AMD picks Lenovo veteran as its new president and CEO

[Jos]

The search for a new leader over at AMD is finally over: today the company has appointed Rory Read, Lenovo's former COO, as its new president, CEO and board member.

The announcement concludes a seven-month search after AMD's previous CEO, Dirk Meyer, was ousted in January due to a disagreement with the board over the company’s failure to regain traction in the server market and move into the rapidly growing tablets and smartphones business.

Read will take over from Tom Seifert, who served as the temporary leader after Meyer's departure. He will be charged with the difficult task of pushing the company towards a more mobile world, while also narrowing the gap between AMD and Intel in the x86 microprocessor market -- which is still both companies' bread and butter.

"I'm very pleased to be joining AMD at this important time in its history," said Read. "AMD is a true innovator and is uniquely positioned to lead the industry forward, delivering the next big thing both within the PC ecosystem and beyond. AMD has strong momentum and the opportunity to continue profitably gaining share based on its highly differentiated products, solid financial foundation, and passionate and committed employees. I'm excited to be joining AMD's employees as we write the next chapter not just for the company, but for the industry and consumers around the world."

During his time at Lenovo, Rory P. Read rose from managing Lenovo's Americas group and driving double-digit revenue growth all the way to up to the role of president and COO of the company in 2009. Prior to Lenovo, Read spent 23 years at IBM, where he held a range of management positions.

According to reports AMD had previously approached at least four individuals with an offer to become the company's next CEO. The four candidates in question were Apple's newly appointed CEO Tim Cook, Oracle Co-President Mark Hurd, EMC COO Pat Gelsinger, and Carlyle Group Managing Director Greg Summe. All of them turned down the offer.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/45221-amd-picks-lenovo-veteran-as-its-new-president-and-ceo.html

 

[NTAPRO]

A difficult task indeed. Best of luck to AMD as the president and CEO.

 

[mosu]

So AMD is heading mobile...good news

 

[Guest]

APU for Android please...

 

[Arris]

NTAPRO said:
A difficult task indeed. Best of luck to Lenovo as the president and CEO.

Think you misread that. Lenovo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenovo) is the chinese PC business purchased IBMs PC business. The chap's name is Rory Read. Hopefully he will be able to give AMD the leadership they require.

 

[Guest]

Just me or does that picture remind you of something you would find on a hitler jugend poster?

New slogan inc, "Superior genes makes for superior graphics cards"

 

[stewi0001]

gah they never called me... so sad...

 

[Jibberish18]

Why do higher ups in the corporate world spew such bullshit? True Innovator? Committed Employees? Profitable? Blah blah? Get a freaking clue. Why can't any of them just speak the truth? Jezuz.

 

[Sarcasm]

Jibberish18 said:
Why do higher ups in the corporate world spew such bullshit? True Innovator? Committed Employees? Profitable? Blah blah? Get a freaking clue. Why can't any of them just speak the truth? Jezuz.

That is why you're not a CEO and you have the handle jibberish.

 

[dividebyzero]

The chap's name is Rory Read. Hopefully he will be able to give AMD the leadership they require.

AMD don't need, or more importantly, want a CEO with leadership qualities.If they did they would not have canned Dirk Meyer.
Rory Read is exactly the kind of CEO the AMD board want. Yes man; public face; plug-and-play generic management type that will carry out the orders of the board.

It's no wonder that AMD couldn't get any corporate high-flyers interested in taking up the reins- the board want someone who's not about to try to put their personal mark or vision on to the company. He's there to be the mouthpiece of the board...and probably the fall-guy when the inevitable buy out takes place.

 

[Arris]

AMD don't need, or more importantly, want a CEO with leadership qualities.If they did they would not have canned Dirk Meyer.
Rory Read is exactly the kind of CEO the AMD board want. Yes man; public face; plug-and-play generic management type that will carry out the orders of the board.

It's no wonder that AMD couldn't get any corporate high-flyers interested in taking up the reins- the board want someone who's not about to try to put their personal mark or vision on to the company. He's there to be the mouthpiece of the board...and probably the fall-guy when the inevitable buy out takes place.

I was just saying that as they previously swayed about going into tablet market, going into mobile market and seemed to have a little lack of direction. I'll take your word about them wanting a yes man since I'm sure you are a lot more informed about it than I am

 

[dividebyzero]

Like most people I think I said "Rory who?"
After reading some of the quickfire evaluations on the net (Bloomberg here - first five paragraphs before the PR ad) and the interview published at The Reg....well.....at least he's " super-impressed" by AMD, although I dont know if using the phrase "Faster is always better. Bigger is better. Y'know, those are always good things," inspires a lot of confidence. Bigger is generally not seen as better in the GPU and CPU industry.
Time will tell, although the share gain of <2% doesn't read that well, and I certainly hoped that he would answer at a least a question or two rather that spouting generic PR spiel- which pretty much reinforces that he's the BoD's man.