OCZ Appoints New CEO, Misses Earnings and Sees Stock Fall 40-Percent
OCZ Technology today announced its board of directors has appointed Ralph Schmitt as the Companys president and chief executive officer effective immediately. Ralph Schmitt has been a member of the Companys board of directors since April 2011 and will take over the flash memory maker. His previous job was president and CEO of PLX Technology Inc. and he resigned from that post Tuesday. That said, OCZ also announced today that it has delayed filing its earnings report for its second quarter and said its revenue had fallen short of its previous guidance. OCZ said it fell short of its guidance because of the effects of customer incentive programs. The company said it expects to post a “significant net loss” for the second quarter that ended Aug. 31. This news along with the CEO change has battered OCZ stock and the shares dropped roughly 40% today. OCZ closed at $1.88, which is a 52 week low for the company. OCZ was last at $1.88 a share back in August 2010.
Mr. Schmitt joins OCZ from PLX Technologies, Inc., a provider of semiconductor-based connectivity solutions primarily targeting the enterprise and consumer markets, where he served as president and CEO from 2008 until yesterday. Mr. Schmitt is the on the board of the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA), and remains on the board of PLX. Prior to his leadership tenure at PLX, he acted as CEO of Legend Silicon, a privately funded Chinese terrestrial digital TV semiconductor company in 2008. From 2005 through 2007, Mr. Schmitt was CEO of Sipex, an analog semiconductor company that merged with Exar in 2007, where he was appointed CEO. From 1999 to 2005, Mr. Schmitt was executive vice president of sales, marketing, and business development for Cypress Semiconductor where he led sales growth to over $1 billion, while also overseeing the acquisition and integration of numerous companies. He has served on private and public boards ranging from semiconductor, to solar and systems companies. Mr. Schmitt holds a B.S.E.E. from Rutgers University and started his career as storage system designer.
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