Mark Shuttleworth Reportedly Returning To Role As Canonical CEO

There's a big meeting going on today at Canonical regarding changes being made at the company. This follows the dramatic news this week of Ubuntu dropping Unity 8 and switching back to GNOME Shell. There's now information obtained that Mark is planning to reprise the role of CEO.

Yesterday was then the news about Canonical slashing jobs and looking for outside investment.

I'm now told directly by a confidant that Jane Silber is likely stepping down with Mark Shuttleworth taking over as CEO. Mark had been CEO of Canonical from 2004 to 2010 until Jane Silber took over as CEO. Mark had originally stepped down from being the CEO to focus on product design, partnerships, customers, and other areas. Silber had been with Canonical since 2004 where she was serving in other roles, including as COO.

I'm also told by a source in the know that it looks to be about 100 jobs on the line as part of this restructuring and pursuit toward profitability.

Stay tuned for more information shortly. I suspect we'll hear more today after what sounds like an all-hands meeting.