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.
See also:
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