The Chairman of Golbalfoundries, the foundry company spun out of AMD, will resign early next year following the hedge fund insider dealing scandal.
Hector Ruiz was CEO of AMD before negotiating the deal with Abu Dhabi investors which led to the establishment of Globalfoundries and left AMD debt-free. AMD had been struggling with $5.4bn of debt incurred in its 2006 purchase of ATI Technologies.
Ruiz is now taking leave of absence from Globalfoundries prior to his resignation on January 4th following revelations that he tipped off a hedge fund about the timing of the announcement of the Globalfoundries deal. The deal saw AMD's share rise sharply.
Ruiz will be succeeded by Alan Ross who will hold the Chairman title on an interim basis, until a permanent replacement for Ruiz is found.
Ruiz is the latest scalp in the hedge fund insider dealing scandal. IBM's Robert Moffatt is another. IBM stated today: "Bob Moffat, who had been placed on a leave of absence as a result of a US federal investigation into his personal activities, is no longer an employee of I.B.M." Moffat was a senior vice president in IBM's systems and technology group.
Moffatt has been charged with passing on IBM insider information, and also with passing on information proprietary to AMD. AMD is part of IBM's Common Platform Alliance for chip process technology development.
Another electronics industry defendant in the insider dealing scandal is Rajiv Goel, former managing director of treasury group, who was arrested and released on bail for $750,000 last week. Intel has placed Goel on 'administrative leave'. He is also charged with passing information to a hedge fund dealer.
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