AMD technology chief's stock sale does not bode well
SILICON STREET
Mercury News Tech Stocks Columnist
IT looks like S. Atiq Raza may be the next top executive to jump ship from
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE, AMD). At least that's one conclusion that
could be drawn from the rapid sale of nearly his entire stake in the semiconductor
maker's stock.
And even if Raza -- AMD's chief technology officer and a member of the board of
directors -- isn't leaving, his recent sale of stock worth more than $18 million is a
bad sign for investors. That's because he's left with barely any financial stake in
the company. What's more, he sold on the way down as AMD's share price
drooped from more than $31 in early October to $26.14 when Raza made his last
sale two weeks later to Thursday's close of $18.69.
The facts suggest at least that Raza, who declined to comment, doesn't have much
faith in his employer.
Raza, 48, joined AMD when the Sunnyvale-based company bought Nexgen Inc.,
where he was CEO. Nexgen developed the technology that became AMD's K6
microprocessor, the chip that was supposed to take on Intel Corp.'s (Nasdaq,
INTC) Pentium II.
But AMD has stumbled by not being able to manufacture K6s in sufficient quantity.
That's disappointed financial analysts who had expected the chip to restore AMD
to its challenger status to Intel.
''Things look more bleak now than before,'' said Ashok Kumar, the chip analyst for
Austin investment bank Loewenbaum & Co. Because of slackening computer
demand in Asia and looming Pentium II price cuts, AMD ''missed a window of
opportunity that may never re-appear.''
Last month, Raza's Nexgen colleague, senior vice president Vinod Dham, 47,
abruptly resigned his position amid speculation he was the designated scapegoat
for the K6's problems. At the time, Raza, who recruited Dham to Nexgen from Intel,
said he ''was surprised that (Dham) left when he did.'' |
