CNBC's inimitable Jim Cramer told his investor following last night to stay away from IBM until they heard that IBM CEO Sam Palmisano was gone. Since taking over the company five years ago, Palmisano has returned 1% to stockholders, Cramer said, "you might as well have your money in a bank account." Actually when Palmisano picked up the reins IBM was at $103. Now it's at $98. Cramer consigned Palmisano to his "Wall of Shame."

Dell Hires Moto Refugee To Run New Consumer Unit
Well, Michael Dell has solved the problem created when one of his prized bulls decided to turn VC rather than take over Dell's new consumer unit. He hired a guy who needed to get out of town fast because it was getting too hot for him.

Ron Garriques, the head of Motorola's tarnished mobile device division, has taken the job at Dell…not Apple with its promised iPhone, but Dell…responsible for sales and new product designs. He reports to Michael Dell.

Motorola is currently suffering from the kinds of problems that beset Dell: overly heavy discounting on the popular RAZR phone to gain market share - Garriques reportedly had a lot to do with the RAZR's design - and not having successor 3G products to capitalize on the RAZR's dearly obtained advantage.

Last month, during an analyst meeting Motorola CEO Ed Zander remarked that Garriques' new baby was the "first rich experience next-generation…device Ron delivered all year."

Motorola didn't try to stop him from leaving. Instead it appointed twin executives to replace him for the interim: senior VP, global sales Ray Roman and senior VP, global devices Terry Vega.

Motorola's current profit slump and retreating stock price - it missed its Q3 revenue forecast and margins tanked in Q4 - has recently attracted the attention of Carl Icahn, who said last month that he has at least 1.4% of the company and wants a board seat. He also wants Moto, which has $10 billion in the bank, to buy back shares. The peripatetic Mr. Icahn has also cut his holdings in Time Warner from 68.7 million to 25 million shares.

Michael Dell told BusinessWeek that it will take about 18 months to turn things around. When the magazine asked him if he waited too long to come back, he answered, "I am not sure."