Intel boosted CEO Brian Krzanich’s compensation package 30% to US$19,1m last year, fuelled by a bigger stock award and costs for his personal security arrangements.
Intel’s board awarded Krzanich, 56, stock worth $11,7m, a 20% increase from 2015, according to a proxy statement on Thursday. The CEO also received $1,2m in salary, $3,7m in bonuses and about $2,1m in security services, plus other smaller items.
The decision to bolster the security programme came as Krzanich in April last year said that some senior executives had faced backlash for the company’s stance and efforts on diversity, according to a TechCrunch report.
In 2015, the CEO pledged Intel would spend $300m to make the gender and ethnicity of the company’s workforce representative of the US population by 2020. He also vowed to tie executive pay to that goal.
The world’s largest chip maker, like many other tech companies, has faced criticism for employing few women, blacks and Hispanics. In its diversity report for fiscal 2016, Intel said it achieved pay parity for women and underrepresented minorities and increased its share of female employees to 25,8%, a 2,3% gain since 2014.
The company spent $1,9m on personal security for Krzanich and another $275 200 to protect his residence.
Executive vice president Venkata Renduchintala received security services worth $944 800 and Stacy Smith, who oversees manufacturing, operations and sales, got $309 900.
The threats were targeted against the CEO and certain other executives, and in some cases their family members, according to the filing, which didn’t provide details on the specific arrangements.
By comparison, Intel spent $39 600 for Krzanich’s security in 2015. His full compensation that year was $14,6m.
The CEO is trying to remake the company by converting its dominance in PC chips into a presence in markets ranging from cars to mobile phones to drones. That push has yet to provide Intel with enough revenue and profit to shake its dependence on its main source of income. Its finances are increasingly reliant on demand for processors running server computers in giant data centres that support computing over the Internet.
Krzanich’s annual bonus, which paid out slightly above its $3,5m target, is tied to absolute and relative financial performance, and operational goals. About 60% of his stock award is linked to total shareholder return and vests if Intel beats the median return among a group of tech companies over three years. The remaining shares vest in increments over three years as long as he remains on the job. Neither his stock awards nor his bonus listed any targets for diversity.
Renduchintala, who joined the company in November 2015, received a $20,4m pay package. — (c) 2017 Bloomberg LP
