With the product parts in place, Xerox now needs the finances to follow suit
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On March 30, Xerox announced that CEO Steve Bandrowczak was stepping down effective immediately, with President and COO Louie Pastor taking over the company. The abruptness of the switch is notable, but the broader context matters more: Bandrowczak leaves after a tenure defined less by a turnaround in the traditional sense than by a necessary strategic reset built around operational restructuring, acquisitions, and balance-sheet management.
Bandrowczak formally became CEO in August 2022 after serving as interim chief executive following the sudden death of John Visentin. From the outset, his mandate was to stabilize a legacy print company facing secular decline and to push Xerox toward a more diversified mix of print, digital, and IT services. That strategy became the most visible in the “Reinvention” operating-model overhaul Xerox rolled out in early 2024. Management said the focus would be in three areas: stabilizing the core print business, centralizing back-office functions through Global Business Services, and accelerating diversification into IT and digital services. Louie Pastor, notably, was brought back into a key transformation role to help execute that program.
Reinvention Through Acquisition
The two headline bets of Bandrowczak’s tenure were acquisitions. First came ITsavvy, announced in 2024 as a $400 million push deeper into IT services. Then came the much larger strategic swing: Lexmark. Xerox completed that acquisition in July 2025, arguing that the combination would broaden its print portfolio, improve its already-strong position in managed print services, as well as deepen manufacturing and distribution scale. That last point is notable since, in the wake of Xerox’s 2019 exit from its 57-year joint venture relationship with Fujifilm (which occurred while Bandrowczak was President and COO), Xerox had no manufacturing of its own. In fact, Bandrowczak once said to industry analysts, “I don’t have a product problem, I have a supply-chain problem.”
With Lexmark in the fold, Xerox said the combined company would serve more than 200,000 clients in over 170 countries and operate 125 manufacturing and distribution facilities in 16 countries. The company is also targeting roughly $240 million in transaction-related cost synergies by the end of year two. That helps explain why the Board, in announcing Pastor’s promotion, explicitly thanked Bandrowczak for leading the “successful acquisitions and integrations of Lexmark and Itsavvy,” appearing to signal continuity of strategy but a sharper emphasis on execution. Pastor’s résumé shows that he has been involved in enterprise transformation, global service delivery, revenue operations, as well as leadership of people and technology functions. Hence, this change seems to be an evolutionary step from dealmaking and restructuring to operational follow-through.
Can Xerox Survive to See Its Reinvention to Fruition?
The company’s financial picture details why that follow-through is urgent. Xerox’s full-year 2025 results could be characterized as mixed at best. Reported revenue rose almost 13% to just over $7 billion, but that includes acquisitions; on a pro forma basis, revenue fell 8%. Adjusted operating margin fell to 4%, adjusted net loss was $62 million, and free cash flow came in at $133 million (well below the prior year). Even so, management said Q4 operating income and free cash flow were better than expected, and it entered 2026 giving guidance for revenue above $7.5 billion, adjusted operating income of $450 million to $500 million, and free cash flow of about $250 million. Xerox reaffirmed that 2026 outlook in its CEO announcement.
Recent news suggests the company is still actively reshaping itself around that plan, while looking for a financial bridge that appears unavailable or unaffordable through traditional equity and debt markets. For example, in February, Xerox announced a new joint venture (JV) with TPG, a global “alternative asset management firm.” The JV is structured as an intellectual property (IP) holding and licensing entity and raised $450 million in financing for Xerox. The proceeds are earmarked for general corporate purposes, including bolstering liquidity, accelerating its Reinvention initiatives (including the Lexmark integration), and potentially addressing elements of its capital structure such as debt repayment.
In exchange, certain Xerox subsidiaries contributed specific IP assets to the JV including the Xerox name and trademark. Xerox stressed that, as part of this structure, “Xerox and the JV entered into a long-term shared services and license agreement that preserves the Xerox’s full, uninterrupted ability to use the Xerox name, trademark, and other transferred IP across all global operations.”
The upshot is that the JV (in which Xerox holds an equity stake) now owns the Xerox name, trademark, and other unspecified IP, and that Xerox will be licensing those from the JV. Management framed the transaction as balance-sheet strengthening and a continuation of liquidity-enhancing actions begun in late 2025, positioning the company to support operating income growth targets in 2026.
Keypoint Opinion
So how should Bandrowczak’s tenure be judged? Honestly, the jury is still out. Diversification into adjacent markets is essential for all print-centric companies as office print volumes and A3 hardware sales continue their decline. Xerox’s portfolio in digital transformation (DX) solutions and services is arguably the best among any of the print OEMs, and the ITsavvy acquisition gives the company an impressive footprint in IT services. And with Lexmark, the company that invented the photocopier now has control over at least some of its print and MFP hardware design and manufacturing.
Bandrowczak, however, did not oversee a clean turnaround. Xerox remains under heavy pressure, margins are thin, and the stock price has imploded. He leaves behind a company that is leaner and more diversified, but also one that has traded its most valuable intangible asset for a chance at a 2026 recovery.
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