AMD Rescinds CEO Su's stock awards after shareholder suit

SAN FRANCISCO: Advanced Micro Devices Inc rescinded stock awards valued at about $4.65 million from new Chief Executive Officer Lisa Su, in another executive compensation wrinkle. AMD said in a filing today that it's canceling about 1.76 million restricted stock awards to Su that were made in August and October. The company said it was responding to a shareholder suit that argued AMD had exceeded calendar-year limits on the number of equity grants it can make to executives when it promoted her. The Sunnyvale, California-based company intends to redress the voided stock awards "at or near the earliest practical opportunity," the filing said. "Rather than litigate this technical issue, the company believes resolving this technicality quickly is a better solution," the filing said.

The action is another compensation twist for Su, who was boosted from chief operating officer to replace CEO Rory Read in October and is the first woman to lead a major chipmaker. Shortly after appointing her CEO, AMD said it would give Su an annual salary of $850,000 -- less than the $1 million that it paid Read. The company has said Read's compensation reflected his joining AMD as an external hire, while Su was an internal promotion. "The board intends to return Dr. Su's equity compensation to the level specified in her employment agreement at the earliest opportunity in 2015," said Drew Prairie, a spokesman for the chipmaker. "It's an unfortunate administrative oversight." AMD shares rose less than 1 percent to $2.66 at the close in New York. The chipmaker remains dependent on the slumping personal-computer market, where it's fighting bigger rival Intel Corp.