In retrospect, Howard was apparently on the outs for some time.
ELI_R, in the cc, Merrit said that the board had identified him as the successor prior to the actual change, as follows (in bold):
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Steve Shapiro, Intrepid Investors - Analyst [24]
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Just a question for Bill, I guess. Speaking as an investor, I'm certainly not -- I doubt if anybody's particularly disappointed with Howard's leaving. Frankly, he was a pretty big pain in the ass to deal with. But having said that, the timing is obviously a little bit shocking, given the Nokia arbitration. A., Could you just reiterate the Nokia arbitration process, and B., maybe you could provide a little bit more color or specificity in terms of what exactly precipitated the move at this point in time, given the Nokia arbitration and its importance? In other words, was any portion of that related to strategy with respect to dealing with Nokia? Were there specific points of disagreement in strategy? The timing obviously hit the stock, and it's obviously a concern. So if you could flesh that out a little bit I think it would be helpful.
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Bill Merritt, InterDigital Communications - President and CEO [25]
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Sure. We're not going to get into the discussions that went on as to why it would happen at any particular point in time. Things happen when it is appropriate to happen. I want to reaffirm that, as I said in my opening remarks, that it had nothing to do with Nokia. That was not part of the mix here. Again, the Board, as it should, is always looking to enhance the performance of the Company. The decision to make a change to enhance the performance of the Company is made when the Board believe that that decision should be made. That happens to be this week. As you would expect, the Company has succession planning that is part of its business. So I had been identified along the way as the internal successor to that position. So when at the time the Board decided it was time to make the move, we were able to do it in a fairly seamless way. So other than that, I think that my remarks covered it, and we are moving forward at this point.
