Adaptec Inc, the I/O interface controller chip and board manufacturer, has announced the resignation of its chief executive officer Grant Saviers; the latest in a string of upsets for the company this year. The prognosis didn’t look good for Saviers when on Thursday, he failed to show up for Adaptec’s scheduled slot at a semiconductor conference in San Francisco. Bizarrely, the presentation was led by vice president Chris O’Meara, who said he too was leaving the failing company at the end of the week. Saviers, he told a bemused audience, was having something of a personal emergency. Adaptec’s third quarter results in January were well below expectations; its $775m acquisition of Symbios Inc, the subsidiary of Hyundai Electronics America, collapsed due to a block by the Federal Trade Commission; and to cap it off the chief financial officer Paul Hansen jumped ship to Tibco Software Inc just before the company announced its dismal first quarter results. Adaptec made losses of $77.3m down from profits last time of $59.7m with revenues down 33% at $181m, and more of the same is planned for the second quarter of the year with further inventory and restructuring charges. But improvements are coming in the second half of the year, the company claims. Adaptec gave no reason for its CEO’s departure and blamed its problems on changeability in the PC market, but stated that Adaptec is in a fundamentally strong position, having grown more than 400% in six years under Saviers’ leadership. Now, according to interim CEO Larry Boucher who has stepped into the breach, Adaptec is to attempt to capitalize on its talent, technology and may use its cash reserves to make further acquisitions. Adaptec’s share price has fallen continually since the year started from $40 to the current price of $11. On this news the shares rose $0.37 or 3.5% to $11. Adaptec has already chopped some 600 staff, or 10% of its workforce, this year. Interim CEO Boucher, an Adaptec founder, will carry out his task while concurrently acting as CEO of data networking company Alacritech. John Adler a former CEO has also joined the board. á
