Cybersecurity firm Symantec Corp. saw its stock plunge more than 15% in after-hours trading today after announcing that President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Clark has quit the company.

Board member Richard S. Hill has been appointed as the company’s interim CEO while it launches a search for a permanent replacement. In addition, Symantec announced its hired a new chief financial officer, Vincent Pilette, who will take up his new role later this month.

The reshuffle came as Symantec announced fourth-quarter financial results that were more or less in line with expectations. The company said its earnings before certain costs such as stock compensation came to 39 cents per share, matching forecasts. Revenue came to $1.2 billion, just short of the $1.21 billion Wall Street estimate.

The numbers were solid despite weaker-than-expected sales from its main enterprise security business unit, which was blamed on lower-than-expected bookings. In a statement, Symantec said its main target is to boost its enterprise and consumer sales, and that “now is the right time to transition leadership.”

Clark (pictured) took over the CEO role at Symantec in 2016 after the company acquired his former employer Blue Coat Systems Inc. for $4.65 billion. Prior to that, he had served as an executive at IBM Corp. for several years.

Symantec’s new interim boss Hill told analysts in a conference call that one of the reasons for Clark’s departure is that he wants to spend more time with his aging father. He added that Clark was also disappointed with Symantec’s recent performance, saying that “he doesn’t like to see the results that happened in the fourth quarter.”

Investors probably weren’t all that happy with Symantec’s first-quarter guidance either. During the call, Hill told analysts the company was looking at earnings of 30 to 34 cents per share on revenue of between $1.71 billion and $1.2 billion. Wall Street had forecast earnings of 40 cents per share on revenue of $1.2 billion.

Photo: CEBIT AUSTRALIA/Flickr