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Gil Amelio

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Gil Amelio
Born
Gilbert Frank Amelio

(1943-03-01) March 1, 1943 (age 81)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Computer science, businessman
Known forCEO of National Semiconductor and Apple Inc.

Gilbert Frank Amelio (born March 1, 1943) is an American technology executive. Amelio worked at Bell Labs, Fairchild Semiconductor, and the semiconductor division of Rockwell International, and was also the CEO of National Semiconductor and Apple Computer.

Early life and career

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Amelio grew up in Miami, Florida, of Italian born parents, and graduated from Miami High School.[1] He received a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and PhD 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.[2] In 1970, Amelio was on the team that demonstrated the first working charge-coupled device (CCD).[3] He moved to Fairchild Semiconductor in 1971, where he led the development of the first commercial CCD image sensors in the early 1970s,[4] 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.[5]

Amelio joined National Semiconductor as president and chief executive in February 1991.[5]

Apple Computer

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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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] In November 1996 Amelio started discussions with Steve Jobs's NeXT, and bought the company on February 4, 1997, for $400 million.[9]

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.[10] 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. Jobs later quoted Amelio as having said:

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.[11][12][13]

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.[14]

Post-Apple career

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Since 1998 Amelio has been a venture capitalist. In February 2001, Amelio became CEO of Advanced Communications Technologies (ADC). ADC is the United States arm of an Australian firm that has developed a product for the wireless communications industry called SpectruCell.[15] He became senior partner at Sienna Ventures in Sausalito, California in May 2001.[16]

In 2005 he co-founded Acquicor with ex-Apple CTO Ellen Hancock and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.[17][18][19] Acquicor acquired Jazz Semiconductor in early 2007, and sold it in 2008 for a loss.[20][21][22]

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. In June 2003 he was named chairman of the board of Ripcord Networks; where he joined Steve Wozniak, Ellen Hancock, and other Apple alumni.[23] Amelio was a board member of AT&T Inc., Pacific Telesis, Chiron Corporation, Sematech, InterDigital, and Georgia Tech (as chairman), as well as a trustee of the American Film Institute.[24]

He was a contributor to the report An American Imperative (1993),[25] and author of the books Profit from Experience (1995, ISBN 978-0471287049) and On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple (1998, ISBN 978-0887309199).

In November 2020, Amelio joined the board of directors for Nashville-based augmented reality startup VideoBomb.[26]

Amelio joined the board of directors for Computer Museum of America in September 2023.[27]

Awards and honors

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Amelio is an IEEE Fellow.[28] He received the IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award in 1991 for contributions to the development of the charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensors in consumer video cameras. He has been awarded 16 patents.[29][30]

Books

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References

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  1. ^ Howard Kleinberg (2003). The Stingaree Century. (self published). p. 141. ISBN 0974158909.
  2. ^ "Interview with Gil Amelio". Silicon Genesis. Stanford University. March 24, 2000. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  3. ^ M. F. Tompsett; G. F. Amelio; G. E. Smith (August 1, 1970). "Charge Coupled 8-bit Shift Register". Applied Physics Letters. 17 (3): 111–115. Bibcode:1970ApPhL..17..111T. doi:10.1063/1.1653327.
  4. ^ Gilbert F. Amelio (February 1974). "Charge-Coupled Devices". Scientific American. 230 (2).
  5. ^ a b National Semiconductor (July 20, 1995). "Annual Report for the fiscal year ended May 28, 1995". Form 10-K. US Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  6. ^ Peter Burrows (1996). "Gil Amelio's Insanely Great Paycheck". Bloomberg.com.
  7. ^ "SCHEDULE 14A INFORMATION PROXY STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 14(a) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934". 1997.
  8. ^ Amelio, Gil; Simon, William L. (1998). On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple. Capstone. ISBN 978-1-900961-98-1.
  9. ^ Kawamoto, Dawn (December 20, 1996). "Apple acquires Next, Jobs". CNET. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  10. ^ Swartz, Jon (August 12, 1997). "Steve Jobs Confirms Apple Stock Sale". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 27, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2011.
  11. ^ Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. ISBN 978-1-4516-4853-9.
  12. ^ Kara Swisher, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates (May 30, 2007). Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Together: Part 2, All Things Digital 5. The Wall Street Journal (video). Event occurs at 5:20. Retrieved February 15, 2010.
  13. ^ Sloan, Paul (November 17, 2009). "Perspective: Yahoo's Turnaround Efforts Are Straight from Steve Jobs' Playbook (quoting Larry Ellison)". CBS News. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  14. ^ "Amelio's golden handshake". CNet News. July 9, 1997. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  15. ^ Chaffin, Bryan (February 6, 2001). "Former Apple CEO Gil Amelio Lands A New CEO Job". The Mac Observer.
  16. ^ Dawn Kawamoto (May 10, 2001). "Ex-Apple CEO Amelio to join Sienna". CNet News. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  17. ^ Kevin Kelleher (March 20, 2006). "Acquicor Tech Enjoys Apple's Halo". The Street. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  18. ^ Reinhardt Krause (March 6, 2006). "Amelio And Wozniak Seek A "Blank Check'; Ex-Apple Execs Surface; Ellen Hancock also part of an acquisition-minded outfit doing unusual IPO". Investors Daily. Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  19. ^ Mark LaPedus (March 15, 2006). "Ex-Apple execs form 'blank check' company". EE Times. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  20. ^ Eric Savitz (May 20, 2008). "Tower Semi to Buy Jazz, Laying a Troubled SPAC to Rest". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  21. ^ "Tower Semiconductor Completes Merger with Jazz Technologies". Press release. September 19, 2008. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  22. ^ "Tower completes Jazz acquisition". Semiconductor Today. September 22, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
  23. ^ "Ripcord's Board". Wired. August 4, 2004. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  24. ^ "Gilbert F Amelio "Gil"". Bloomberg.
  25. ^ Honan, William H. (December 5, 1993). "Report Says Colleges Are Failing to Educate". The New York Times. Retrieved August 6, 2019.
  26. ^ Capps, Milt (November 16, 2020). "Nashville's VideoBomb welcomes former Apple CEO and a serial entrepreneur to board, maps capital raises". Venture Nashville Connections.
  27. ^ "Computer Museum of America Announces Former Apple CEO, Gil Amelio, Added to the Board". September 22, 2023.
  28. ^ "IEEE Fellows Directory - Alphabetical Listing".
  29. ^ "Gil Amelio joins board of Australian wireless concern". Macworld. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
  30. ^ "Gilbert F. Amelio Ph.D. | National Air and Space Museum". airandspace.si.edu. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
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Preceded by Apple CEO
1996–1997 		Succeeded by
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