Ousted Atmel CEO Pens Heated Resignation Letter

Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 8/24/2006

The tension is still in the air at microcontroller and memory vendor Atmel Corp. On Tuesday, recently fired former CEO and president George Perlegos submitted a terse and accusatory letter to the company proclaiming his resignation from its board, on which he had served as chairman.

The letter, which Atmel included this week in a regulatory Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, was sent to Mark A. Bertelsen, secretary at Atmel, and reads:

Re: Resignation as a Director of Atmel Corporation

Dear Mr. Bertelsen:

I want to inform you that I resign as a director of Atmel Corporation.
My reason is that I can no longer fulfill my fiduciary duty as a director because the corporation, the board, and you are not providing me any information or documents about the company since July 26, 2006.

You continue to make decisions without the full board's involvement, which I think are illegal and unethical, including the announcement of the second quarter results.

Sincerely,
George Perlegos

The letter is just the latest stone thrown in a series of internal battles at the company: The resignation had been explicitly called for earlier this month, when Atmel's board fired Perlegos from his position as CEO and president, along with three other execs, over alleged misuse of corporate travel funds. Atmel immediately named Steven Laub as the company's president and CEO.

Perlegos promptly fired back, filing suit against five of the board's directors and claiming in a statement that his termination was "unlawful and improper."

Although Atmel denied the oustings had anything to do stock options-related trouble, the company has been no outsider to the industry-wide stock options backdating scandal.

Last week, Atmel received a request for information relating to past stock option grants from the SEC. Additionally, two shareholder derivative complaints have been filed against current and former company executives and board members, alleging stock options backdating.

The troubles have yet to affect the company's bottom line, however. Last week the company reported Q2 revenues totaling $464.3 million, a sequential increase of 6.3 percent compared to the $436.8 million reported in Q1 and a 12.6 percent increase compared to the $412.2 million reported in Q2 2005.

In fact, all the turmoil may actually spell out good news in the end for the company's shareholders. Indeed, rumors on Wall Street say that Atmel may soon receive an attractive takeover bid.

The company’s stock, too, has seen little negative affect from Perlegos’ letter. This morning Atmel’s shares opened at $5.54, one of the strongest stock prices the company has seen this month.