my personal (free-speech protected) opinion: the current leader (executive chairman, ex-CEO) is a guy who got lucky once selling a company at a time where acquisitions were notoriously overpriced. Having confused luck with competence he took over this company, thinking he'd know how to run it. He did not seem to work or produce much, but he must have done something right because he managed to show up on the Union Tribune's list of San Diego's top paid CEOs. However, good executive pay is expensive, and since the company is not making much money, he's had to layoff quite a few employees. It's OK, he'd grown disillusioned with them anyway for not being able to deliver on his vision.