Should AMD Investors Panic Over Galleon?

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There's bad news that makes you sell, and bad news you can ignore. I think this falls in the second category.

BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal, reading from court documents and talking to the usual nameless sources, report that former Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) CEO Hector Ruiz may have played a part in the Galleon saga. Ruiz allegedly told Galleon's people about the plan to spin manufacturing off into a separate operation, and then Galleon traded on that confidential, non-public information.

Representatives from AMD, Ruiz, and Galleon predictably say "Talk to the hand," since they can't really discuss an ongoing investigation in any detail. What we know is that Ruiz has not been charged with any crime, and that Galleon ended up not making any profit on this particular round of insider trading. The Panic of 2008 took the wind out of AMD's sails, and I've seen a lot of skepticism about AMD's spin-out on top of that.

Because of this story and an overall declining market, AMD shares fell about 6% on Wednesday, but I think that's a short-term knee-jerk reaction. Ruiz has not been charged with any crime. Even if the government does level charges against him, like they did to a senior executive at IBM (NYSE: IBM), it shouldn't make much of an impact on AMD's business. Robert Moffat, a senior vice president with Big Blue, has been placed on temporary leave and removed from the company's governing executive council. Do that to Ruiz, and all you've done is hasten the veteran executive's retirement as chairman of manufacturing division Global Foundries. It's really no big deal, if you ask me.

Galleon's alleged mischief spans the tech industry, with insider trading accusations swirling around Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), and Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM). It's a thorny situation, and there may be some serious fallout from this far-reaching inquiry.

I just wouldn't worry much about Galleon's effects on AMD. Ruiz is an aging figurehead and not terribly important to AMD's business anymore. Carry on bashing AMD for its lack of cash creation or buying the stock because of AMD's unique position in the chip industry. It's your choice.

Forget about Galleon.