Former Rambus CEO Resigns from Board Amid Options Scandal

Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 8/16/2006

Due to the ongoing stock options controversy, Geoff Tate, former CEO of Rambus Inc. from 1990 through 2005, has given notice of his intention to resign from its board of directors.

In July, an audit committee assembled by the Rambus board of directors reached a preliminary conclusion that the actual measurement dates for certain stock option grants issued in prior years differ from the recorded grant dates for such awards. Rambus is set to restate its previously issued financial statements for the affected time period. During this period, Tate was CEO and the sole member of the stock option committee.

Rambus' first rumblings of stock options trouble were in May, when the company announced it would conduct an informal investigation into its stock option granting practices. The memory maker is just one of a growing list of companies to see stock options granting histories come back to haunt them in SEC's current shakedown of the tech industry.

"Given these circumstances and to ensure that there is not even the appearance of a conflict of interest, Geoff felt he could best support the company by resigning from his position on the board as Rambus resolves these issues," the company said in a statement.