IBM 2008 Annual Report Download - page 11

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The selected references in this letter to the company’s nancial results (i) excluding Enterprise Investments and stock-based compensation, (ii) at
local (constant) currency, and (iii) excluding Global Financing receivables are, in each case, non-GAAP nancial measures. These references are made
to facilitate a comparative view of the company’s ongoing operational performance. Information about references to the company’s nancial results
excluding Enterprise Investments, stock-based compensation and Global Financing receivables is provided in the company’s Form 8-K submitted to the
SEC on January 20, 2009 (Attachment II
—
Non-GAAP Supplementary Materials). Information about references to local currency is provided in the
company’s 2008 Annual Report to Stockholders (Management Discussion
—
Year in Review) and in the company’s Form 10-K for 2008 (Part II, Item 7).
We nd ourselves at such a moment now.
This is an inection point
—
both in the course
of modern technology and economic history,
and in the nearly 100-year journey of IBM.
As someone who has been here for more than
a third of that journey, I can tell you that it
presents the best opportunity I have seen in my
IBM career to align those two trajectories
in very powerful ways.
From cabinet rooms, to board rooms, to
kitchen tables around the world, people are
eager for change. Such a mandate doesn’t come
around very often
—
perhaps once in a genera-
tion, or once in a century. It’s not something
to squander. I and my fellow IBMers have no
intention of doing so.
Let me close by expressing my pride in the
worldwide IBM team for bringing us to this
point, and my gratitude to you, our shareholders,
for your unwavering support. I hope that
you are pleased with how your company is
performing and evolving. And I trust that you
share our excitement about the role we can
play in what promises to be a new era for our
industry, for business and for our planet.
Samuel J. Palmisano
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER