Infineon hires CEO from tyre maker

From rubber to silicon

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 11th May 2004 08:42 GMT

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Infineon has confirmed that it has chosen one Wolfgang Ziebart to run the company in place of ex-CEO Ulrich Schumacher, who quit the memory maker abruptly last March.

Ziebart is currently deputy chairman at tyre maker Continental, but he does have some connections with the chip business courtesy of his work with the company's Teves and Temic subsidiaries. The former develops electronic braking and stability systems, the latter driver assistance technology.

The new CEO will take up his position by 1 September, Infineon said. Until he does, company chairman Max Dietrich Kley will stay on as interim CEO.

Kley took over from Schumacher following the latter's abrupt resignation at the end of March. Schumacher had been with the company for 18 years, but that wasn't enough to prevent a serious falling-out with the memory maker's board of directors.

During Infineon's most recently completed quarter, its second of the current fiscal year, it reported revenues €1.67bn ($1.98bn), up three per cent on the previous quarter and 13 per cent on Q2 2003. Net income totaled €39m ($46m), up 14.7 per cent on Q1's €34m ($40m) and rather better than the €328m ($388m) the company lost in Q2 2003. ®