Arik Hesseldahl

Recent Posts by Arik Hesseldahl

Dadi Perlmutter to Leave Intel Early Next Year

The recent management shake-up at chip giant Intel has claimed its first high-profile casualty. Dadi “David” Perlmutter, a well-respected executive VP who had been a leading but unsuccessful contender in the race to succeed former CEO Paul Otellini, will be leaving the company early next year, after 34 years.

Intel confirmed the move in a regulatory filing made public today.

Perlmutter, who heads up Intel’s Architecture group, the business unit that designs and manufacturers its chips that go into personal computers, servers and other devices, will leave the company in February.

After Otellini announced that he would retire earlier than expected last year, Perlmutter (pictured below) was among the candidates who pitched Intel’s board of directors on the CEO job, but lost out to the unusual joint offering of then-COO Brian Krzanich and president Reneé James.

Perlmutter’s departure isn’t entirely surprising. Within days of Krzanich taking over as CEO, there were reports that he had moved to take direct control over Intel’s Architecture Group, and had delegated Perlmutter to a vaguely described transitional role, though Intel never made that role official.

Regulatory filings show that Perlmutter made about $15.7 million in total compensation from Intel last year, and, as of February of this year, he owned 1,968,599 shares of Intel worth nearly $47 million at today’s share price.

Perlmutter, a native of Israel, had long been seen as the company’s “Mr. Inside,” possessing a skill for getting things done. He was less effective at the public-facing portions of the jobs. A keynote he gave in Sept. 2012 — intended to reignite some excitement around Intel’s strategic plans to improve personal computers amid flagging sales — fell pretty flat.

His first big success at Intel came with the Centrino line of mobile processors that launched in 2003 and soon dominated the notebook market. Later, he was responsible for the Core line of chips that effectively replaced Intel’s longtime Pentium brand of PC processors.

Intel shares fell 41 cents, or 1.75 percent, to $23.66. The shares are up by nearly 15 percent this year.

Here’s how Intel described the move in the 8-K filing made public this morning:

“On October 18, 2013, David Perlmutter, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Intel Architecture Group, notified Intel Corporation (“Intel”) of his intention to leave Intel effective February 20, 2014, the 34th anniversary of his start of employment at Intel, to pursue other opportunities in his life and professional career. Throughout his career at Intel, Mr. Perlmutter led many of the product, technology and business transformations at Intel.

Until his departure in February 2014, Mr. Perlmutter will provide transition assistance to Intel’s Platform Engineering Group and on other matters as requested by management and will continue to participate in all applicable Intel compensation and benefit plans and arrangements. Mr. Perlmutter will receive post-employment benefits as described in the “Executive Compensation” section of Intel’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 3, 2013, including acceleration of the vesting of certain equity awards pursuant to company policy for employees age 60 or over and relocation assistance under the terms of Mr. Perlmutter’s relocation agreement.”

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