Christoph Schell, Intel's chief commercial officer and executive vice president, plans to step down on June 30, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The notice filed on April 28 states Schell is leaving to "pursue another career opportunity" with Kuka Group where he'll take on the CEO role. "Since joining Intel in 2022, Christoph has poured his heart and soul into our business and worked tirelessly in service of our customers," Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan wrote. "He has helped to steer our Sales and Marketing Group (SMG) through a challenging period and built a strong team along the way. I am grateful for his contributions and wish him success in his next role". Kuka Group stands out as a world leader in robotics offering robots, manufacturing cells, software, and cloud-based digital services. This exit comes after Intel reported another quarter of losses and more cost-cutting plans. However, it might not affect CEO Lip-Bu Tan's efforts to reshape the company, which include cutting jobs and simplifying management layers.

Since joining Intel in March 2022 from Hewlett-Packard, where he served seven years in senior management positions, Schell has witnessed Intel's continued financial challenges, including the recent first quarter results showing a net loss of US$800 million on revenue of US$12.7 billion. While the revenue met the upper threshold of previous guidance, Lip-Bu Tan acknowledged in the financial results statement that although "the first quarter was a step in the right direction, there are no quick fixes as we work to get back on a path to gaining market share and driving sustainable growth." Schell's tenure at Intel coincided with a period of leadership transition, having been appointed under former CEO Pat Gelsinger, who resigned in December 2024 after assuming the position in February 2021. Following Schell's departure, the head of America sales, Greg Ernst, is stepping in as the interim leader of Intel's Sales and Marketing Group.

Supermicro shares took a big hit today when Ernst & Young quit as its auditor, making its stock fall over 30%. EY decided to leave because of their worries in July about how Supermicro runs things, shares information, and keeps track of its money. In August, Supermicro delayed its annual report as they were looking over internal financial controls following Hindenburg Research's allegations of accounting manipulation. Ernst & Young's letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about quitting says they can't trust what the company's leaders say anymore. They also don't want their name on the company's financial papers after discovering new information during their check. "We are resigning due to information that has recently come to our attention which has led us to no longer be able to rely on management's and the Audit Committee's representations and to be unwilling to be associated with the financial statements prepared by management."

Supermicro doesn't agree with the accounting firm's decision, and they say fixing these problems won't mean they have to redo any of their financial reports from 2024 or earlier. Commenting on this subject, Nathan Anderson, the founder of Hindenburg, said in a post on X, "As far as auditor statements go, E&Y's SMCI resignation letter is about as strongly worded as I have seen." According to The Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice is currently looking into the company. Supermicro will present its first quarter fiscal 2025 business update on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT.

Despite the recent successful launch of Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero, which sold 3 million units in 24 hours, it looks as though Bandai Namco is pressuring 200 of its 1,300 employees in Japan to voluntarily resign in what is being called a short-sighted move to boost profits. According to a recent Bloomberg report, the Japanese game developer is skirting strict labor laws in Japan by removing all work responsibilities from 200 of its employees. Allegedly, nearly 100 of those staff being pressured into resignation have already left the company. Along with the layoffs, Bandai Namco has apparently cancelled three new games that were in development, namely, new Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Naruto games.

This shift at Bandai Namco comes in spite of a booming Japanese game industry, which will reportedly grow by 6.66% annually until 2029. Game Developer attributes Bandai Namco's coerced "voluntary" layoffs to the losses generated by the consistently underwhelming performance of the company's online division, which supposedly generated a net loss of an equivalent to $51.35 million in the last fiscal year. If our recent reporting is any indication, there seems to be a shift in the overall gaming market, in which younger audiences predominantly seem to prefer multiplayer (specifically PvP) games. Second to PvP is single-player gaming, which was consistently the preferred game type for more than 30% of gamers, regardless of age groups. This latter niche is seemingly where Bandai Namco's strengths and audience seem to lie, along with many of its other Japanese game studio competitors, like From Software, Nintendo, and Capcom.

Logitech International announced today that Bracken Darrell, president and chief executive officer (CEO), will be departing the Company to pursue another opportunity. Darrell's resignation as president, CEO, and as a member of Logitech's board of directors is effective today, but he will remain with the company over the coming month to ensure a seamless transition. In line with the board's established succession planning process, board member Guy Gecht will step into the role of interim CEO while a global search of internal and external candidates is conducted.

"As an experienced CEO, and member of Logitech's board since 2019, Guy has a deep understanding of Logitech and its strategy, and is well-placed as interim CEO to oversee the continued execution of the company's strategy," said Wendy Becker, Logitech's chairperson of the board. "We thank Bracken for his leadership during an exciting era of transformation at Logitech. Over his ten years as CEO, Bracken oversaw a period of consistent growth and helped to transform Logitech into an award-winning design company known for its unparalleled product innovation. We wish him well in the future and look forward to identifying his successor."

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear has declared that he is resigning from his position effectively immediately. In his statement, posted via a Twitch Blog and his personal Twitter page on Thursday March 16, a decision to spend more time with his family is given as the main reason for quitting his executive role: "With my first child just born, I've been reflecting on my future with Twitch." Shear writes. "Twitch often feels to me like a child I've been raising as well. And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16 years old it feels to me Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone."

Shear was a co-founding partner of a humble entity that would eventually evolve into Twitch.tv, he is stepping down after serving as leader since the company's inception: "My work on Twitch began in October 2006, when Justin, Michael, and I drove across the country from New York to San Francisco. Kyle would join us three short months later, when we got him a one way ticket to fly out to San Francisco during MIT's externship week." He continues the story: "Justin.tv, Inc. turned into Twitch Inc., Twitch Inc. became a fully owned subsidiary of Amazon, and along the way we have grown to more than 8 million streamers a month."