SiliconBeat

Shares of Sirf Technology Holdings surged Friday following the news that co-founder Diosdado Banato would take over as interim chief executive following the resignation of Michael Canning “effective immediately”, the company announced Thursday after regular stock trading closed.

Shares of Sirf, which held its initial public offering in in 2000 at $12 each. They plunged in February after the maker of chips used in global positioning systems forecast sales that fell short of Wall Street expectation, falling by more than half to $8.91. They closed Thursday at $5.47 and jumped to $6.34 around noon, PDT.

It was the second resignation by a top Sirf executive this month. The company’s chief financial officer Geoffrey Ribar submitted his resignation April 3 to allow him to “pursue other interests” but will remain with the company until May 8.

Banatao, one of the the most prominent and wealthy Filipinos in the world, has served on Sirf’s board since its inception and was its initial outside investor. He’s a managing partner at Tallwood Venture Capital in Palo Alto and a former venture partner at Mayfield Fund. He found chip maker S3 and co-founded Chips & Technology.