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OLPC on the hunt for CEO
To be "more like Microsoft"…

By Elinor Mills

Published: Friday 07 March 2008

In the wake of a spat with former partner Intel and a reorganisation, Nicholas Negroponte is looking for a chief executive for his One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organisation, according to BusinessWeek.

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He wants someone to help manage the organisation "more like Microsoft", according to the article, rather than like the "terrorist group, doing impossible things" it's been until now.

OLPC chairman Negroponte said in an interview: "I am not a CEO. Management, administration and details are my weaknesses. I'm much better at the vision, big-picture side of the house."

Negroponte has hired a headhunter to help find a CEO and hopes to have one named by April or May.

The OLPC aims to provide low-cost laptops to children in developing countries.

The group has faced its share of challenges in the three years since it was formed. Its XO laptops initially cost $188 each instead of the anticipated $100, some countries are scaling back their deployment plans and Intel recently quit, claiming OLPC was pressuring it not to compete with its own laptops.