PORTLAND — Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich got a big raise last year in the wake of a major boost in the company’s share price and renewed investor enthusiasm for its business.
The chipmaker valued Krzanich’s pay at $21.5 million in 2017, up from $19.1 million the prior year. Most of his compensation came in the form of stock awards.
Additionally, Intel boosted Krzanich’s annual salary by 10 percent and raised the target for his annual cash incentive pay by 3 percent. Krzanich received a stock award with a target value of $13.5 million, up 13 percent from 2016.
The company said it determined he deserved the raises “in light of Mr. Krzanich’s exceptional individual performance in the prior fiscal year and after a review of relevant market data.”
After years of stagnation, Intel shares climbed 27 percent in 2017, reflecting a broad market rally and investors’ satisfaction with the company’s efforts to expand beyond its core business providing microprocessors for PCs and laptops. Intel enjoyed growth in its data center business, programmable chips and a number of emerging technologies.
Intel said it paid Krzanich $1.2 million to cover unspecified “personal security arrangements,” the second year in a row that Intel has paid more than $1 million to cover such costs for him. The company said it did so after evaluating “the need to respond to specific Intel-related incidents and threats” and consulting with law enforcement and private security firms. Other executives also received personal security from the company in the past two years.
Intel hasn’t specified what kinds of threats its executives face.
Krzanich came under fire last year for selling Intel stock before disclosing the “Meltdown” and “Spectre” vulnerabilities in its microprocessor design, which could allow hackers access to passwords and other private information on their computers.
