Intel DESIGNATED On Monday, CEO Pat Gelsinger, 63, retired on Dec. 1. Gelsinger also resigned from the board of directors on the same date. He had been with Intel for more than three decades, including four years as CEO.
The surprise announcement further notes that Intel Chief Financial Officer David Zinsner and Intel Products CEO Michelle Johnston Holthaus are in charge as interim co-CEOs while the company's board searches for Gelsinger's replacement. Frank Yeary, a longtime board member who joined in March 2009she is now the interim executive chair of the board.
According to BloombergGelsinger was forced out after the board lost faith in his plans to improve Intel. He was reportedly given the option to retire or leave, and he chose retirement.
Since Gelsinger took over in February 2021, Intel shares have fallen by about 60%. In October, Intel posted a quarterly loss of $16.6 billion, the largest net loss in its 56-year history. Its income for the quarter was 13.3 billion dollarswith a decrease of 6% year on year.
Gelsinger publicly called the news of his retirement “bittersweet” and said Intel has had a “challenging year.” He worked at the chip maker for 30 yearsrising through the ranks to become the company's first chief technology officer. He left in 2009 to become president and chief operating officer of Dell, before returning to Intel in 2021.
“Today is, of course, bittersweet as this company has been my life for most of my working career,” Gelsinger said. in a press release. “I can look back with pride on all we've accomplished together. It's been a challenging year for all of us as we've made difficult but necessary decisions to position Intel for current market dynamics.”
Pat Gelsinger. Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images
Intel took steps to become profitable and competitive during Gelsinger's tenure as CEO, including a commitment to sell two-thirds of its real estate holdings by the end of 2024.
However, Intel still faces heavy competition from other chipmakers such as Nvidia and AMD. Intel's GPU market share dropped from 2% in the second quarter of 2023 THE effectively 0% in the second quarter of 2024 while Nvidia's market share increased from 80% in Q2 2023 to 88% in Q2 2024.
Intel also has “yet to take full advantage of powerful trends like AI,” Gelsinger said wrote in August. At the time, Intel announced plans to lay off 15,000 employees, or 15% of its workforce.
Related: 'Tough day for all of us:' Intel CEO announces layoffs affecting 15,000 people
“Our costs are too high, our margins are too low,” Gelsinger wrote then.
Intel is over 47% year-to-date at the time of writing.