Pat Gelsinger leaves Intel with a $12 million golden handshake
Intel’s retired CEO leaves Intel with a golden handshake worth an estimated $12 million
According to a report from Reuters, Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s recently retired CEO, will be leaving with a retirement package worth an estimated $12 million. Intel’s latest 8-K filings confirm this.
While Pat Gelsinger has officially retired from Intel, rumour has it that he was forced out. Pat Gelsinger has left Intel without a successor in place, leaving Intel to make David Zinsner and Michelle (MJ) Johnston Holthaus as the company’s interim co-CEOs. Recently, Intel has not been doing well financially, and many blame this on Pat’s ambitious and costly efforts to turn the company around.
Reports claim that Intel’s board of directors gave Pat Gelsinger an ultimatum: retire or be removed. They believed that Pat’s turnaround plan for Intel was not working and that they needed a new CEO to fix Intel’s issues. Retirement was the best option, as it has netted Pat Gelsinger a tasty $12 million payout.
Should Intel have ousted Pat?
Is Intel right to push Pat Gelsinger out? That remains to be seen. Honestly, I believe that Pat wasn’t given enough time to turn Intel around. Remember, Intel’s woes predate Pat’s time as CEO. Note that Intel’s fabs struggled under Brian Krzanich and continued under Bob Swan. Those problems are what ultimately caused Intel’s financial issues. Furthermore, Intel’s lack of AI market share can’t be attributed to Pat Again, those decisions were again caused by his predecessors.
Unfortunately, Pat is being blamed for problems that he did not create. Yes, his turnaround efforts were costly, but they were necessary. Furthermore, the financial minds analysing Pat’s time as CEO do not see things on a semiconductor timescale. It takes several years for concepts to turn into products in this industry, and Pat has only been CEO since 2021. Consider AMD and Nvidia. AMD’s turnaround in the CPU market didn’t happen overnight. Additionally, Nvidia’s AI success also didn’t happen quickly. Both companies spent years building themselves into what they are today. Note that both journeys are a decade in the making, and Pat wasn’t CEO back then.
You can join the discussion on Pat Gelsinger’s huge Intel payout on the OC3D Forums.
