Gilbert Frank "Gil" Amelio is an American technology executive. Amelio
worked at Bell Labs, Fairchild Semiconductor, and the semiconductor
division of Rockwell International but is best remembered as a CEO of National
Semiconductor and Apple Inc. Early life and career
He grew up in Miami, Florida, of Cuban-born parents, and graduated from
Miami High School. He received a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and
Ph.D. in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. While at
Georgia Tech, Amelio was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.
Amelio joined Bell Labs as a researcher in 1968. In 1970, Amelio was on the team
that demonstrated the first working charge-coupled device. He moved to
Fairchild Semiconductor in 1971, where he led the development of the first
commercial CCD image sensors in the early 1970s, and in 1977 became head of
the MOS division. He worked his way up to president of the semiconductor
division of Rockwell International, and then its communications systems
division. Amelio joined National Semiconductor as
president and chief executive in February 1991.
Apple Computer In 1994 Amelio joined the board of
directors of Apple. After his resignation from National Semiconductor,
Amelio became Apple CEO on February 2, 1996, succeeding Michael Spindler. His
salary was a reported $990,000 plus bonuses and a $5 million loan. He also
received approximately $100,000 for the use of his business jet by Apple the
previous year according to the section "Certain Transactions" in the Apple
Proxy Statement for 1996. Amelio cited several problems at Apple
including a shortage of cash and liquidity, low-quality products, lack of
a viable operating system strategy, undisciplined corporate culture, and
fragmentation in trying to do too much and in too many directions. To address
these problems Amelio cut costs, reduced Apple's work force by one third,
discontinued the Copland operating system project, and oversaw the
development of Mac OS 8. To replace Copland and fulfill the need
for a next generation operating system Amelio started negotiations to buy BeOS
from Be Inc. but negotiations stalled when Be CEO Jean-Louis Gassée demanded
$275 million; Apple was unwilling to offer more than $200 million. In
November 1996 Amelio started discussions with Steve Jobs' NeXT, and bought the
company on February 4, 1997, for $429 million.
During Amelio's tenure Apple's stock continued to slump and hit a 12-year low
in Q2 1997 that was at least partially caused by a single sale of 1.5 million
shares of Apple stock on June 26 by an anonymous party who was later confirmed
to be Steve Jobs. Apple lost another $708 million. On the July 4, 1997
weekend, Jobs convinced the directors to oust Amelio in a boardroom coup; Amelio
submitted his resignation less than a week later; and Jobs then became interim
CEO on September 16. In a 2007 interview with technology journalist Gina Smith,
who asked him how Apple was doing, Jobs quoted Amelio as once saying:
Apple is like a ship with a hole in the bottom, leaking water, and my job is to
get the ship pointed in the right direction.
It was reported that Amelio's contract gave him about $3.5 million in severance
pay, after a $2.3 million performance bonus in 1996.
Post-Apple career Since 1998 Amelio has been a venture
capitalist. In February 2001, Amelio became CEO of Advanced Communications
Technologies. ADC is the United States arm of an Australian firm that has
developed a product for the wireless communications industry called
SpectruCell. He became senior partner at Sienna Ventures in Sausalito, California
in May 2001. In 2005 he co-founded Acquicor with
ex-Apple CTO Ellen Hancock and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Acquicor
acquired Jazz Semiconductor in early 2007, and sold it in 2008 for a loss.
Amelio was a director and chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association.
Since 1996 he has been an advisor to the Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor and
to Malaysia's Prime Minister. Amelio was director of AT&T Inc., Pacific Telesis,
Chiron Corporation, Sematech, the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and the
American Film Institute. In June 2003 he was named chairman of the board of
Ripcord Networks; where he joined Steve Wozniak, Ellen Hancock, and other Apple
alumni. In October 2005 Amelio joined the board of advisors to Vanguard PAC.
Amelio is also a member of the Board of Directors of InterDigital, a wireless
R&D company. Gil Amelio is on the advisory board of tech start-up
Intelicloud. Amelio is an IEEE Fellow. He has been
awarded 16 patents. He is the author of three books: An American Imperative,
Profit from Experience and On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple.
References External links
500 Days at the Helm: The Rise and Fall of Gil Amelio from Low End Mac
Apple CEO Gil Amelio's first interview after being fired by Apple