SiliconBeat

Monolithic Power says it was victorious in a contract dispute with Linear Technology, according to a press release it sent out late Tuesday evening.

Monolithic did not breach an October 1, 2005, agreement with Linear Technology that was a subject of the litigation, according to the release. Nor did it “willfully infringe” against the patent claims in the case of two patents asserted by Linear that were used in a Monolithic Power product that had been discontinued “more than 18 months earlier.”

However, Read the rest of this entry »

Without a word of explanation as to why, the compensation committee of the board of directors at Monolithic Power Systems decided last week to raise maximum payout of its “cash performance bonuses” for its top executives. The new top target for Chief Executive Michael Hsing grew 27 percent to $780,000, up from $612,000. Read the rest of this entry »

The same day it released results for its 2008 first quarter, Monolithic Power Systems said that its reports for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 “should no longer be relied upon” after the company determined that its accounting for the tax effect of stock-based compensation related to a “cost-share” agreement it has with a foreign subsidiary was not recorded correctly.

Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Uenten, the head of design engineering at Monolithic Power Systems, got a nice thank-you gift last year from his bosses for his “contributions to new product development.” In addition to his $224,000 salary and the $116,000 bonus he received last year, the powers that be picked up the $59,085 price tag of a car for him.

We put a call out to Mr. Uenten’s office Friday afternoon after noticing the detail in the company’s proxy it filed that day with the SEC. We left a voicemail asking him for details about what kind of car he got for himself but have yet to hear back.

We got a vicarious thrill Web shopping for transportation in that price range. He are three models that caught our eye: a Porsch Cayman, a Jaguar S-type, and a Mercedes SL. We’d appreciate it if any of the folks who work over at the San Jose chip company with him can let us know if we’re close.