Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Former Rambus Inc. CEO resigns from board


In a press release today (8/15/06) Rambus Inc. announced that Geoff Tate, former CEO (1990 through 2005) "has given notice of his intention to resign from its Board of Directors."

The press release carefully places Mr. Tate directly at the scene of the recently disclosed misdated options:

As announced on July 19, 2006, the Audit Committee of the Rambus Board of Directors has reached a preliminary conclusion that the actual measurement dates for certain stock option grants issued in prior years differ from the recorded grant dates for such awards. During this period, Geoff was CEO and the sole member of the Stock Option Committee.
Mr. Tate leaves the board for the good of the company:

Given these circumstances and to ensure that there is not even the appearance of a conflict of interest, Geoff felt he could best support the Company by resigning from his position on the Board as Rambus resolves these issues.
Donkey thoughts:

Any Donkey wonders if perhaps the "misdating" concerns arose many months back . . .

On January 16, 2006, Rambus announced that Mr. Tate had requested that his "outstanding stock options and common stock equivalent awards be partially cancelled to conform to the Company’s new forms of equity agreement."

It is popular today to heap the blame for all that has ailed Rambus on Mr. Tate. Any Donkey does not believe that Mr. Tate acted without the knowledge of others before the fact and certainly not without knowledge of others after the fact.

The sword of guilt has pierced Mr. Tate. A question remains as to whether he fell on the sword or was pushed. A question remains as to who else deserves the same sword.

Any Donkey impatiently waits for the conclusion of the internal investigation, appropriate apology to shareholders by the current CEO, Harold Hughes, and plan to make the shareholders whole.

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