AMD CEO Ruiz to Step Down; Earnings Disappoint

Computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices said Thursday that Chief Executive Hector Ruiz was stepping down to be replaced by President and Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer, effective immediately.

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AP

Ruiz, 62, has worked at AMD since 2000 and became CEO in 2004.

AMD is making the change at a time when bigger rival Intel has been regaining market share it previously lost to AMD.

Meyer, 46, joined AMD in 1995 as a lead engineer and became chief operating officer in 2005.

AMD Posts Weak Earnings

Meanwhile, AMD posted its seventh consecutive quarterly loss, missing Wall Street estimates Thursday as the chipmaker struggled to regain market share from Intel .

AMD shares fell more than 9 percent in late trading after it posted a second-quarter net loss of $1.19 billion, or $1.96 per share, compared with a year-ago net loss of $600 million, or $1.09.

Its quarterly loss included a $1.44 per share impairment charge for the write-off of some of the value of its 2006 purchase of graphics chipmaker ATI Technologies.

Its operating loss would have been 60 cents a share, excluding an unusual gain of 16 cents a share, compared with the average Wall Street expectation for a loss of 52 cents a share from analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose to $1.35 billion from $1.31 billion a year ago.

The shares of the Sunnyvale, California-based company closed 24 cents higher at $5.30 on the New York Stock Exchange.