AMD have been going through some rather drastic changes. It acquired graphics company ATI and Dirk Meyer took over as VP in July 2008, and about the same time it separated its circuit manufacturing and formed GlobalFoundries. With AMD’s first new microarchitecture in a long time the fairly unexpected news of Meyer’ departure has been released.
Even though AMD has made great progress since Meyer took over, which AMD emphasizes in the press release, it has decided that it need fresh blood to move forward and improve stock value.
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.
The thing that is missing from the press release is why Meyer is leaving the company. A lot of his work from the last 18 months has just started to pay off and as the brain behind AMD’s highly successful K7 architecture Meyer has been active at AMD for 14 years.
The board has decided Meyer wasn’t the right person to lead the company from an economical point of view. CEO Thomas Seifert will carry the responsibility as the interim leader while AMD searches for the replacement to Meyer. Chairman Bruce Claflin will lead the search and will also monitor the company progress during the transition period.
