Western Digital Legal Chief Michael Ray Leaving Ahead of Split

Western Digital Corp.’s chief legal officer and corporate secretary Michael Ray is poised to depart as the company plans to split itself in two following failed merger talks with Japan’s Kioxia Holdings Corp.

Ray will exit as of Jan. 12 to “pursue another opportunity,” the San Jose, Calif.-based computer drive and data storage company disclosed in a Jan. 4 securities filing. Cynthia Lock Tregillis, deputy general counsel for government affairs and corporate legal services at Western Digital, will replace Ray as legal chief.

Western Digital, advised by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said in late October it would divide itself into two publicly traded companies after its merger talks broke down with Kioxia. The move came after South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc., the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker and an indirect shareholder in Kioxia, objected to the latter’s proposed union with Western Digital.

The separation plan calls for Western Digital to retain its hard disk drive business but spin-off its flash division, a unit focused on memory for computers, devices, and portable drivers. Western Digital had previously tried to merge its flash business with Kioxia to better compete with Samsung Electronics Co.

Ray, who has worked at Western Digital since 2000, didn’t respond to a request for comment about his next endeavor. He was named the company’s general counsel in 2010 and took on additional legal duties in 2015. Tregillis and Western Digital also didn’t respond to comment requests about the transition of the company’s top legal job.

Ray received nearly $2.9 million in total compensation during fiscal 2023, down from almost $7.1 million the year prior, Western Digital’s most recent proxy statement filed in October disclosed. He currently owns nearly $9 million in Western Digital stock, according to Bloomberg data.

The company’s legal group has gone through other changes in the past year, having tapped former Apple Inc. compliance executive Joseph Santosuosso to be its new chief compliance officer last September. Santosuosso took over from Tiffany Scurry, a lawyer who left Western Digital to take a compliance chief role at semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Outside Advisers

Skadden’s work on Western Digital’s effort to divide itself isn’t the only time the Big Law firm has come to the company’s aid.

A year ago, Skadden represented Western Digital on a $900 million investment from funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management Inc. and Elliott Investment Management LP. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison advised Apollo on that deal, while Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher took the lead for Elliott.

Western Digital has also been a key client of Gibson Dunn. The law firm has had a role on roughly 16% of cases involving Western Digital in US federal courts within the last five years, according to Bloomberg Law data. Gibson Dunn survived a disqualification bid last year by a Western Digital adversary, Viasat Inc., in a patent infringement dispute between both companies.

Ray’s departure comes as some Western Digital competitors are in the market for new legal group leaders.

Earlier this week Seagate Technology Holdings PLC, a data storage rival of Western Digital, disclosed that its top lawyer Katherine “Kate” Schuelke will depart as of Jan. 15, 2024, to pursue another opportunity outside the company. Schuelke has been replaced internally on an interim basis by Laurie Webb, a vice president of legal and compliance chief for the computer hard drive maker.

Seagate, which plans to look for a permanent successor to Schuelke, last year agreed to pay a $300 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it violated US export controls by doing business with China’s Huawei Technologies Co.

Micron Technology Co., a Boise, Idaho-based semiconductor giant, also saw its former top lawyer Robert Beard leave last summer to become legal chief and head of global policy at Mastercard Inc. Micron has named Michael Myers, a former senior director for litigation and global operations legal, to be its interim general counsel and corporate secretary.