Hector Ruiz steps down as AMD CEO

Don't say the writing wasn't already littering the walls, because it was. Just months after AMD hacked its workforce by 10% and let its CTO walk away without being replaced, the company's second CEO after Jerry Sanders has spent his last day in AMD's biggest corner office. Hector Ruiz has decided to walk away from his role in the flagging outfit, leaving his right hand man (that would be Dirk Meyer) to take over whatever there is to take over. Of note, Mr. Ruiz will still have ties with the company as he remains on its board of directors as "executive chairman," though it's hard to say how much influence he'll have from there. Really though, what's next?

[Thanks, nehemoth]

[Evan @ Jul 17th 2008 5:59PM]

Saw this one coming.

[Totalfixation @ Jul 17th 2008 6:25PM]

I second that, I just didn't see it in him to lead this company, bring back Sanders.

[SimbaDogg @ Jul 17th 2008 7:01PM]

yeah...wonder if he'll end up getting a 50+ million severance package...stupid CEOs make way too much, even when they drive companies into the ground

[wslcrew @ Jul 17th 2008 10:35PM]

First Motorola and now AMD? This guy is a professional corporate wrecker!

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 18th 2008 1:35PM]

Well I think it was about damn time. I also think he has to have SOME shame since he bowed out after the big loss amd had for the quarter.

[tekdroid @ Jul 17th 2008 6:01PM]

ATI purchase + Intel waking up must've hurt.

[Mage @ Jul 17th 2008 6:01PM]

This is a shame really, not that one individual CEO hits the bricks, but that this is a sign that AMD still struggles. Be you an AMD or Intel fanboy, no one should doubt that competition ultimately benefits the consumer. Less competition.... and Intel will be less driven to deliver innovation as quickly, or at least not as aggressively priced.

[Kevin @ Jul 17th 2008 6:34PM]

You're a moron - this doesn't mean "less competition." Hopefully this means they oust that jackass that's been belligerently running that company for the past few years and they put somebody competent in his place. AMD really needs to be reinvigorated. My last 3 computers have had Intel chips, and I'd really like me to actually look at the competition for my next one.

[Mark L. @ Jul 17th 2008 10:46PM]

AMD hasn't been any of Intel's competition for years now. If Intel gets lazy then some competitor will open shop to take the consumer demand for faster processing power.

[nikster @ Jul 17th 2008 11:00PM]

AMD is in the toilet, so it's good when the CEO leaves. That's a chance to get the company back on track and competing against Intel.

Ok so AMD didn't see the whole power savings thing coming, but it's been 5 years now since the Centrino platform was introduced and AMD is still struggling to compete. With ATI in their pocked they should be producing killer mobile solutions - they should have a big advantage over Intel in the high end laptop market. But look where they are now...

[retro77 @ Jul 17th 2008 6:02PM]

Hopefully they will take his salary and put it towards R&D.

[yode @ Jul 17th 2008 6:06PM]

It's a sad sad day for the two AMD users in the world..

[Dave @ Jul 17th 2008 6:12PM]

Yeah but how about the bajillion 4850 and 4870 owners?

[tinker_xp @ Jul 17th 2008 6:34PM]

Well I'm proud to say im one of them.

[Lowest Ranked @ Jul 17th 2008 6:44PM]

That must make me the other one.

[Ed @ Jul 17th 2008 9:50PM]

How big of a moron are you? AMD owns 1/5 of the market.

[michas_pi @ Jul 18th 2008 3:43AM]

And I'll be the undisclosed third.

No matter what AMD goes through, I will always respect them and their products.

Does that make me a fanboy? Meh, I don't know.

[NG @ Jul 17th 2008 6:09PM]

Man, i like AMD

[macserv @ Jul 18th 2008 12:26AM]

Then be happy that this cancer has been excised. Good riddance.

[saintchuck @ Jul 17th 2008 6:10PM]

And after helping to run AMD into the ground, how much does he get for walking away and not having to worry about the company anymore? How much are his stock options worth? Does he return any of his bonuses?

[broli @ Jul 17th 2008 6:34PM]

When AMD was successful in the K8 times this guy was a genius. Now he's the evil guy who ruined AMD.

[saintchuck @ Jul 17th 2008 6:44PM]

Yes

[Kax02 @ Jul 17th 2008 11:32PM]

@broli

No, he was still a fool when he came in as CEO in 2002, you see the problem in your thought and everyone elses thought is that a product is attributed directly to the time when someone is in power.

Ruiz would have had to have been pushing to develop the K8 at least 3-4 years prior to his appointment, it's not like companies wake up one morning and go "lets get this next gen processor designed and out the door by next December" I mean heck like 6 years ago both Intel and AMD were talking about experimenting with THz frequencies through gates, nothing close to a full chip but just the ability to form material and find frequency that could do it. The R&D in these companies goes back for ages and people neglect to give credit where it is due. Right now the AMD K10 is basically his legacy including the TLD errors and limited clock speeds and power consumption ratings.

He was always the evil guy who ruined Motorola and now AMD, he lacks the vision and common sense that other people apparently have, seeing as letting your CTO just walk out is probably the worst play I've heard of, pretty much ever. I mean why push technology when you can just stagnate and die.

Glad they finally dumped the tool, maybe they can restore some order to the company now.

[MotoSPS @ Jul 17th 2008 6:19PM]

Good ol' "Hector The Sector Wrecker" couldn't hold up at AMD either, eh?

Man, no love lost there, I'm sure.

[phanbouy @ Jul 17th 2008 6:12PM]

must've been the crappy suit

[HRCnt @ Jul 17th 2008 6:14PM]

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/14/amds-finanical-woes-dont-stop-hector-ruiz-from-nabbing-a-raise/

[Doug @ Jul 17th 2008 6:19PM]

Indeed, I remember that.. What a bunch of crap.. I hate CEO's who make millions.. If I were a CEO I would take my 300k and be happy!

[Khattab @ Jul 17th 2008 7:35PM]

No, you wouldn't. You'd be as greedy as all of them, 'cause ultimately you'd only think of one person - yourself. Today's CEOs just spend 3-5 years average in their position. Who wouldn't act like them?

It's in the responsability of the Board of Directors to act against such behaviour, but since today's Boards all consist of former employees and buddys of those CEOs, why should they care?

We live in crazy times...

[Doug @ Jul 17th 2008 6:15PM]

I think AMD is on the right track.. They are doing a lot of good.

[NRCnt @ Jul 17th 2008 6:18PM]

will be an adviser for intel by the weekend

[Carl Vitullo @ Jul 17th 2008 6:19PM]

According to one of my friends, AMD is about to be bought out.
She said her dad was a lawyer for the other company, but refused to say what company it was :\

[phanbouy @ Jul 17th 2008 6:24PM]

wow carl, you're, like, only five degrees removed!

[retro77 @ Jul 17th 2008 6:46PM]

Thanks for the insider trading, Carl. I'm sure the Feds wont be knocking on your door at all.

[Carl Vitullo @ Jul 17th 2008 6:20PM]

Apparently AMD is about to be bought out by some other company.
One of my friends said that her dad works for that other company, but refused to say who it was :\

[Charles @ Jul 17th 2008 7:14PM]

Sounds like some solid info, Carl.

[phanbouy @ Jul 17th 2008 6:28PM]

Apparently Carl is about to post this for a third time

so says my cousin's brother's incestuous lover's babysitter

[retro77 @ Jul 17th 2008 6:45PM]

Thanks for the insider trading, Carl. I'm sure the Feds wont be knocking on your door at all.

[Scott @ Jul 17th 2008 8:10PM]

If i'm not mistaken, it's not insider's trading unless YOU act on it. For him, it's a leak of sensitive information.

[%u258C @ Jul 17th 2008 10:39PM]

My deranged uncle's psychitrists' hobo boyfriend's mother's cat told me that the world was going to turn inside out in less than 0 seconds

[Carl Vitullo @ Jul 17th 2008 11:09PM]

Sorry, it didn't post the first time, or so i thought. Then, immediately after posting the second time, the first one showed up.

Actually, this is the second time i've had to send this comment.

I'm not saying that they're definitely going to be bought out, I'm just saying that that's what I've heard. Take it as you will. if things continue as they are, losing money, eliminating jobs, I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen.

[Jason D. Clinton @ Jul 18th 2008 12:26PM]

They CANNOT be bought out because all the patent cross-licensing agreements that they have with Intel have a poison pill in them: if AMD gets bought out, all the license agreements go away. End of processor manufacturing from both companies. Not going to happen.

[thedesolate1 @ Jul 18th 2008 1:27PM]

Thanks for your huge insight and expertise Carl. "And in other news AMD's stock price is rapidly falling. Turns out some hot shot lawyer on a gadget blog drove everyone into a panic leaking details that AMD is going to be bought."

[Carl Vitullo @ Jul 18th 2008 11:05PM]

Who said I'm a hotshot lawyer? I'm just saying that's what i heard.
And if what Jason said is true, then it's not going to happen. Ok, then I was wrong, the world will keep spinning. I put it out there as conjecture, not as a fact.

[Jay @ Jul 17th 2008 6:22PM]

the healing begins......


we hope

[HRCnt @ Jul 17th 2008 6:23PM]

hey MotoSPS i'm an sps worker in uk

[ccox @ Jul 17th 2008 6:31PM]

Ran into Hector and Darl this afternoon. Appears that Darl is concerned that AMD might not go through with their wise acquisition of their company. Darl told Hector that with his insight into business, he'd always have a job at SCO. But later Darl noticed that it was 300K and 30K that Hector wanted, and tried to skirt the issue.

[HRCnt @ Jul 17th 2008 6:33PM]

My bets on blackstone buying AMD, check out motorola since hector e.g. popi: protection of proprietary information

[Chris @ Jul 17th 2008 6:37PM]

Whatever happened to people thinking about buying AMD? Did they just give up?

[a12ctic @ Jul 17th 2008 9:20PM]

I don't think any company was ever seriously considering a takeover of AMD. It was more of Intel fan girls spreading FUD. I could be wrong, but that's how I felt towards the situation.

[Prestor John @ Jul 18th 2008 1:48AM]

Reporter: Krusty, why are you deciding to retire now, and not 10 years ago?

/classic simpsons quote.