Packard Bell NEC Inc has named Marvin Burkett, former chief financial officer at Advanced Micro Devices Inc, as its new CFO, effective immediately. Burkett resigned from his position at AMD two weeks ago, and at the time, the chipmaker admitted he had been headhunted away with an offer that was too good to refuse. A 30-year veteran of the industry, Burkett was brought on board at Packard Bell NEC to help oversee the company’s growing international operations and, more importantly, to prepare it for an initial public offering. The company does not yet have a timetable for going public and hasn’t filed the requisite documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A spokesperson for the company says the IPO is probably about 12-18 months away. Packard Bell NEC is 49%-owned by NEC Corp, while France’s Groupe Bull owns 12.62% and the rest is owned by the Packard Bell founders. Burkett had been CFO at AMD since 1989. Before joining AMD in 1972, Burkett worked at Raytheon Co’s semiconductor division. AMD has yet to find a new CFO. He’s got his work cut out for him at his new job giving the current pricing pressures and shrinking margins in the PC industry. Packard Bell-NEC claims to be the number three PC vendor in the US and the fifth-largest worldwide in 1997.
