Brian Fuller’s blog on the state of media and communications

New look, new scoop

Posted on | December 7, 2007 | No Comments

Big news in FPGA land today where word is trickling out that Altera has slashed a swath of middle managers in cost-cutting move. The No. 2 programmable logic vendor’s stock was hammered in October when CEO John Daane said sales and profit were down in Q3 versus last year. Altera and industry No. 1 Xilinx are getting slapped around by customers demanding lower prices, and other vendors, Actel and Lattice notably, are eager to take that low-end business. Mike Santarini at EDN just last month analyzed what he called “high noon” for high-end FPGA vendors. Wall Street has crawled into Altera’s ears lately as it’s finally realized that the industry is going low cost, and that’s going to squeeze margins.

Senior Vice President Jordan Plofsky who has run a division AND HR recently, made the cuts this week, although word started trickling through Innovation Way headquarters off San Jose’s North First Street last week.

The raw numbers? 65, apparently mostly in marketing.

Plofsky, a University of Illinois alum and proud of it, recently talked about business conditions in an interview with Investor’s Business Daily.

Getting the axe were some notable marketing folks who have fought the good fight against the larger Xilinx in the past several years. Justin Cowling, who has done wonders for Altera’s online presence in his tenure, was one. Anna del Rosario, who brought energy, passion and intensity to the marcom group from her days managing Larry Ellison, was another. Left to handle communications is Altera newcomer but longtime PR pro Mark Plungy, who joined the company just this year.

Turmoil is not confined to Altera. Xilinx recently had some middle-management shakeup when Wim Roelandts said he would retire.

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Comments

No Responses to “New look, new scoop”

  1. Lou
    December 7th, 2007 @ 10:29 am

    Yep. Typical Tech reaction. Just as soon as you figure out the market is changing, get rid of the people who will help you figure out how to deal with the change and communicate to the new market… but keep the people who missed the change.

    Anna, if you see this, give me a call.

  2. Anonymous
    December 14th, 2007 @ 4:55 pm

    Fuller – I would have thought you you knew better. Cowling headed up the IP marketing group for a long time and did more there than in online marketing (a group that he was forced into). Cowling has only been in that position for about 1.5 years, and not much has changed since. Craig LeClair built the online marketing group from scratch and made it what it is today.

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