BusinessWeek is peddling a rumor that Michael Dell is tyring to handpick a new executive team to jumpstart his company's (relatively) moribund business:

Says one high-ranking executive from a Dell rival: "It has been clear for months that Rollins had lost external support, but my sense is that he has now lost internal support as well. Perhaps a CEO can lose one of the two temporarily, but never both."

A Dell spokesman says that the company is not seeking to replace Rollins. "Michael and Kevin have been involved in business decisions, in accessing talent, in interviewing talent, together," says spokesman Bob Pearson. "There's nothing new here. There's no change."

Pearson declined to comment in any detail on attempts to fill other senior positions at Dell. "We're always looking to grow teams at all levels. We're always interested in looking at top talent," he says.

So, the word from Dell is "Nothing to see here, everything is fine, all systems are normal." BusinessWeek, however, goes on to suggest that Dell's been looking to find some heavy-hitters to shore up a few weak spots in the business. Nothing major, just looking for executives to fix Dell's services, their marketing, design, and operations.

Wow. If you're bleeding in all those areas, why not just shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders, Mike?

Tags: Dell, Rollins, leadership