Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: VTSS), a leading provider of
advanced IC solutions for Carrier, Enterprise and Internet
of Things (IoT) networks, announced the appointment of
William C. Martin to its board of directors.
“We appreciate the extensive insight and support that Bill has provided
to Vitesse as our largest stockholder and we are pleased that he has
accepted our invitation to join the Company’s board of directors,” said
Chris Gardner, CEO of Vitesse. “Given his knowledge of Vitesse and
business acumen, Bill will be a tremendous asset to the Company going
forward. Vitesse is well positioned to benefit from the proliferation of
Ethernet in our expanding target markets. We have made great progress in
transforming our business and we are confident that we have set Vitesse
on a path to generate significant shareholder value.”
“I am excited to join the Vitesse board and look forward to working
closely with the team to execute on their strategic plans and to
capitalize on opportunities to maximize shareholder value,” said William
C. Martin. “Vitesse has made significant progress in executing its
strategy to re-position its business with a focus on emerging,
high-growth Ethernet-based technologies, and new products now represent
the majority of revenue. The Company has also significantly improved its
balance sheet, giving it the financial flexibility to execute on a very
attractive business model with high operating leverage. I believe
Vitesse has reached an important inflection point that presents
compelling opportunities to create significant shareholder value.”
Mr. Martin is currently the Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of
Raging Capital Management, LLC, a private investment partnership based
near Princeton, New Jersey that was founded in 2006. Mr. Martin has
co-founded a number of financial information companies, including
RagingBull.com in 1997 and InsiderScore.com in 2004. He has also served
on two public company boards, including nine years on the board of
Bankrate, Inc., which was acquired in 2009, and the board of Salary.com,
Inc., which was acquired in 2010.
Mr. Martin’s extensive experience and successful track record as an
investor, entrepreneur and public company director, coupled with his
significant financial stake in the Company, will enable him to provide
Vitesse’s board and management with valuable perspectives on executing
strategies to maximize shareholder value.
Raging Capital is Vitesse’s largest stockholder, directly owning
14,321,127 shares of common stock (or over 21% of shares outstanding)
and $8,639,676 principal amount of our 8.00% Convertible Second Lien
Debentures due 2014.
About Vitesse
Vitesse (Nasdaq: VTSS) designs a diverse portfolio of high-performance
semiconductor solutions for Carrier, Enterprise and Internet of Things
(IoT) networks worldwide. Vitesse products enable the fastest-growing
network infrastructure markets including Mobile Access/IP Edge, Cloud
Computing, SMB/SME Enterprise and IoT Networking.
Vitesse is a registered trademark of Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation
in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks or
registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their
respective holders.
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Copyright Business Wire 2014