AMD appoints new CEO as losses continue

 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/17/AMD_appoints_new_CEO_as_losses_continue_1.html

AMD has replaced Hector Ruiz with Dirk Meyer as its CEO, as the
company reported its seventh consecutive quarterly net loss on
Thursday.

AMD's board has elected Meyer to the CEO spot effective immediately,
AMD said. He was previously president and COO and has been with AMD 12
years. Ruiz will become executive chairman and chair of AMD's board of
directors.

The chipmaker also announced that it has decided to divest its
handheld and digital TV businesses. The company had merged the
businesses into its consumer electronics group after the 2006
acquisition of ATI. Last week, AMD announced it would take a charge of
$880 million related to impaired assets of those businesses.

AMD's revenue from continuing operations for the second quarter rose 3
percent from a year earlier, to $1.35 billion. But the company still
posted a net loss of $1.19 billion, or $1.96 per share.

Second-quarter revenue fell 7 percent compared with the previous
quarter. Unit shipments declined a little and average selling prices
fell more, the company said.

"We have a company rich with great people, great products, great
spirit and a lot of great potential," Meyer said on a conference call
following the financial announcement. "Looking at the recent past, we
have not been living up to that potential. Looking forward, we will."

Ruiz, who remains chairman, will continue to oversee the "asset smart"
strategy initiated under his watch to make AMD less capital-intensive.
The company would not provide more details on what sort of deals the
company will make to carry that out.

Meyer, who is also taking on the title of president, said he plans to
focus AMD more narrowly on large-volume "sweet spots," namely PCs and
volume servers, and increase its focus on execution, including
dependable delivery of products and efficiency.

AMD has suffered from product delays as it struggles against a much
bigger competitor in Intel.

The company expects to achieve sustained profitability beginning in
the second half of this calendar year on the strength of new products
and lower costs, executives said.

[...]

 

sillyputty wrote:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/17/AMD_appoints_new_CEO_as_losses_continue_1.html


I have been faithful to AMD for years. Nothing against Intel personally,
but I shudder to think what would happen in the marketplace if Intel had
no competition.

 


Or if Nvidia had no competition.

 


ToolPackinMama wrote:


http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/17/AMD_appoints_new_CEO_as_losses_continue_1.html  

AMD once had a clear-cut opportunity to distance itself from Intel
but it failed in this mission. To be a competitor, one has to be
competitive. AMD failed to stake its reputation on its own research
and developments, which at that time had surpassed Intel. Sadly, AMD
elected to stay within the same arena as Intel and hedged its bets
by taking on the corporate marketplace instead of running amok in
the field of gaming enthusiasts, wasting resources and worsening its
debt.

 

Didn't realize how bad AMD/ATI was doing. AMD stock is 1/10th of what
it was 2 years ago ($4 now vs $40 then). They lost almost $4 billion
this past year. Intel market capitalization is over 60 times AMD.
Intel made a net profit of over $7 billion in the same period. Intel
is rolling out dual and quad core 45nm and AMD still hasn't been able
to come out with 45nm at all. Intel is working on 32nm with over 16
cores for next year.

We could see AMD/ATI fail next year.