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A couple of interesting, very likely debatable, points from Professor Bill Lazonick in this video:
1. It looks like he feels Intel did too much stock buybacks, much more than R&D investment, due to their importance to compensation.
2. He suggests PG got the boot due to close ties with Biden, in light of Trump's incoming presidency.
That's an interesting but superficial point. Firing PG for a superficial reason is pretty typical of Intel though. More likely, as he mentions, the massive unprecedented loss in 2024 was the catalyst for the firing. The loss, he implies, could have been much smaller if severance costs had been less (fewer buyouts) and if the change in strategy hadn't stranded so much equipment cost. That makes sense to me. PG went Leroy Jenkins on spending and paid the price. Now Intel is minding costs again which is a positive.
That's an interesting but superficial point. Firing PG for a superficial reason is pretty typical of Intel though. More likely, as he mentions, the massive unprecedented loss in 2024 was the catalyst for the firing. The loss, he implies, could have been much smaller if severance costs had been less (fewer buyouts) and if the change in strategy hadn't stranded so much equipment cost. That makes sense to me. PG went Leroy Jenkins on spending and paid the price. Now Intel is minding costs again which is a positive.
BK did not get fired as Intel CEO for an inappropriate relationship, that everyone already knew about. BK was a bad CEO but the Intel BoD refused to accept that they made a mistake hiring him. PG was not fired, right? The Intel BoD said he retired but it was the same as BK, Pat Gelsinger made too many mistakes. If a BoD says either retire or we will fire you that isn't really retiring.
If you look at the recent press with CC Wei and Jensen Huang you will see that they are very good friends. Same with Lisa Su and CC Wei. Pat Gelsinger not so much. Pat is a polarizing figure and that is not a good thing. I do not think politics had anything to do with it. A good CEO plays nice with all, except for Elon Musk of course. Lip-Bu Tan plays nice with all and that includes a lot of very influential people.
