SoftBank's Arm Says China CEO Fired for Major Irregularities

SoftBank Group's Arm and its Chinese venture clashed publicly over whether the venture's CEO had been fired, a dispute that threatens to disrupt a Western company central to the global semiconductor industry. From a report: The conflict erupted after the British firm told Bloomberg News the board of Arm China -- jointly owned by Arm and investors including China's sovereign wealth fund -- voted to oust Chief Executive Officer Allen Wu. Hours later, Arm China posted a statement to its official WeChat account asserting he was still in charge, a stance repeated across domestic social media. The U.K. firm then fired back to say Wu had been dismissed after an investigation uncovered undisclosed conflicts of interest and violations of employee rules.

"Following a whistleblower complaint and several other current and former employee complaints, an investigation was undertaken by Arm Limited," the company said in its latest statement, jointly issued with shareholder Hopu Investment. "Evidence received from multiple sources found serious irregularities, including failing to disclose conflicts of interest and violations of the employee handbook." The spat comes at a sensitive time for Arm and its 49%-owned Chinese affiliate, when Western companies are struggling to navigate an escalating clash between Washington and Beijing over technology leadership. Any prolonged conflict could also have ramifications for Arm, whose semiconductor architecture underpins the majority of the world's mobile devices. The British firm relies on Chinese names like Huawei for a large portion of its global revenue, and leans on Arm China to help it conduct business in the world's biggest smartphone market.

Under the Chinese rules they where just doing thin

[Joe_Dragon]

Under the Chinese rules they where just doing things the government way so they are not fired

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[jellomizer]

So what is the US going to do about it?
Nothing as we have already squandered away most of of tougher negation weapons, on a hissyfit over America not being #1 in all exports.
With the US claiming HUGE Victory when they get a trade levels back to where it was before they had stopped it.
 

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[cayenne8]

Well, it might be time to buy stock in Intel and AMD, no?

Re:Under the Chinese rules they where just doing t

[Gravis Zero]

Dude, dude. It is not time to buy stock in Intel. Intel is hemorrhaging.

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[Shaitan]

Maybe, maybe not a huge chunk of investors trade sectors a major company in the sector performing poorly can sometimes pull down the sector instead of pulling it up.

Re:Under the Chinese rules they where just doing t

[alvinrod]

Softbank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate and Arm Holdings (previously a British multinational) is a subsidiary of theirs.

What the hell should the U.S. do about it? What we should do is stay the hell out of it because we've got plenty of our own issues to sort out and none of this has happened within our jurisdiction.

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[DNS-and-BIND]

I see you don't understand the officials who make up the U.S. government. They view themselves as a kind of World President and they absolutely love interfering in issues that f don't concern them. They find it stimulating and fulfilling. Remember when the same people suddenly placed themselves in the middle of the FIFA scandals for no reason? Same thing.

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[Shaitan]

"Nothing as we have already squandered away most of of tougher negation weapons, on a hissyfit over America not being #1 in all exports."

Lets stop with this nonsense the deals with China benefit a handful of companies which are largely in small handful of states which target export, outsourcing, and in-sourcing heavily but also have a lot of electoral votes and power in the house (especially where the population is heavily bolstered with inflation from illegal immigration). You'll also find massive ports in

Well...

[iserlohn]

> including failing to disclose conflicts of interest and violations of the employee handbook.

This strongly suggests there is IP theft involved in this.

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[superzerg]

you say that only because it happens in China ? If it was in US "conflicts of interest and violations of the employee handbook" would mean he was banging his secretary and promoting her, right ?

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[Fly Swatter]

All he did was violate the unwritten rule: don't get caught.

I doubt he is fired

[orlanz]

Welcome to owning 49%. In China & India, the local subsidiary must be +51% owned by a domestic partner and atleast 25% by foreign. Basically its not a "subsidiary" but a partnership with controlling share kept indirectly with the Chinese government or Indian partner.

So to fire the CEO, the local owner has to agree. And if that CEO is that owner or well connected to the owner, good luck!

Similar things happen with US & EU companies but there are usually financial or legal mechanisms in place enforce what is decided by the global or home office unit.

This seems pretty straightforward

[drew_kime]

49% shareholder: "He's fired."

51% shareholder: "No he isn't."

Seems like it's all over except the crying.

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[DontBeAMoran]

Unless it's the year 3000.

China: You've been assigned the job you're best at just like everyone else.
CEO: What if one day I'm responsible for major irregularities?
China: Then you'll be fired...
CEO: Fine.
China: ...out of a cannon, into the Sun.
CEO: Eek.

ARM, not Arm

[hackertourist]

Despite the company logo being lowercase, the company is called ARM and should be capitalized. The story title shows why.

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[jeromef]

No [arm.com].

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[K. S. Kyosuke]

Must be this miniaturization thing I keep hearing about from the semiconductor industry.

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[hackertourist]

Their guidelines are idiotic.

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[jeromef]

Yes ;-)