Apple Gets President From Pepsi

By Andrew Pollack
The New York Times

April 9, 1983

Apple Computer Inc., in a move that is expected to help its marketing efforts, yesterday named the president of Pepsico Inc.'s Pepsi-Cola Company subsidiary, John Sculley, to be its new president and chief executive officer.

Mr. Sculley, who is 44 years old, will replace A.C. Markkula, who has been president and chief executive of the fast-growing personal computer company since 1981 and who has said in the past he would step down when a successor was found.

Mr. Markkula, 41, said yesterday that he would remain on the board of directors and would stay at Apple to work on long-range planning and on setting up a research laboratory. Steven P. Jobs, the young co-founder of Apple, will remain as chairman of the board.

Pepsi Restructuring

Mr. Sculley had been an employee of Pepsico for 16 years and had been president of its domestic soft drink division, the Pepsi-Cola Company, since 1977. His resignation precipitated a reorganization of Pepsico's soft drink and bottling companies into a single worldwide organization.

Mr. Sculley said he had joined Apple because ''it's a business opportunity that turns me on and one I can bring some business and marketing experience to.'' He said he had also been offered extremely attractive compensation -$1 million a year in salary and bonuses, plus an additional $1 million as a signing bonus and stock options on ''quite a few hundred thousand shares'' of Apple stock.

Mr. Sculley's experience at Pepsi is expected to help Apple in marketing and in relations with its dealers. Apple, which perhaps did more than any other company to give rise to the personal computer industry, has been facing increasingly stiff competition as others, particularly the International Business Machines Corporation, have entered the market. Analysts expect I.B.M., known for its strong marketing, to become the largest seller of personal computers this year, surpassing Apple and the Tandy Corporation, which have vied for the top spot for several years.

''I.B.M. is a formidable competitor,'' Mr. Sculley said yesterday. ''But so is Coca-Cola.''

Lacks Computer Experience

Mr. Sculley received a degree in architecture from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School. He worked at Interpublic, a large advertising company, before joining Pepsi in 1967. He was president of Pepsico Foods International from 1974 through 1977 and then became the youngest president of the Pepsi-Cola Company, Pepsico's largest and most profitable division. Pepsi-Cola accounted for roughly $2 billion of Pepsico's $7.5 billion total in 1982 revenues.

While Mr. Sculley has no computer experience, he has had some technical leanings. When he was 14, he said, he invented and applied for patents on a color television cathode ray tube. His idea was narrowly beaten by another patent application that eventually formed the basis for the Sony Corporation's Trinitron television system, he said.

Mr. Sculley said he did not think his lack of computer experience would be a drawback, as long as Apple retained its technical people. Mr. Sculley is given credit by analysts for helping Pepsi, the second-largest soft drink company, gain market share. ''He's gotten Pepsi back on track,'' said Emanual Goldman of Montgomery Securities in San Francisco.

New Appointments at Pepsi

Pepsico announced yesterday that in response to Mr. Sculley's resignation it was reorganizing its soft drink marketing and bottling into a single worldwide beverage group.

''With the departure of John Sculley, we have accelerated the implementation of an integrated approach to our worldwide beverage operations,'' Donald M. Kendall, chairman and chief executive of Pepsico, said in a statement.

The new worldwide beverage group will report to Victor A. Bonomo, executive vice president, who had previously headed Pepsico's international bottling operations. The group will have five operating divisions - domestic and foreign bottling; domestic and foreign sales and marketing, and a wines and spirits division.

Pepsi said that Roger Enrico would head the domestic sales and marketing operation. Robert H. Beeby, was appointed president and chief executive of the international marketing division. Mr. Beeby had been president of Pepsico's Wilson Sporting Goods division. He will be succeeded at Wilson by Malcolm Candlish, senior vice president of marketing.

In a statement, Mr. Kendall of Pepsico said: ''John is an extremely capable executive who has helped Pepsi achieve leadership positions in several key growth segments of the soft drink businesses. John has earned the respect and admiration of everyone in the Pepsico family and we all wish him continued success in this new and exciting opportunity.''

Illustrations: photo of John Sculley