TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Intel, AMD Owners Object to Takeover Defenses: Shareholders of Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices have asked the companies to get rid of the “poison pill” defenses intended to fend off hostile takeovers. The vote was taken at Intel’s annual meeting May 4 in Albuquerque, N.M., and AMD’s meeting in New York on April 27. Intel is the largest maker of microprocessors and AMD is Intel’s leading competitor. Neither vote was binding. Intel’s directors had opposed the motion but agreed to do what shareholders asked; AMD’s directors haven’t decided. Poison pills are generally issues of new stock intended to make it too costly for a bidder considered undesirable by management to gain control. Institutional investors requested the firms to drop their poison pill defenses.