July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

In a surprise move, Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced today that he plans to step down next May.

Otellini is only the fifth CEO in Intel’s 45-year history, and as a 40-year employee, the now-departing CEO has been a part of the company from essentially the beginning.

“After almost four decades with the company and eight years as CEO, it’s time to move on and transfer Intel’s helm to a new generation of leadership,” Otellini said in a statement this morning.

But while the trend for Intel CEOs is to retire at 65, Otellini is 62, making his announcement a surprise to those both inside and outside Intel.

Otellini’s early departure comes amidst Intel’s ongoing struggles in the mobile space. While the company has made headway in the form of the Intel-equipped Motorola Razr i, the big issue that will face Intel’s next CEO is figuring out how to make a dent in the mobile market before Intel gets completely squeezed out of it. After all, it’s telling that the iPad, one the most important devices of the past decade, isn’t running on an Intel chip.

Intel says it plans to look both inside and outside the company for Otellini’s successor. One possibile, but unlikely, choice is Sean Maloney, the 30-year Intel veteran who was widely believed to be next up for Intel’s CEO spot before he left the company in September.

In terms of highlights,  Otellini oversaw Apple’s transition to Intel chips (though there are rumors that Apple is looking to split), the rise of the Ultrabook, and, in 2006, the largest layoff round in Intel’s history. 10,500 employees were laid off, representing a tenth of Intel’s workforce.

On the numbers side, Otellini saw Intel’s annual revenue climb from $38.8 billion to $54 billion. More recently, Intel has been hit by sagging sales in the PC market, which helped cut its profits by 14 percent during the third quarter.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Disney chief executive Robert Iger announced today he will be stepping down from his position in 2015.

The Wall Street Journal reports he will become Disney’s executive chairman in March 2012, when current chairman John Pepper retires. Iger will hold this position until he retires in 2016.

“I want to thank [Pepper] for his many contributions, and his support of our people and our strategy including two of the company’s most significant acquisitions in recent years, Pixar and Marvel,” Iger said in a statement.

Iger became chief executive of Disney in 2005, a year before the company bought digital animation studio Pixar for $7.4 billion. The studio, which has produced classic movies such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc. and more recently Up, was brought to life by Steve Jobs when he purchased it from Lucasfilm in 1986. According to the New York Times, Iger visited Jobs soon before his death Tuesday. In fact, Jobs’ shares in Disney, which were valued $4.4 billion, nearly doubled his $2.1 billion in Apple — his own company.

Iger’s contract was originally slated to end his term in January 2013, but the extension and new executive chairman position allows him to retire at 65. Currently, no replacement has been identified for the chief executive position.

Disney will pay Iger $2.5 million annual base salary, under the new contract, which will not change when he takes the sole position of executive chairman.

[Photo courtesy of Joeydz/Flickr]

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

(Editor’s note: Rick Rodgers is an author, keynote speaker, wealth manager and president of Rodgers & Associates. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.)

Many entrepreneurs believe they don’t need to plan for retirement. Sadly, they’re quite mistaken.

Too many start-up owners actually view their business as their retirement plan. And while creating a valuable company that could eventually be sold or go public may indeed provide a comfortable retirement, it’s no way to plan. It’s the equivalent of asking a financial advisor to put all of your savings into a single stock. Sure, if you hit a home run you’re set, but no prudent planner would ever recommend such a strategy.

Only 35 percent of small business owners had some sort of retirement plan in 2007, according to Harris Interactive’s ShareBuilder Small Business Annual Retirement Trend survey. In 2008, that number dropped to 26 percent.

It doesn’t take a 401(k) plan to start retirement saving. A Roth IRA is an excellent tool for early start-up owners, who generally aren’t seeing notable paychecks. While it offers no tax advantages as you fund it, you’ll see significant benefits when the time comes to withdraw the money. (Withdrawals are tax-free if the account is at least five years old and you are age 59 ½ or older.)

Once your business starts to grow and income taxes become more of a concern, you might consider switching your contributions to a Traditional IRA, where contributions are deductible.

Currently you can invest (and deduct) up to $5,000 per year. If you want to deduct more than $5,000, switch to a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) IRA, which allows you to contribute up to 25 percent of your net self-employed income.

(Note that you’ll also have to cover eligible employees in a SEP IRA, so be sure to check with your accountant or financial planner before setting up this type of account.)

Unlike Roths, Traditional IRAs and SEP IRAs give you tax benefits up front, when you make the contributions.  Distributions from these accounts will be taxable when you take the money out.

While feeding the start-up monster is hard to resist – especially when funding is tight – it’s critical to diversify your funds into investments other than your business. And there’s no time like the present to start.  Time is your biggest ally in retirement planning. As Einstein said: “The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest”.

Also, just as you perform a quarterly review of your company’s finances, take time to review your own retirement position every few months, with the objective of raising it.

If your start-up ultimately attracts a buyer or, better still, goes public, you’re certainly no worse off. But if your company becomes one of the sad (statistically likely) failures, you’ve started the process of ensuring a semi-soft landing in your later years.

Photo by scottwills via Flickr