W.J. Sanders III, co-founder and longtime executive of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., will step down as chief executive in April 2002 but remain as board chairman through 2003, the company said Wednesday.
Hector de J. Ruiz, president and chief operating officer, will succeed Sanders as CEO of the Sunnyvale-based chipmaker.
The transition had been planned for a while.
Ruiz, who left Motorola Inc. to join AMD in January 2000, was brought on board to be the heir apparent, said company spokesman Drew Prairie. Sanders, 64, had originally expected to resign as CEO at the end of 2001 but extended his term for a few months for a "more seamless transition," Prairie said.
"Jerry Sanders is one of the true visionary leaders of the semiconductor industry, and of course the driving force of AMD since its founding over 30 years ago," said Charles M. Blalack, chairman of the compensation committee of the board of directors.
Sanders will continue to be involved in AMD's "vision, strategy and key industry relationships," Blalack said.
AMD, a maker of computer microprocessors, always has trailed industry leader Intel Corp., but last year made significant market gains with a new lineup of products.
For all of 2000, AMD earned $793.8 million, or $2.36 per share, excluding a one-time gain from the sale of a business, on revenue of $4.6 billion. That compared with a loss of $88.9 million in 1999, or 30 cents per share, on sales of $2.9 billion.
"Jerry always wanted to leave when AMD was on top, and right now, AMD has a very strong roadmap and is probably in a better position to compete against Intel than ever in the company's history," said Eric Rothdeutsch, an analyst with Robert Stephens.
"He's made overtures to leave over the years, but Jerry's a fighter, and he didn't want to leave the company in bad shape."
Shares of AMD were up 94 cents Wednesday to close at $24.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.<
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cube_corner said:
Mike Caggiano said:
Bravo Mjones, well said
Mike Caggiano said:
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