Gelsinger departs Intel with $9.7M handshake

Outgoing Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger is set to receive severance pay of around $9.7 million following his departure from the chip giant.

Yesterday, Chipzilla confirmed the exit of the 40-year industry veteran in a move it hopes bolsters investor confidence in the ailing Silicon Valley biz following a year of turmoil.

Gelsinger resigned on December 1, effective immediately, with EVP and CFO David Zinsner and CEO of Intel Products Michelle Johnston Holthaus lined up as short-term replacements.

In a stock market filing [PDF], the company said the departing CEO's retirement and separation agreement made Gelsinger eligible for severance payment made up of three parts.

He'll get 18 months of his current base salary of $1.25 million, equivalent to $1.875 million, as well as 1.5 times his current target bonus of 275 percent of his base salary ($1.25 million) – or $5.16 million, payable over a period of 18 months in accordance. Lastly, he'll also be eligible for 11/12ths of the 2024 annual bonus that Gelsinger would have received for 2024, which reports suggest would be $2.9 million.

The tech leader still owns considerable amounts of both VMWare and Intel stock, making him worth north of $80 million, according to some estimates.

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All in all, Gelsinger might expect a $9.7 million goodbye package, although estimates vary.

Whatever it is, it falls well short of the package enjoyed by rival exec Lisa Su. The boss at AMD, who also chairs its board, was reported to be the highest-paid female CEO, with a total compensation of $30.3 million.

However, both awards are dwarfed by the sum Elon Musk is trying to extract from Tesla, the electric car manufacturer he runs. He is claiming a package of a staggering $101 billion based on Tesla's value this week. Although the compensation was ratified by the majority of shareholders, a Delaware judge has thrown it out for a second time. She said the payment was not in shareholders' best interests and goes "against multiple strains of settled law." ®