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Russ Henke
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Author: |
Russ Henke |
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3/2/2007 6:15 AM |
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Thoughts of interest to COFES and COFES attendees |
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Cadence Update… |
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By Russ Henke on
11/30/2008 8:13 AM
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Cadence Design Systems, one of the Big 3 Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Vendors, has been the subject of frequent blog entries in this space, even before the top five execs resigned from Cadence in mid-October 2008 (see the related blog entry posted on October 19, 2008, entitled, “EDA Executives Pay the Price – and probably, so will many other employees”). Many updates in this blog space have followed.
The large reduction in Stock Market Capitalization suffered by Cadence since January 2008 is behind most of the company’s woes.
Since October, Cadence has been the public target of both real news as well as rumors, much of it negative.
The update today contains the difficulty Cadence endures just keeping up with those pesky SEC filings associated with Cadence’s Q3 decision to review its financial statements for 2008. For example, Cadence received a letter from The NASDAQ Stock Market on November 18, 2008 indicating that the company is not ...
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Cadence Promotions... |
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By Russ Henke on
11/22/2008 7:02 AM
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The turbulence at EDA vendor Cadence Design Systems has been the topic of frequent blog entries in this space since mid-summer 2008. While the company’s Q1-Q3 2008 financials have still not been re-stated, and a new CEO has still not be named to replace Mike Fister, who resigned in mid-July, Cadence did make some executive promotions this week aimed at stabilizing the employee base.
On November 21, 2008, Cadence announced the promotion of three senior managers to executive positions in R&D and Worldwide Sales and Field Operations. All three come from inside Cadence ranks and all report to the “Interim Office of the Chief Executive.”
Dr. Chi-Ping Hsu, 53, was named senior vice president of research and development for the Implementation Products Group. Dr. Hsu joined Cadence in 2003 from Get2Chip, Inc. Mr. Nimish Modi, 46, was named senior vice president of research and development for the Front E ...
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Auto Bailout Less Likely… |
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By Russ Henke on
11/20/2008 9:42 AM
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Despite the economic and security importance of the US Auto Industry and the strong arguments to the contrary from many sectors (see for example the November 19, 2008 blog entry in this space containing excerpts from Pat Buchanan), prospects for an immediate US auto industry bailout look bleaker today (November 20):
The AP reported, "Congress, unwilling or unable to approve a $25 billion bailout for Detroit's Big Three, appears ready to punt the automakers' fate to a lame-duck Republican president. Caught in the middle of a who-blinks-first standoff are legions of manufacturing firms and auto dealers -- and millions of Americans' jobs -- after Senate Democrats canceled a showdown vote that had been expected Thursday (today)." The Politico added that the "year-end drive to win new aid for the ailing auto industry was near collapse."
The Wall Street Journal added that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "backed aw ...
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Excerpts from Pat Buchanan... |
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By Russ Henke on
11/19/2008 11:45 AM
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Further to previous blog entries in this space, we call your attention to key excerpts from the November 18, 2008 blog of Patrick J. Buchanan, entitled, “As GM Goes, So Goes the GOP”:
In the original bailout, “Hank Paulson demanded $700 billion to haul away the trash in the dumpsters of JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs — assuring us that he could hold a garage sale of the junk. Now (mid-November) we hear from Paulson that the $700 billion Congress voted will not, after all, be used to buy up rotten paper on the books of the big banks. Some banks are using the cash to buy other banks.
So Republicans are right to be enraged. But they are now about to do something terminally stupid. With GM, Ford and Chrysler teetering on the brink, they are turning a cold stone face to Detroit and are about to follow the counsel of that quintessential Bushite Dick Darman, who said of our computer chip industry, “If our guys can’t hack ...
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EDA Value Decline... |
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By Russ Henke on
11/18/2008 8:14 AM
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Further to recent blog entries in this space, these figures about the deteriorating market caps of the Big 3 Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Vendors are sobering:
- Synopsys has lost 36% of its value since January 1, 2008. Market Cap is approximately $2.32 billion at this writing.
- Mentor Graphics has lost 49% of its value since January 1, 2008. Market Cap is approximately $557 million at this writing.
- Cadence has lost 77% of its value since January 1, 2008. Market Cap is approximately $975 million at this writing.
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Tech Slump… |
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By Russ Henke on
11/15/2008 9:20 AM
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Further to the blog entry in this space yesterday (November 14, 2008), you may be interested in the article below that appeared in the New York Times today (November 15, 2008):
Tech Industry, Long Insulated, Feels a Slump (ASHLEE VANCE)
Paste this URL into your browser:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/technology/15tech.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=
1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1226769111-PR7FqvP6jAozYEOGWeHAxg
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Just a Matter of Time for EDA… |
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By Russ Henke on
11/14/2008 5:37 PM
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With the recession spreading to the semiconductor sector, the impact on Electronic Design Automation (EDA) vendors can’t be far behind. And the woes of the semiconductor companies are making news.
Applied Materials, National Semiconductor and AMD, the latest in the chip sector to feel the economic slump, announced cuts in their work forces and also announced downbeat financial projections.
The Wall Street Journal reported today (November 14, 2008) as follows:
Applied, considered "the sales leader among makers of tools for manufacturing chips, said it will cut 1,800 jobs, or 12% of its work force, through a combination of attrition, voluntary severance and other reductions." The company "announced the planned reductions -- expected to reduce expenses by about $400 million a year -- along with a 45% drop in profit for the fiscal fourth quarter ended October 26, 2008 and sai ...
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More Corporate Chicanery… |
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By Russ Henke on
11/13/2008 8:22 AM
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As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, the November 13, 2008 Wall Street Journal reports, "Three of the largest makers of computer and video screens, Sharp Corp., LG Display Co. and Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., pleaded guilty to criminal price-fixing charges and will pay fines totaling $585 million. As a result of the price fixing," the US Justice Department said, "electronics manufacturers and, ultimately, consumers were forced to pay higher prices for televisions, cellphones and other products using liquid-crystal displays." According to the US officials, "Products affected by the price fixing included Apple Inc. iPods and Razr phones from Motorola Inc. as well as laptops and computer monitors from Dell Inc."
The US Justice Department also noted, the New York Times reports November 13, 2008, "Prices for the flat screens in televisions, personal computers and cellphones have plummeted in recent years -- but the d ...
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Misplaced Priorities… |
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By Russ Henke on
11/11/2008 5:49 PM
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While President-elect Obama and Democratic House and Senate leaders are pushing urgently for quick action on financial assistance to help the troubled US auto industry, with hundreds of thousands of jobs hanging in the balance, we discover today (November 11, 2008) a semi-secret giveaway (after the fact) to banks that so far are hardly helping boost the economy, to wit:
Some of the nation's biggest banks are in for a windfall - on top of the $700 billion government bailout - thanks to a new tax
policy quietly issued by the Treasury Department. The notice gives big tax breaks to companies that acquire struggling banks
hit hard by the mortgage crisis. In some cases, the tax breaks could exceed the cost of acquiring the banks, according to
analyses by private tax experts! The change could cost the Treasury as much as $140 bill ...
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The "Poster Children" List Grows... |
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By Russ Henke on
11/9/2008 9:01 AM
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Further to the blog entries in this space of November 6, 2008, named, “Latest Fuld News…”, and on November 4, 2008, entitled, “On Executive Pay & the Bailout”, and of September 18, 2008, called, “Poster Child”, the following article appeared in the New York Times on November 9, 2008:
“How the Thundering Herd Faltered and Fell”
This article by Gretchen Morgenson is compelling reading about how Merrill Lynch finally imploded in the unregulated financial environment of the last 8 eight years.
But one telling factoid emerged that just has to be explicitly added to our blog entry list of “poster children” executives who were handsomely rewarded after driving their companies to the brink of financial ruin:
In October 2007 Merrill’s bo ...
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