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James Kavanaugh

CFO & Senior VP, IBM

Search every verified James Kavanaugh interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a January 2019 CNBC interview, IBM CFO Jim Kavanaugh discussed the company's cloud business and the pending acquisition of Red Hat. He stated that IBM's cloud business generated $19.2 billion for the full year, up 12 percent, and that cloud revenue accelerated across all segments from the third to the fourth quarter. Kavanaugh attributed some of the quarterly cloud performance to a product cycle dynamic involving IBM's mainframe business, which grew 71 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 and continued to accelerate through 2018. He said that without the mainframe, cloud was up 19 percent overall. Kavanaugh described the Red Hat acquisition as a move to "accelerate the leadership position in hybrid cloud." He noted that IBM had invested in its cloud architecture, data centers, and new offerings such as IBM Cloud Private and cloud migration services. He characterized the industry as moving into a second phase of cloud computing, which he said would involve "shifting workloads, mission-critical workloads on real business value," and estimated that "80-plus percent of the workloads are still ahead of us." Kavanaugh also remarked that Linux had surpassed Microsoft in operating systems both on-premises and in the cloud, and said that with the combination of IBM and Red Hat, "we own the starting point and we now own the destination point." He stated that the acquisition was working through regulatory approval and was expected to close in the second half of 2019.

Recent appearances

  • Jim Kavanaugh & Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM | IBM Transformation Edge

    September 23, 2026 · 📺 SiliconANGLE theCUBE

    Jim Kavanaugh & Nickle LaMoreaux, IBM | IBM Transformation Edge 00:00 - Leadership in the Age of AI Transformation 04:28 - AI's Impact on Workforce Dynamics 09:06 - Empowering Growth Through Skill Development and Reinvestment 12:32 - Foundations of an AI-Driven Future 19:58 - Intelligent Workflows 22:48 - Leadership in Change 24:58 - Evolving CHRO Role 27:56 - Building Trust for AI Leadership 31:51 - AI-Driven Futures: Synergy and Impact

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  • IBM Q2 FY26 Earnings Call | $IBM | 🔴 WATCH LIVE

    July 22, 2026 · 📺 Benzinga

    📢 IBM Q2 FY26 Earnings Call | $IBM 🔗https://www.benzinga.com/quote/IBM/ea... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 📜 Need a transcript of the call? Access the Benzinga Earnings Call Transcripts API: 🔗 https://bit.ly/493BUhA 🌐 Find more market-moving insights at https://www.benzinga.com — your one-stop destination for the latest financial news, data, and expert analysis to stay ahead of the markets. 🖥️ Want the same tools the pros use—without the $10K Bloomberg terminal? Benzinga Edge gives you real-time portfolio alerts, weekly stock picks, an…

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  • Jim Kavanaugh, IBM | IBM's Transformation Edge: A C-Suite Reinvention Series

    April 14, 2026 · 📺 SiliconANGLE theCUBE

    In this interview from IBM's Transformation Edge: A C-Suite Reinvention Series hosted by theCUBE and IBM, Jim Kavanaugh, chief financial officer of IBM, joins theCUBE's John Furrier to discuss the evolution of the CFO from financial guardian to strategic co-architect of AI-led enterprise reinvention. Kavanaugh, who is approaching the longest CFO tenure in IBM's 115-year history, frames the shift across three dimensions: strategic vision to identify new growth, business model innovation through capital allocation and portfolio optimization and organizational agility to drive execution at speed.…

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  • IBM Investor Day 2025 - February 04, 2025

    March 25, 2026 · 📺 Heller House

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  • $IBM International Business Machines Q3 2025 Earnings Conference Call

    October 22, 2025 · 📺 EARNMOAR

    10/22/2025 Q&A: 24:22 International Business Machines Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides integrated solutions and services in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through Software, Consulting, Infrastructure, and Financing segments. The Software segment offers hybrid cloud and AI platforms that allows clients to realize their digital and AI transformations across the applications, data, and environments in which they operate. Its Consulting segment focuses on skills integration for strategy, experience, technology, and operations b…

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  • IBM CFO: Q4 results driven by acceleration of hybrid cloud portfolio

    January 21, 2020 · 📺 CNBC Television

    IBM CFO James Kavanaugh joins "Closing Bell" to discuss the company's Q4 earnings results. IBM stock moved as much as 5% higher on Tuesday after the company reported fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ estimates and forecast earnings growth in 2020. Here’s how the company did: Earnings: Excluding certain items, $4.71 per share, vs. $4.69 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue: $21.77 billion, vs. $21.64 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue grew slightly on an annualized basis, IBM said in a statement, after it had fallen five…

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  • Will be on a sustainable revenue growth profile starting in 2020: IBM CFO

    October 16, 2019 · 📺 CNBC Television

    IBM CFO James Kavanaugh discusses the company's earnings beat and explains issues with the company's revenues.

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  • IBM CFO: Moving to second phase of cloud computing will be toughest workload

    January 23, 2019 · 📺 CNBCTelevision

    Jim Kavanaugh, chief financial officer at IBM, discuss the next steps in the cloud computing industry for the company after its strong earnings report. » Subscribe to CNBC: http://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC About CNBC: From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more. Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/ Find CNBC News on Facebook: http://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC Follow CNBC News on Twitter: http://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC…

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The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →