Private-equity stake in Palm leads to management changes

Private-equity stake in Palm leads to management changes A $325 million deal announced earlier this week allowing private-equity firm Elevation Partners to acquire a 25 percent stake in Palm Inc. will also result in some executive and board level changes at the Sunnyvale-based handheld electronics manufacturer.
   Jon Rubinstein, former senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple and head of the iPod division, has been tapped to be Palm's new executive chairman.
   In another change, Palm board chair Eric Benhamou and board member Scott Mercer are to be replaced by Fred Anderson and Roger McNamee, current managing directors and co-founders of Elevation. Anderson served for many years as chief financial officer of Apple.
   Palm, maker of the Treo smartphone, has faced stiff competition from RIM's Blackberry devices. Further pressure on the company is expected when Apple's iPhone hits the market at the end of this month.