I’ve always thought that the ultimate insult is when your share price goes UP when you announce your resignation. Readers of Hotviews down the years will be able to recall some notable examples.
Yesterday Warren East, the CEO of ARM, surprised the market by announcing his resignation. ARM shares fell 2.6%. Warren also got a set of ‘obituaries’ which were universally flattering. Simon Segars, another long serving ARM director, will move back from his Silicon Valley base to Cambridge to take on the CEO mantle.
ARM has had a remarkably stable top team. (Sir) Robin Saxby was CEO from 1991 to 2001 (and Chairman until 2006). East joined ARM in 1994 and took over from Saxby as CEO in 2001. I’ve had the pleasure and honour of knowing them both for a long time and have great respect for both. Indeed ARM is an icon of the very best of UK technology.
East always came across as a serious man. He’s often talked about in the same breath as Mike Lynch. But in temperament they are very different.
Shareholders have much to thank East for. The share price is up threefold since 2001. But that’s a bit of an unfair comparison as we all know that tech was in freefall back then. ARM hit its nadir in 2002. If you had invested then at 56p you would be showing a 16x gain since. It’s been one of those stocks that analysts have for years said was ‘overvalued’ and has consistently been one of the best performers none the less. As ARM is in almost every mobile product, it benefits regardless of whether it is Samsung or Apple which ‘wins’ the current smartphone race.
East is ‘only’ 52 and I just can’t believe the UK tech scene has seen the last of him.