10:57 AM EDT, 08/11/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with Shares and National Bank commentary)

Open Text ( OTEX ) , a Cloud and AI company, on Monday appointed its current Executive Vice President, International Sales, James McGourlay as interim chief executive.

McGourlay, who has been with OpenText for more than 25 years, has held senior roles in sales, customer operations, IT, technical support, product support and special projects.

OpenText Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer Savinay Berry has been named Chief Technology Officer. To support the executive leadership team during the transition period, the company also announced the appointment of P. Thomas Jenkins as executive chair and chief strategy officer, and the establishment of an executive committee.

"After a thorough review of the business and its performance, and as we look ahead to the company's future, the board believes there is an opportunity to enhance shareholder value by growing revenue in our core Information Management for AI business and redeploying capital from the non-core assets," said Jenkins.

The board also formed a CEO search committee, while Mark J. Barrenechea has transitioned from his roles as CEO, CTO and Vice Chairman of the Board effective immediately.

National Bank of Canada believes the executive change likely reflects the company's "inability to surface value from a broad product portfolio under its now former CEO."

"In our opinion, the changes likely signal an accelerated move to streamline OpenText into its core Information (Content) Management business beginning with potential asset divestitures which in our view would be positive in simplifying and enhancing the company's ability to pursue collective growth across its portfolio," said analyst Richard Tse.

With respect to the interim execution risk, Tse said the company's interim CEO, Executive Chair and a newly formed Executive Committee made up by long-standing OpenText executives "should mitigate execution risk in that there's enough experience and continuity to continue operating with limited disruption in the short-term."

The bank maintained its sector-perform rating and target price of US$34.00 on OTEX.

Shares of the company were last seen up 0.2% at $42.91 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

(MT Newswires covers equity, commodity and economic research from major banks and research firms in North America, Asia and Europe. Research providers may contact us here: https://www.mtnewswires.com/contact-us)

Price: 42.64, Change: +0.12, Percent Change: +0.28