AMD CEO Dirk Meyer resigns, company seeks new leader

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Well, we didn't see this one coming. AMD has just announced that (now former) CEO Dirk Meyer has resigned from the company. There's no official reason behind Meyer's departure, except that he reached a "mutual agreement" with the company's board. A CEO Search Committee has been formed to find a replacement for Meyer and senior vice president Thomas Seifert has agreed to steer the ship until a permanent CEO is appointed.

"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 APUs to the market," said Bruce Claflin, Chairman of AMD's Board of Directors and head of the CEO Search Committee. Despite Meyer's contributions to the company, the board felt it was time for a change.

"However, the Board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time. 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." It's unclear whether Meyer has another opportunity lined up or if AMD has any replacements in mind.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/41917-amd-ceo-dirk-meyer-resigns-company-seeks-new-leader.html

 

[Sarcasm]

Interesting, does he know something that we don't know? (obviously)

 

[red1776]

I wonder if he was Bulldozed out.

 

[Sarcasm]

red1776 said:
I wonder if he was Bulldozed out.

No, he probably bought a Sandy Bridge Processor for his home computer and said "F' Bulldozer"

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Clever, red.

 

[red1776]

They have hung their hat on the overdue,long awaited, and what might be seen as a trouble laden development of AMD's new architecture with new processes (32nm, and high K metal gate) Right about now is when they would realize the full potential of the 'Bulldozer'. I wonder if he is leaving because the numbers are not so good.

 

[princeton]

We're going downhill! JUMP SHIP!

$50 says he knows bulldozer won't be able to compete with sandy bridge and is predicting AMDs downfall in the cpu market.

Also is it me or does that picture make him look like a drunk. His whole expression is sort of like he's in his own little world.

 

[dividebyzero]

I wonder if he was Bulldozed out.

+1

Insider trading ? ( Hector Ruiz redux)
Difference of opinion ?(Company direction, pricing, future product lines etc.)
Scandal ? ( Dirk does a Favre...hopefully with better taste in footwear...or maybe no footwear if he's consulted Rex Ryan!)
or....
"I'd like you to meet Intel's/Nvidia's new CEO !" :haha::haha::haha:

 

[red1776]

Insider trading ? ( Hector Ruiz redux)
Difference of opinion ?(Company direction, pricing, future product lines etc.)
Scandal ? ( Dirk does a Favre...hopefully with better taste in footwear...or maybe no footwear if he's consulted Rex Ryan!)
or....
"I'd like you to meet Intel's/Nvidia's new CEO !"

:haha:
you forgot the most likely of them all Chef:

"to spend more time with the family"

 

[Guest]

this is very worrisome...

I hope this doesn't have anything to do with 'Bulldozer' performance. Because if it does, Intel will reign supreme/unchallenged for a very long time. That is very bad for the consumer

 

[gwailo247]

Princeton said:
Also is it me or does that picture make him look like a drunk. His whole expression is sort of like he's in his own little world.

First thing I thought too.

"You shee thish? You shee thish? Thish ish a buuuuuuuldooooooooozer. (makes noises of things crashing). I shaid call it Viper, but nooooooooo, they lishened to Boudreaux in marketing. (looks off stage) Hey baby, you ever **** a CEO?"

 

[dividebyzero]

this is very worrisome...
I hope this doesn't have anything to do with 'Bulldozer' performance. Because if it does, Intel will reign supreme/unchallenged for a very long time. That is very bad for the consumer

Unlikely.

At a board meeting several months ago, Meyer and his team presented a strategic plan that the directors decided wasn’t going to bring the changes needed fast enough.......Board members are frustrated with AMD’s failure to regain server market share from Intel Corp. and the lack of an AMD chip for tablet computers, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the board meetings are private.

Sounds like a difference in opinion at board level.
From this and seeing how AMD conduct business, I'd say that it's what you get when you have a CEO who is an engineer. Relying on having good products selling themselves is anarchonistic in this day and age. From the stone-age websites which seem designed to confuse and provide relief for insomnia, a blatant "follow-the-leader" PR plan, and a marketing team that makes a lame duck look like an F-35 by comparison, AMD seem hellbent on putting 98% of their effort into making a product, 1% supporting it and 1% trying to promote and instill brand awareness that is crucial to the products uptake.

:haha:
you forgot the most likely of them all Chef:
"to spend more time with the family"

Ha, that's what they all say!

If that was the reason then pretty poor form to spring the decision on AMD and leave them hanging for a replacement CEO
(˄˄˄˄ This for any literal thinkers)

 

[xipo87]

"...One of our sources, a former executive within the company was less than kind in his texts: "Dirk touched everything into Gold at DEC. In AMD, everything after K7 turned into Sh*t." When asked to elaborate, we were told that "Dirk and Hector run the company to the ground by selling the family jewlery. Dirk did not believe in Cellphone business and gave everything to BroadCom and Qualcomm. We lost Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and look who is now taking all the deals. Graphzilla." [Graphzilla was the nickname for nVidia on my previous publication, The INQ].

To elaborate, "conservative current" in AMD is currently rooted in Texas and is inside the CPU side of business. "Progressives" or "Canucks" stand for ex-ATI people who started their unstoppable climb inside the corporate stable and took over many of the executive roles and started to turn AMD into an aggressive company as it once were [during the Jerry Sanders reign]...."

source: brightsideofnews.com

 

[xipo87]

"...Remember, Dirk Meyer?s three deadly sins were:

1) Failure to Execute: K8/Hammer/AMD64 was 18 months late, Barcelona was deliberately delayed by 9 months, original Bulldozer was scrapped and is running 22 months late
* I personally think this is not true; Dirk Meyer was AMD's CEO from July 18, 2008 until January 10, 2011; he could not be responsible for K8 nor Barcelona, however Bulldozer...
2) Giving the netbook market to Intel [AMD created the first netbook as a part of OLPC project] and long delays of Barcelona and Bulldozer architectures.
3) Completely missing the perspective on handheld space - selling Imageon to Qualcomm, Xilleon to BroadCom

Now, when it comes to Deadly Sin #3 - selling Imageon to Qualcomm didn't just cause AMD to lose Nokia and Motorola as customers. Both companies were Spansion customers as well [NOR Flash] but that's beside the point. The key issue, according to our sources at the time was that Nokia was fighting Qualcomm in courts over patents and their silicon supplier sold the key business unit [for Nokia] to the side which they were battling in court. This also caused that Nokia lost ground on the OpenGL ES development by 14 months - an estimate given to us by a Nokia executive..."

source: brightsideofnews.com

 

[Lokalaskurar]

Maybe Mr. Meyer is just handing over the show to someone energetic and creative? That would just be the thing AMD needs in these times!

 

[tipstir]

They need to get their act together over there. They make great CPU and GPU but all these issues behind the seems.

 

[Guest]

Normally CEO would resign after a product launch ,successful or not, and not before an anticipated new product game-changing launch. lol.

So AMD fanboys better save money. add $30 and buy a bridge not a bulldozer. lololololol. Just like I said before, amd should stop releasing new phenoms based on an old architecture. There are many phenoms now eating the dust in warehouses. Only system builders who needs max profit whould build an amd and advertising it as a 4 cores pair it with 4gb mem and sell it to non-geeky buyers..

Invest in R&D AMD!

lolololololol.

 

[Guest]

@ Gwalio247 - LOL, can picture him as a drunk Randy Marsh from southpark doing that.

 

[mosu]

I think they caught him working for Intel...sin no1.If you look closer you'll see the footprint on his back. It's never about engineers or lack of money for development...

 

[Guest]

Intel fan boys on this site should really get a life.

 

[Guest]

ATI Trolls should really stop hiding behind the Guest account.

 

[princeton]

Guest said:
ATI Trolls should really stop hiding behind the Guest account.

This. Ever since the i5-760 buying AMD was a stupid decision. Face the facts AMD lovers. Intel is a far superior company and sandy bridge further shows that.

 

[Guest]

Princeton is the man!


LOL at all AMD fans. Now you know why AMD is perceived by many as a budget brand. That is because it can't compete directly to Intel. Ask every scientist and top engineers, they will always prefer Intel and Nvidia as their processor and video card.

Nvidia is gaining again the momentum, and Intel delivering AMD a KO again in an efficient and excellent Sandy Bridge. I hope AMD can still survive this 2011.

Long live the hype! Bulldozer and fusion won't make it.

 

[Benny26]

It's sad for AMD..I hope they get sorted soon.

More variety and consumer choice is never a bad thing.

 

[Jurassic4096]

The Wall Street Journal reports Dirk was forced out. Its a short read, but its there.