14 DAY TRIAL // AMD's Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Henri Richard will depart from the Sunnyvale chip maker in September 2007. Advanced Micro Devices made the announcement public yesterday, August 22, offering no real explanation for Richard leaving the company. Speculations however have tied the divorce between Richard and AMD to the disastrous trajectory of the Barcelona processor. This aspect was not confirmed in any manner by AMD.
"Henri's primary goal at AMD has been to construct a world-class global sales and marketing organization focused on enduring relationships with major PC and server OEMs around the world. He delivered on that goal," said AMD Chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz. "AMD is fully focused on leveraging the momentum we established during the last five years to achieve even greater levels of success ahead."
"After 20 years in the PC industry - and five of the most professionally rewarding years here at AMD - I have decided to make a move to a different business segment," Richard explained. "I am leaving AMD at a time when the company is in position to break the monopoly that plagues this industry. I am immensely proud of my contribution to AMD, and in particular, of the strong team I leave behind."
In addition to being AMD's Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Richard was also the number one supporter of the early adoption of Windows Vista at a time when Intel said pass to Microsoft's latest operating system until after the release of the first service pack. As early as January 4, 2007, Richard was authoring internal memorandums to all AMDers advertising a "Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity" to migrate to Windows Vista.
"We are at the start of 2007 and already a momentous change is underway. The global IT industry is preparing for one of the most dramatic technological shifts in its history: The launch of Microsoft Windows Vista," Richard stated back in January 2007. Now it is obvious that Richard did take a few wrong decisions, and it's no wonder that he got the boot.
I mean, Windows Vista "the most dramatic technological shifts in the history" of the global IT industry? Give me a break! But Richard also goes on, and on about Vista saying that the platform would "bring with it a new computing revolution that will forever alter the way people and organizations around the world think about, use and interact with PCs. Make no mistake, Windows Vista represents one of the most important technology milestones of this decade and the benefits it offers will reverberate for years to come."
Now I am sure that lobbying Windows Vista to all AMDers is not what got Richard the boot, but migrating to Microsoft's operating system in its first months of availability is also an illustration of an erroneous decision with repercussions at all the levels of the company. And perhaps just one of Richard's strategies that ultimately led to the break-up of his marriage with AMD.