back to article AMD thanks Ruiz for courageous ability to lose money

Normally, a succession plan is a good thing. You want the new CEO to slide into the old CEO's chair with an ease that says, "Our asses were molded by the same country club rib eyes and crème brûlées. Everything is under control." Yesterday, though, AMD could have done with some unforeseen CEO-swapping spatter. It should have …

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  1. Pierre

    Man, that's a hell of an obituary!

    Way to kick a man when he's down. A bit "abrasive" I would say.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    They ought to teach him a lesson by...

    giving 10's of millions of dollars in severance, use of the corporate jet, finance a couple 10 digit mortgages and .001% interest, with the option to not bother paying it back and a lifetime membership at the 10 country clubs of his choice (transportation to and from, included of course).

    That will teach him!

  3. BillPhollins

    Hector Principle

    Maybe the US version of The Peter Principle should be the Hector Principle

  4. amanfromMars Silver badge
    Alien

    Be careful out there...... ITs AI Jungle of Amazonian Proportions.

    "Man, that's a hell of an obituary! ...Way to kick a man when he's down. A bit "abrasive" I would say." .... By Pierre Posted Saturday 19th July 2008 00:15 GMT

    And I think, Pierre, that it is just as much an Indictment of the new Puppet at the Helm too.

    Is abrasive new age aggressive and intellectually challenging? Bravo Ashlee, ....now if you could just find the Shift/find out how to shift the West Coast up and down through the Gears, we might to be Able to Break their Duck Poor Showing.

  5. Dazzer
    Paris Hilton

    Sorry for being stupid but...

    "We're reminded of the Grim War where Tasmania beat China into submission by constantly sinking its own boats."

    Can someone tell me what this is a reference to? Obviously there's never been an actual war between Tasmania and, well anyone really. I've looked everywhere and asked everyone but got nowhere with it.

    Paris because she's as stoopid as I am.

  6. Branko

    Ruiz - "down" ?

    When was that" ?

    At the end of every bussines year he was handed several tens of megabucks just as a thank-you for all those failures and he is in for something like that even when they kick him out !!!

    Hell, they probably kept him on the board just to avoid the pain of paying him to go !

  7. Doug Glass
    Stop

    Like Falling Of A Log

    Check his golden parachute.

  8. Doug Glass
    Coat

    @ Sorry for being stupid but...

    I'd like the reporter to cite his references too, assuming of course he's up to the challenge.

  9. Ashlee Vance (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: @ Sorry for being stupid but...

    Oddly, this horrific struggle has escaped documentation on the internet.

    It took place during the Barramandi Famine of 1912. One need only find a Tasmanian schoolchild and mention 1912 to get the full story.

    Someone should set up a Wikipedia page on this.

  10. Hollerith

    @Barramandi Famine

    It is a shocking indictment of Western-focused history that not only is this terrible famine almost erased from text-books, but that the Sino-Tasmanian War is not recognised for what it is: the beginning of the end for the Anglo-Pacific ('Anzac')-Chinese marsupial trade treaty, which was one of the contributing factors to the rise of the Chinese Warlords, the invasion of the Japanese, and the eventual success of the Maoist Communists in China and Fosters in Australia. Would the Long March have taken place had the Marsupial-Bamboo Treaty of 1911 not been the first victim of the decline in the political relationship that ended in the Sino-Tasmanian War of 1912-13? And would the Great War of 1914-18 have lasted as long as it did had the lessons been learned about a robust revision of tactics when accepted military methodology failed to achieve strategic goals, as the Sino-Tasmanian War so sadly and amply demonstrated? The 'tunnel vision' of Western historiography once again showed its limitations, to real and lasting damage. 'There are none so blind as those who will not see,' as the Tasmanian Sage, Herbert Simkin, so famously said about rice beer. I think we can see the continuing wisdom of that today.

  11. Telco Engineer Rob
    Coat

    Re: Re: @ Sorry for being stupid but...

    You gotta love it when contrived references are googled for background info. Sounds like a fish story to me...

    Mine's the one with the clue in the pocket.

  12. Bince
    Flame

    I Don'T See The Problem With The Obituary

    Why do people see it as a kcik in the face? Look what Hector did to Motorola, yet it's a freaking surprise that he's now done the same thing to AMD? Stop living under rocks people. You all may think that I have it OUT for AMD, when I DO have it out for idiots in charge that are just going along for a corporate ride! It serves AMD (to include Jerry Sanders) right for ever having anything to do with Hector Ruiz, PERIOD!

    Hey AMD- maybe you should outsource your chip making or get into another business arena. The chips (as in chip manufacturing) are very much against you.

  13. Dazzer

    @Ashlee

    "One need only find a Tasmanian schoolchild and mention 1912 to get the full story."

    As my company's head office is Down Under I accept your challenge sir.

    Thanks for the gen.

  14. Seán

    Ruiz the clown

    You can tell he's a schmuck from his lame TED appearance.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Aargh!

    Hector is a real winner. After contributing to Motorola's demise, he came aboard AMD and caught the Opteron boat well under way, reaped its success and then set the course for the company's crash, all the while guaranteeing for himself a patrician retirement and making his right-arm successor.

    It's the American dream by an illegal immigrant. We're lucky he never ran for office.

  16. Tam Lin

    But think of the children ...

    ... Hector and Carly could have had. A Buffy Ruiz could ruin IBM before lunch.

  17. david

    Sino-Tasmanian War

    Sino-Tasmanian War ? I am really interested in this. Anyone can provide a link, a book, or anything? Thank you.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Cod War

    And while you're at it, how about some info on the hushed-up Cod War between Iceland and the UK, followed by the somewhat better-known Cod Peace?

  19. Mark Spooner

    Divestment Games

    AMD's Opteron was the result of a serious long-term development effort. No spin, no antitrust suits. Maybe AMD should try doing that again? Oh wait -- do the folks that accomplished that even work there anymore?

  20. Gumby
    Thumb Up

    5% to 20% of market share

    Under Ruiz regime, AMD increased market share from 5% to all high best of 20% or so. Dell had bveen a long standing sore thumb all along for refusing to user AMD chips until too little too late.it is not the CEO's fault, it is the squirrels' faults!!!

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Don't worry - the board has lots of experience killing companies

    Bob Palmer is on the board. A very smart man, but:

    Was a high ranking VP with Mostek as Mostek shut its doors.

    Was in charge of DEC as DEC shut its doors.

    Looking to make it a hat trick (sorry - a hockey term = 3 scores)

    AMD had no trouble taking market share from Intel when AMD had superior products.

    People don't seem to understand that you need:

    1) a superior CPU design

    2) equal or superior process technology

    AMD has neither right now.

    The lack of #2 means that the game is over for AMD.

    they could become a Via or something like that. Need to think small to survive.

    They are gone as the Intel competitor they used to be. If they realize this soon enough, they may survive as a much smaller company. otherwise, Bob Palmer can help with the next liquidation sale.

  22. Bince
    Boffin

    Market Share, Sharket Mare, Semiconductor Nightmare, etc...

    I (or anyone else for that matter) could care less if AMD gained 70% of the CPU market from Intel; AMD is still in a world of hurt from it's idiotic miscues caused by Hector Ruiz and the rest of the AMD "hippy" culture of management.I don't blame ANY company for not utilizing AMD chips due to AMD's manufacturing performance record! Then to add insult to injury, they go out and purchase ATI for way more than what they should have paid for it- why not put that money into a manufacturing site or at least go in to business with another chip maker so that you can gain more market share? Too much like right, huh?

    Now just when they have the chance to make it to the top, they simply crash, burn & fall to the wayside again. Boy, I'm glad I dumped my shares and ran for cover as I know the shareholders will all do the same now. You can't expect a pile of s--- to suddenly start smelling like roses even if it takes 6 to 10 years for it to happen. Maybe AMD could go into the BullS--- business and REALLY succeed.

    LMAOROTF!!!!

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