AMD's sales and marketing chief plans departure with Barcelona coming
By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- EDN, August 23, 2007
As the company ramps up to its highly anticipated quad-core Opteron debut, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) has announced that Henri Richard, its chief sales and marketing officer, is leaving AMD next month.
According to a statement released late Wednesday by AMD, Richard is departing "of his own accord and on completely amicable terms."
The past year has not been a particularly smooth one for the company. After a period in which it garnered significant support as a potential usurper to long-time industry leader Intel Corp.'s chipmaking throne, AMD has endured a string of lackluster financial quarters and a slide in its stock price.
In March, AMD announced it would tackle the slump by restructuring its business model. So far, the initiatives seem to have had some effect. In AMD's Q2 report released last month, the company reported significant sales gain of 13 percent year-over-year; nevertheless, AMD still incurred a net loss of $600 million for the quarter.
The company did say that it expects its numbers to improve in Q3 due to anticipated seasonal upswing as well as the debut of its Barcelona quad-core processor. The Barcelona launch has been delayed several times thus far; originally slated to ship in Q2 of this year, then pushed back to an August release date, the processor is now set to launch on September 10. Meanwhile, AMD's rival Intel debuted its quad-core offering in November 2006.
Wall Street has taken notice of the company's recent issues: this week, shares of AMD's stock hit a new 52-week low of $11.27, less than half its 52-week high of $27.90 it hit in September 2006. This morning, the company's stock opened at a price of $11.98.
However, Richard did not acknowledge any of the company's struggles as motivation for his departure. "After 20 years in the PC industry – and five of the most professionally rewarding years here at AMD – I have decided to make a move to a different business segment," Richard said in a statement.
Richard did go on to refer to AMD's allegations of Intel's engagement in anti-competitive business practices. "I am leaving AMD at a time when the company is in position to break the monopoly that plagues this industry."
The company said that AMD's global sales and marketing organization will report into the office of the CEO until a permanent replacement is appointed.
