AMD appoints former Lenovo president as CEO
The company's interim CEO, Thomas Seifert, will return to his role as senior vice president and chief financial officer as Rory Read takes the company reins.
AMD has appointed a new president and CEO, the company announced today.
Rory Read, the former president and chief operating officer of the Lenovo Group, will head up the processor company, as well as join AMD's board of directors.
Read comes to AMD with an impressive resume. At Lenovo, according to AMD, he was responsible for "double-digit revenue growth and market share gains." He also spent 23 years at IBM, holding a host of management positions.
Former AMD CEO Dirk Meyer stepped down from his post in January. An employee of AMD since 1995, Meyer succeeded CEO Hector Ruiz in July 2008. During his tenure as CEO, Meyer's greatest contribution was arguably an antitrust settlement he secured with Intel. AMD was awarded $1.25 billion in that suit.
After Meyer resigned, Thomas Seifert, the company's senior vice president and chief financial officer, took over as interim CEO until the company could find a suitable replacement. Seifert will now return to his role as CFO.
Read will have some serious work cut out for him. In June, research firm IHS iSuppli announced that AMD secured just 10.1 percent first-quarter global market share in the microprocessor sector, down from 11.8 percent during the same period last year. Intel, on the other hand, secured 82.6 percent of the market.
In his new role as CEO, Read will earn a salary of $1 million per year, according to an 8-K form AMD filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read also received a sign-on bonus of $1 million to join the firm.