SHANGHAI -- One of the last of the major PCB CAD founder/owners has fallen.

Altium today announced founder and chief executive Nick Martin has stepped down, effective immediately, some 27 years after launching the printed circuit board design software company. The company named executive vice chairman Kayvan Oboudiyat as CEO.

The move was highly unexpected and comes just 18 months after Altium relocated its headquarters and tech development to China from Sydney.

In a statement, the Altium board said while the company has made "considerable progress over the past 12 months ... it is in the best interests of Altium to adopt a different leadership style with focus on returning value to shareholders." While complimenting Altium for its technical prowess, chairman Sam Weiss said the software developer has "underperformed against the opportunity." He did not elaborate.

Altium's revenue for the 12 months ended June 30 rose 14% year-over-year to $55.2 million. The company reported an-after tax profit of $6 million, up from a loss of $7.1 million the year before.

Oboudiyat has been with Altium for 15 years. The company said it also will seek an external addition to its board.

According to PCD&F sources, certain Altium directors had privately been unhappy with Martin for some time over the financial performance of the company. Martin, however, was as tied to Altium as Steve Jobs was to Apple, having founded the company (then known as Protel) in 1985, and is the largest stockholder, with 22.5 million shares.