 58 offices in 28 countries (almost 700 in North Carolina)

• Consulting and global training featuring RHCE and JBCAA certifications

Red Hat reported 3rd quarter 2011 earnings of $0.20 per share. This result was in-line with analysts following the company and beat last year's 3rd quarter results by 17.65 percent. The next tentative earnings announcement is expected March 21. Red Hat’s PE ratio is among the highest of any stock in the software and programming industry and signals that investors have high hopes for this company's future business prospects. Red Hat's current gross margin is 83.96 percent compared to their competitors’ 66.41 percent and the industry average of 37.12 percent. Additionally, during the past year, earnings growth has outpaced its historical five-year growth rate. According to regulatory filings, the total annual revenue and gross profit was $748 million on Feb. 28.

Red Hat's 52-week high was $49 per share on Dec. 7, 2010. The 52-week low was $26.69 on May 7, 2010.

Key customers:

• Morgan Stanley

Corporate Awards:

* CIO Insight Magazine's Most Valued Vendor, 2005