Flogging a dead horse
You had the feeling the end was nigh for ST-Ericsson when its chief executive resigned the other week. Didier Lamouche was parachuted into the ceo's role at the end of 2011. Previously ST's chief operating officer, he was handed the poisoned chalice of turning ST-Ericsson's fortunes around. The company's third ceo in just two years, Lamouche was charged with taking the company towards 'industry leadership and sustainable financial return'.
While an argument can be made that ST-Ericsson had a degree of technology leadership – it had design wins at Samsung and Sony – at no time did it provide a financial return. Far from it; it failed to turn a profit in four years and racked up close to $3billion in debt.
As one well placed industry observer noted, perhaps Lamouche was tired of flogging a dead horse. As far as I can tell, the horse was dead long before Lamouche arrived on the scene.
