AMD sales chief Richard to step down
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is expected to announce the resignation of Henri Richard, Chief Sales Officer, later today. The resignation comes not long after the latest quarterly results were announced, with AMD suffering a third straight quarterly loss.
Richard has led AMD's marketing efforts since 2002, spanning an era
when the company won market share from rival Intel Corp., acquired
graphics card vendor ATI Technologies, entered a price war with Intel
and -- most recently -- posted a series of deep financial losses.
On July 19, AMD announced a net loss of US$600 million for its second quarter, following a loss of $611 million for the first quarter and $574 million for the fourth quarter of 2006. In an effort to balance those losses, AMD said in April that it planned to raise $2.2 billion by selling its debt as convertible notes to institutional investors.
AMD spokesmen declined to comment about the reports, but said
they planned to issue a statement about him later in the day.
Analysts feel his departure will have no short-term effects, especially in relation to the upcoming Barcelona launch.
As always with such a departure, it's fair to wonder how big a "golden parachute" Richard will get.
