Not surprisingly, former Compuware founder and CEO Pete Karmanos Jr. in an interview with The Social D website has little good to say about his former company and the former CEO Bob Paul, who succeeded him. He calls Paul a "jerk."
He also chatted briefly about recently getting invited to Kid Rock's house where they spent the afternoon with the guy who shot Osama bin Laden.
"I was sitting home the other day and I had several different things that I was supposed to do and Kid Rock called me and said, 'Hey, I’ve got the guy that shot Osama bin Laden at my house. You want to hang out this afternoon?' So I went and hung out with the guy that had shot Osama bin Laden. That was cool"
Karmanos does not mention the man by name, but Robert O'Neill has come forward in the past and identified himself as the former Navy Seal who shot bin Laden.
The videotaped interview (see video below) with Chuck Bennett, editor and founder of The Social D website, was posted Tuesday. Karmanos, 72, who has started a tech company in Birmingham called MadDog Technology, personally has a minority interest in Deadline Detroit. Compuware provided the initial funding for Deadline Detroit.
Karmanos, who is friends with Bennett, talked about recently winning a $16.5 million arbitration ruling against Compuware for firing him and improperly stripping him of vested stock options in 2013.
He retired as CEO of Compuware in 2011. He was fired in October 2013 from his consulting contract with the company and stripped of some vested stock options after he publicly criticized Compuware's management and board of directors, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Karmanos told The Social D he felt vindicated by the legal rulings that went against Compuware in his arbitration battle.
"They did a lot of really crummy things to people, me included, and it was nice for them to get their comeuppance," he said.
In 2014, private equity firm Thoma Bravo bought Compuware and converted it back to a privately held company. Bob Paul, the CEO, stepped down at the end of 2014.
During the interview, Chuck Bennett asked Karmanos to play a word game and respond to different words he threw at him.
Detroit: “Greatest place in the world to grow up."
Mayor Mike Duggan: "God bless him."
Bob Paul: "Ah jerk.
Compuware: "Gone."
Winning $16.5 million dollars from Compuware: "Vindication."
