AMD chief executive resigns
THE HEAD of US chip-maker AMD has resigned with immediate effect, the firm said yesterday, and will be replaced by chief financial officer Thomas Seifert until a permanent replacement can be found.
Dirk Meyer, who has headed the company since 2008, came to a mutual decision with the company to stand down, AMD said last night.
The change will accelerate AMD’s ability to “establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns,” by Bruce Claflin, the chairman of AMD’s board of directors, said in a statement.
Seifert will maintain his current duties as CFO and has asked not to be considered for the permanent CEO job, according to the company’s statement.
AMD shares fell 4.1 per cent in extended trading to $8.81 from a close of $9.19.
The departure of the 49-year-old Meyer, who headed the team that developed one of AMD’s most successful chips before becoming CEO in 2008, caught one Wall Street analyst by surprise.
“I thought he did a good job getting the company into a different direction rather than trying to compete against Intel on a head to head basis,” said Kevin Cassidy, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus.
AMD is the second-largest maker of PC microprocessors, behind Intel, whose chips are used in more than 80 per cent of the world’s PCs.