Thread regarding Intel Corp. layoffs

Intel Needs an Activist Investor

A few examples of dysfunction:

  • Terrible record with acquisitions. We consistently pay premium prices at or above the reasonable range (we always seem to be the desperate one in the negotiations).

  • Slow. All of our external stakeholders complain about this. Even the folks affected by ACT are complaining about the timing of various events failing to match commitments.

  • Poorly managed. If it's not a quality crisis caused by cutting into the bone (anyone remember OpX?) it's an efficiency crisis (caused by excessive enthusiasm for the latest management fashions). To make matters worse, we usually botch the solution (ACT is a perfect example).

  • Making silly mistakes with shareholder funds. Another year, another large fine, it seems. Buybacks have not performed well relative to, say, buying the s&p 500 instead.

  • Ill-advised strategies. We go all in on bad ideas repeatedly. Wimax. Mobile phones. Tablet subsidies. Consumer products. Compute outsourcing.

  • We hop on every management fad and waste incredible amounts of time on retraining and retooling our communications.

  • Upper management is bipolar. On the one hand - emulate the cool companies like Google and Apple. On the other hand - stay set in our ways and never really let go of our fossilized BKM's and pet peeves.

  • Poor treatment of employees. Benefits have been consistently and persistently getting worse for well over a decade. SPP. Profit sharing contribution. etc.

You get the picture. It all leads to incredible waste and a classic "principal / agent" problem (poor decision making for shareholders). Despite all of these problems, Intel still makes good money. Imagine how we would do if the company was properly run. It will not change until someone comes in and gives management a swift kick in the pants up and down the chain. One of the best opportunities out there for an activist investor if you ask me.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @OP+HHYhA3d
Comment! It's anonymous!

9 replies (most recent on top)

@3Bthe - Right on!!! Also shows you how much the quality of this board has degraded over the past few months. We used to have lots of quality discussions around the time of ACT last year and maybe the next 2-3 months. It's all gone downhill now, much like Intel. At least until the next round of layoffs come around.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @3Bnfp+HHYhA3d

Old chats are a gold mine

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @3Bthe+HHYhA3d

@qwy what should an activist investor have done in the 90's / 00's when everyone said the internet and open source software spelled imminent doom for MSFT? For every example there is a counterexample. You are confusing a threat (which every tech company faces on a daily basis) with an inevitable death blow.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @bah+HHYhA3d

@aoz A thought experiment: What would an activist investor have done in the late 90s/early 00s with DEC and Sun. Could they have made those companies successful? (Because this same disruption is what Intel will eventually experience once ARM makes it into the datacenter.)

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @qwy+HHYhA3d

This is a phenomenal post. Kinda makes sifting thru the mountains of other garbage worth it... Thx OP.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @hah+HHYhA3d

@ptn I think the OP was about politically neutral business decisions, but you are using it to further a personal agenda. BK is currently dealing with a bit of a $hitstorm because it has been revealed that he supports the Tangerine Tornado. Adopting the policies of the Pixie-fingered Vulgarian (or any party) will not save Intel - good business decisions will.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @vtx+HHYhA3d

said activist investor should demand that BK and his Progressive minded staff be replaced , especially RT. Pare down HR to get rid of the destructive D&I policy and all of its programs and the social engineer / SJW types that run them. Get a focus back on the business instead of Progressive and PC-based BS.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @ptn+HHYhA3d

@mym every business has formidable risks and challenges, esp. the kind activist investors look at. Intel has many strengths and can compete with ARM. I wouldn't say that the risks are any worse than a typical activist situation.

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @aoz+HHYhA3d

OP, all true, but missing the bigger picture... Intel is just starting to be disrupted by ARM and is going to go through the same experience that DEC and Sun had. Why would an activist investor want to come into such a disruption already under way!?

by Anonymous
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Post ID: @mym+HHYhA3d

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