Of the $170m. in total compensation that Grove took home over six years as CEO, 90% was realized gains from stock-based pay, with 89% of the $170m. flowing into his bank account in 1996 and 1997 as the Internet stock-market bo-m took off. Aided by the bo-m and a doubling of Intel’s buybacks to $6.8b. in 1998, Barrett’s total compensation in his first year as CEO was $117m., with 98% of it realized gains from exercising stock options.
Table 3: Total and stock-based remuneration of Intel CEOs, 1992-2020 Source: Intel DEF 14A proxy filings. Note: Stock-based pay is measured as the actual realized gains from the exercise of stock options and vesting of stock awards.
Intel’s buybacks reached $10.6b. in 2005, the year in which Otellini, Intel’s first non-engineer CEO, took over. Buybacks declined to an average of $1.7b. in 2008 and 2009 in reaction to the financial crisis, but then were jacked up to as high as $14.3b. in 2011. The following year, buybacks were $5.1b. as Otellini departed as CEO with $40m. in total compensation, 82% of it stock-based.
With Krzanich as CEO, buybacks peaked at $10.8b. in 2014. He raked in $40 million in total pay (79% stock-based) in 2017 but was ousted in mid-2018 for having a “consensual relationship” with an Intel employee. In early 2018, news outlets alleged that Krzanich engaged in insider trading, based on non-public information of security flaws in Intel’s CPUs, as he sold all his Intel shares except for the minimum 250,000 he was required by contract to hold.
With Krzanich’s exit, the new CEO was Robert Swan, an MBA who had spent his career in finance at a number of companies, including GE, TRW, Northrup Grumman, eBay, and General Atlantic, before joining Intel as CFO in 2016. From 2018 through 2020, Swan averaged just under $13m. in total remuneration, of which 57% was stock-based. In the Swan years, annual dividends were 19% higher and annual buybacks 186% higher than in the Krzanich years.