AMD still hunting for a CEO, four executives turn offer down

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has approached at least four individuals asking them if they would like to become the company's next Chief Executive Officer.  The four candidates in question were Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, Oracle Co-President Mark Hurd, EMC Chief Operating Officer Pat Gelsinger, and Carlyle Group Managing Director Greg Summe.  All of them turned down the offer, according to people familiar with the search, who asked not to be named because the talks are private, according to Bloomberg. 

Bruce Claflin, AMD's chairman, has been leading the search for a new CEO.  Claflin was a manager at IBM's personal-computer division, which was sold in 2005 to Lenovo.  He was also CEO of 3Com from 2001 to 2006.  Frankly, if AMD doesn't find a CEO soon, we think Claflin should just take over. 

AMD's next CEO will have a tough job pushing the company towards a more mobile world, just like Intel is trying to do.  AMD, which was founded a year after Intel, has spent 42 years in the shadow of its larger rival.  Now is the company's biggest chance to fight back, but it's also not in one of the worst positions to do so. 

Back in January 2011, AMD announced that its CEO Dirk Meyer had resigned from the company.  There was no official reason given for Meyer's departure, except that he reached a "mutual agreement" with the company's board.  A CEO Search Committee was formed to find a replacement for Meyer and senior vice president Thomas Seifert agreed to take over steer the ship until a permanent CEO is appointed.  Five months later, he's still steering.