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Gil Amelio

Gilbert F. Amelio (born March 1, 1943 in New York City) is an American technology executive. He grew up in Miami, Florida, and received a bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Amelio worked at Bell Labs, Fairchild Semiconductor, and the semiconductor division of Rockwell International, but is best remembered as a former CEO of National Semiconductor and Apple. Amelio was CEO of National Semiconductor from May 27, 1991, to February 2, 1996. During his tenure at NatSemi, Amelio cut costs and returned the company to profitability.

Career

1994–1997: Apple Computer

In 1994, Amelio joined the Board of Directors of Apple Computer. Upon 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 for the Macintosh, Amelio started negotiations to buy Be Inc., makers of BeOS, but negotiations stalled when Be CEO Jean-Louis Gassée wanted $400 million; Apple was unwilling to offer any more than $125 million. In November 1996, Amelio started discussions with Steve Jobs' NeXT, and bought the company on February 4, 1997 for $429 million. NeXT's operating system became the basis for Mac OS X. Amelio later admitted he felt he had overpaid for NeXT.

During Amelio's tenure Apple's stock hit a 12-year low, and in the second quarter of 1997, after Steve Jobs sold all but one of his shares in the company, Apple lost another $708 million. Later in 1997, the directors of Apple lost confidence in and ousted then-CEO Gil Amelio in a boardroom coup. Steve Jobs then became Apple's interim CEO. In 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs summed up his predecessor's tenure with a quote that he attributed to Amelio:

"Apple is like a ship with a hole in the bottom, and my job is to point the ship in the right direction"

1998–Present: After Apple

Since 1998, Amelio has been a venture capitalist focusing on early-stage startups. He is currently Senior Partner at Sienna Ventures in Sausalito, California and CEO of Acquicor, a company he co-founded with Ellen Hancock and Steve Wozniak. Acquicor completed the acquisition of Jazz Semiconductor in Newport Beach, CA in early 2007 and has since been granted SEC approval.

In February 2001, Amelio became CEO of Advanced Communications Technologies, or ADC. ADC is the United States arm of an Australian firm that has developed a product for the wireless communications industry called SpectruCell. SpectruCell supports multiple protocols and is software upgradeable, which has been characterized as a big boon to the cell phone market.

Amelio is a former director and chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association, since 1996 has been an advisor to the Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor and to Malaysia's Prime Minister. He is a current or past director of AT&T Inc., Pacific Telesis, Chiron, Sematech, the Georgia Tech Advisory Board (as chairman) and the American Film Institute. In June 2003 he was named Chairman of the Board of Ripcord Networks; where he joined Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, ex-CTO Ellen Hancock, and other Apple alumni. In Oct 2005 he joined the Board of Advisors to Vanguard PAC, now TheVanguard.Org.

Amelio is an IEEE Fellow, has been awarded 16 patents, and is the author of three books, An American Imperative (1993), Profit from Experience (1995) and On the Firing Line: My 500 Days at Apple (1998), the latter two of which were business best sellers.