And it won't be a good year for the rest of us if Jerry has to go.
By the time you read this, Sanders will have likely won a proxy fight atthe AMD stockholder meeting in New York brought by the California PublicEmployees' Retirement System (CalPERS) to appoint an independent chairman.Even if he wins this round, though, Sanders's troubles will not end. WallStreet analysts have pointed out that AMD's stock rises wheneverrumors circulate that Sanders will step down. Some, in fact, have said hehas to go in any event if AMD is ever to truly challenge Intel.
Granted, they do have their reasons. CalPERS asserts that $100 invested ina peer group of stocks on December 31, 1992, would have been worth $369 onDecember 31, 1997. Invested in AMD, the same $100 would be worth $98.
Last year, Sanders took home $1.7 million in compensation, an amount thatincluded $256,428 in personal security services and a $473,812 cost-of-living increase. AMD lost $21.1 million during the year. The year before,he received $1.3 million by delivering losses of $69 million. Other SECdocuments show that Sanders has had his own stock options repriced in thepast after a stock collapse.
Still, these excesses aside, Sanders' departure from the IT scene will meana monumental loss. For Sanders in many ways symbolizes the goofy glory andunabashed extravagance of postwar America.
It is an America where the swag lamp and the three-martini lunch stillreign, where deals are based on a handshake, and the bathing suits are big.It is a place where character is measured by honesty and masculinity by theamount of gold jewelry a man wears.
Sanders himself comes across as a one-man Rat Pack. Typically decked out ina designer tie, various bracelets, and a rose lapel, it doesn't take muchimagination to picture him mixing a pitcher of cocktails with Peter Lawfordor, say, lifting weights pool-side. Did he date Elke Sommer? He mighthave even been married to her for a few days.
More importantly, Sanders seems to be one of the few reminders left thatmoney should be spent in large, obvious ways--which is why we need him.
Despite news reports about the fancy cars and expensive restaurants poppingup all over Silicon Valley, the area remains one mired in cheapness andgrim determination. In many ways, self-inflicted torment is the ultimatestatus symbol here. Where else in the world, after all, is the reward formaking millions overnight a 15-hour workday? Budgets get continuallyreviewed for waste and inefficiency. Stock option tycoons celebrate bybuying a bag of Pepperidge Farm goldfish and complaining about the capitalgains tax. The Gilded Age--when a railroad baron might become famous forburning down a mansion, dueling with a rival, or talking to his or her petotters--it is not.
Intel remains one of the standard bearers of the relentless local workethic. An annual memo reminds employees that Christmas Eve is not an excuseto go home before 5 p.m. The company's mission statement hangs in eachconference room. This drive has made millionaires out of many, and most ofthem still go to Supercuts.
While this line of behavior may work to preserve fortunes, it takes thepanache out of the greatest explosion of wealth in a century. Sanders may notbe an answer to all our ills, but he is all we have.
Senior writer Michael Kanellos never dated Elke Sommer, in spite of all the rumors to the contrary.