Akamai President and CEO Paul Sagan Announces Succession Plan To Transition Role By End Of 2013

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• Leading provider of cloud, mobile, Internet media and Web security solutions opens CEO search for next phase of Company's growth
• Sagan plans to serve until successor is named to ensure smooth, planned transition

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) announced today that President and CEO Paul Sagan plans to transition out of his role by the end of 2013.  Mr. Sagan has committed to continue leading the Company until his successor is named, and he intends to remain directly involved with Akamai thereafter to ensure a successful leadership transition. 

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100225/AKAMAILOGO )

Akamai's Board of Directors has formed a search committee to select a new CEO and has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a nationally recognized executive recruiting firm, to advise the Board on potential candidates.

Mr. Sagan was appointed President in 1999 and has led Akamai as CEO since 2005, when he was also named to the Company's Board of Directors.

"For nearly a decade and a half, Akamai has been on an incredible journey, prevailing against enormous odds and challenges to become a global leader in Internet technology and services," Mr. Sagan said.  "With the Company demonstrating strong growth and business results, and as I approach my 15th year helping to lead the business, I have concluded this is the ideal time for the Board to select the Company's next leader to drive Akamai's continued growth for many years to come."

Mr. Sagan continued, "It is an honor to work with Akamai's talented and dedicated professionals.  We have an exceptionally strong and experienced management team of executives who are committed to the Company's success, and I am confident that all of us will make this transition successful as we identify and welcome my successor."

"The Board is committed to conducting a thorough search to identify the right candidate with direct experience in building multi-billion dollar, cloud-based businesses to serve as Akamai's next CEO," said Martin M. Coyne II, Akamai's Lead Independent Director.  "Paul will not be an easy executive to replace, and on behalf of the Board and everyone at Akamai, I would like to thank him for his past and continuing leadership as President and CEO and his remarkable dedication to Akamai for nearly 15 years."

"Akamai has a tremendous future and significant growth opportunities ahead," added George H. Conrades, Akamai's Chairman and Mr. Sagan's predecessor.  "As a result of Paul's insightful leadership and guidance, Akamai has been transformed from a successful start-up company into an S&P 500 global leader.  We thank him for his contributions as CEO even as we work together to prepare for what we are confident will be the next period of leadership and growth at Akamai."

About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise.  Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud.  To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

This release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Akamai's future growth.  Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, failure to increase revenues due to price declines, loss of customers or macro-economic conditions, any early departure of Mr. Sagan, inability of Akamai services to operate as expected or to address intended market needs, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, and other factors that are discussed in Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.