AMD kicks current CEO to the curb
Today seems to be a big day for news about people looking for new jobs. First of course is the big layoff rumored to be happening at Myspace, then comes news out of Redmond that President of Server and Tools Business Bob Muglia has been shown the door, even though he’ll be hanging around until summer.
Now e get word that AMD has decided that it’s time for some new leadership as the board announced that CEO Dirk Meyer is by mutual agreement with the board of directors resigning immediately.
All this is rather puzzling since it was under Meyer’s leadership that AMD managed to engineer a turnaround and actually pull ahead of Intel in some cases.
The CEO search committee will be headed by Bruce Claflin, chairman of AMD’s board. Claflin will become executive chairman as he assumes additional responsibilities during the transition. Seifert will maintain his current job as CFO and has asked not to be considered for the permanent CEO job.
“Dirk became CEO during difficult times. He successfully stabilized AMD while simultaneously concluding strategic initiatives including the launch of GlobalFoundries, the successful settlement of our litigation with Intel and delivering Fusion (accelerated processing units) APUs to the market,” said Claflin.
”However, the Board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time,” Claflin continued. ” This will require the company to have significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. We believe a change in leadership at this time will accelerate the company’s ability to accomplish these objectives.”
via VentureBeat
One has to wonder, given the circumstances, what kind of possible scandal is lurking under the surface. It sure makes one think of the whole HP and Hurd fiasco.
