Sol Trujillo the combative and controversial ex-Telstra chief executive made a quiet exit from the company several weeks ahead of 30June, the date he was to officially demit office. Trujillo said that since the company had appointed an insider who knew the company and its business there was no need to delay a handover.

David Thodey, the new Telstra chief hosted a low key farewell for Trujillo and his wife in an upstairs suite of Crown Towers hotel in Melbourne last Wednesday night.

Trujillo took an early morning flight out of Australia with no plans to return, on Thursday.

None of the current Telstra board members attended the farewell except for Donald McGauchie, the former chairman who was himself forced to put in his papers two weeks ago. McGauchie had cut short Trujillo's stormy tenure only a few months earlier.

According to industry sources, the absence of Telstra board was evidence of how much it wanted to underline the end of the McGauchie-Trujillo era and the beginning the new Catherine Livingstone-Thodey era.

They point out that it is also evidence of the extent to which the political and corporate mood had soured since the American-born Trujillo took over the reins of the company in mid-2005.
 
The former chairman spoke approvingly of Trujillo's successes in bringing about a cultural transition in the company and delivering the Next G wireless service. Many of the Telstra chief's former direct reports, including David Thodey spoke in a similar vein about his impact on them and the company.

Though the polite reason for Trujillo's exit, according to analysts was given as the appointment of an internal candidate, they say that the real reason was that Thodey had taken over almost immediately, the day he had been appointed on 8 May. Trujillo's tenure had already come to an abrupt end and the company wanted to demonstrate that a new CEO meant a new beginning, especially in relations with the government.

Besides, Trujillo's continued stay would only cost the company more money given his busy and expensive lifestyle and travel on overseas speaking circuit. Even with is resignation, Trujillo received $3 million in severance payment and the prospect of millions to follow in bonuses later this year.

Given the fact that the abrasive former chief had already earned over $30 million during his tenure lasting three years and ten months, this remains a sensitive topic for shareholders, politicians and the Telstra board. Trujillo sipped diet coke throughout his farewell and appeared enthusiastic about his legacy. But his exist has come as a relief for Telstra and the government also probably sees it as a good riddance.