AMD posts $162m loss as Raza leaves

AMD was hit with a double blow last week, when its second-quarter loss was followed by the resignation of president and chief operating officer Atiq Raza.

The chip manufacturer reported a net loss of $162m, or $1.10 per share, for the quarter ended 27 June and sales of $595.1m, after a charge for the sale of its Vantis division to Lattice Semiconductor was excluded.

Sales are down from last quarter but up 13 per cent from the same time last year.

The results, although disappointing for the company, were not unexpected.

However, Raza's departure, which was for personal reasons, comes as a surprise to observers. Raza was viewed as the man to succeed chief executive Jerry Sanders, who is to stand down in two years' time.

Raza joined the company as part of the Nexgen acquisition in 1996, and was responsible for bringing all of AMD's microprocessors, from the K6 onwards, to market. His last project, the Athlon, or K7, was announced last month and will go on sale in August.

Sanders, whose resignation has been called for several times by investors, is expected to take over the running of the business until a replacement is found. Raza is now being touted as a possible candidate for chief executive of Compaq.

Rana Mainee, European market analyst and planning manager at AMD, said: "It is a surprise that Raza left, but it was for personal reasons and was unforeseeable."

A day earlier, dominant microprocessor rival Intel, had reported a net income of $1.7bn, or $0.51 per share and sales of $6.7bn although City experts had been predicting earnings of $0.53 a share. Despite profit being lower than expected, revenue was up 14 per cent from $5.9bn for the same time last year, and earning up 49 per cent from $1.2bn in the second quarter of 1998. Intel's share price increased $1.12 to $66.50 after the release of its results, as it expects to have a strong second half.