AMD posts $1.2 billion loss, fires Hector Ruiz

Last week AMD announced its second quarter financial results and things weren't exactly rosy, the company announced a $1.189 billion loss on a $1.349 billion revenue. That includes the $900 million charge the company took to write down the value of underperforming parts of the ATI business.

AMD decided to fire CEO Hector Ruiz and appoint former president and COO Dirk Meyer as new CEO but Ruiz won't need to worry as he'll get a seat as executive chairman.

Now, for the bad news. AMD has posted a net loss of $1.189 billion for the second quarter, $920 million of which stems from "discontinued operations"—AMD says it has decided to "divest" its handheld and digital TV businesses, and it's "classifying them as discontinued operations for financial reporting." Operating loss was a less-intimidating $143 million, down from $214 million in Q1 and $396 million in Q2 '07.

After yet another financially disappointing quarter, it's no wonder that AMD's board of directors has fired Hector Ruiz as CEO. Former President and Chief Operating Officer Dirk Meyer has taken the helm, while Ruiz is staying on as executive chairman. If you recall reports from last year, the rumor mill was already whispering that Meyer had been groomed to be the next CEO for some time. Meyer has been at AMD for about 12 years, and he was director of engineering on the original Athlon CPU.