Processor and graphics-card manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices is cutting 1,000 jobs and reducing pay for everyone else to rummy 51 get through terrible times for computer sales.
Nine hundred workers will lose their jobs, with the remaining reductions coming from attrition and the sale of another business unit. All told, it represents 9 percent of the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company’s workforce. This is the third round of layoffs for AMD in the past year, and all told more than 3,000 have been fired.
As for the survivors, their paycheck will be a little lighter. CEO Dirk Meyer and executive chairman Hector Ruiz take a 20 percent hit; top management lose 15 percent; salaried employees drop 10 percent, and hourly workers lose 5 percent. The pay cuts are described as temporary, but at least the structure is somewhat progressive.
Times are tough for everyone, but AMD’s been broke before broke was cool. The 2006 acquisition of graphics-card leader ATI is getting plenty of blame. It was a $5.6 billion deal, but in rummy best a regulatory filing, AMD revealed it plans to write down ATI’s value by another $684 million. That’s in addition to a rummy golds previous $2.5 billion writedown, which means ATI is worth less than half of what AMD paid for it.
AMD to Cut 1,100 Workers, 9 pct of Staff [Associated Press]