Pixelworks, Inc., an innovative provider of video display processing technology, today announced that effective immediately Bruce Walicek has resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a Director from the board for personal reasons. Mr. Walicek will remain as a consultant to the Company for a period of up to six months.
Pixelworks’ Board of Directors has commenced efforts to promptly identify and select a candidate to succeed Mr. Walicek as CEO. Until such time that a permanent CEO is appointed, Stephen Domenik will assume these duties and serve as interim CEO. Mr. Domenik has served as a Director on Pixelworks’ board since August 2010 and previously acted as a strategic consultant to the Company in 2013.
Richard Sanquini, chairman of Pixelworks’ board, stated, “On behalf of the board and management team, I want to thank Bruce for his dedication and commitment to the Company. He contributed significantly to the repositioning of Pixelworks over the past eight years, and we appreciate his efforts. The board is actively working to appoint a permanent CEO.”
“It’s been a pleasure and honor for me to work with the excellent team at Pixelworks over the years,” said Bruce Walicek. “I am confident that the company is well-positioned to succeed in its next phase of growth.”
Stephen Domenik, Pixelworks’ interim CEO, commented, “I would like to welcome Todd DeBonis, who recently joined Pixelworks and will assume the role of Chief Operating Officer. Todd came to Pixelworks following a successful tenure as Vice President of Global Sales and Strategic Development at TriQuint Semiconductor. He will prove to be a valuable asset as Pixelworks further executes on its mobile product strategy. Todd is a seasoned executive with a wealth of experience spanning strategy, sales and operations across a global organization. He has an extensive background in communications applications and products that includes an impressive track record of increasing sales and market share.”
Preliminary Fourth Quarter 2015 Results
The Company also reported preliminary fourth quarter 2015 results with revenue of $13.5 million and a GAAP net loss per share of $0.11. In regards to the Company’s outlook for the first quarter of 2016, Mr. Domenik stated, “Looking ahead, the challenging market environment continues to impact our results and will likely contribute to greater than normal seasonal weakness in the first quarter of 2016. We will discuss in more detail on our upcoming conference call.”
As previously announced, Pixelworks is scheduled to hold its fourth quarter and fiscal 2015 financial results conference call on Thursday, February 4th at 2:00pm PST.
Executive Biographies
Since 1995, Stephen Domenik has been a General Partner with Sevin Rosen Funds, a venture capital firm. Domenik currently serves as a director of MoSys, Inc. (NASDAQ: MOSY), a leader in semiconductor solutions that enable fast, intelligent data access for network and communications systems, and EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR), a provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems. He previously served as Chairman of the Board of Meru Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: MERU) until it was acquired by Fortinet in July 2015, and also served on the Board of Directors of NetLogic Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETL) through its acquisition by Broadcom Corporation in February 2012 as well as PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLXT) which was acquired by Avago Technologies in August 2014. Domenik holds a B.S. in Physics and M.S.E.E. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Todd DeBonis brings to Pixelworks 28 years of experience in sales, marketing and business development at industry leading semiconductor companies where he created and implemented successful market penetration strategies. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Global Sales & Strategic Development at TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ: TQNT) from 2004 to 2015. His responsibilities included global sales, business development, strategic planning, customer support, contract negotiation and corporate marketing. During his tenure at TriQuint, he was a key contributor to the company’s rapid growth from $300 million to $1.1 billion, while increasing operating margin from break-even to 20%. Prior to TriQuint, DeBonis served as Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Marketing at Centillium Communications (NASDAQ: CTLM), Vice President of Worldwide Sales of Ishoni Networks and also held executive positions at Infineon Technologies, VisCom Corporation and Electec SoCal. DeBonis received a B.S.E.E. from the University of Nevada.
