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Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

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Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#171

Post by miguelazo »

ramraj07 wrote: post #166
manv1 wrote: post #90

If Intel cuts its dividend the stock will crater. Since executive compensation is stock-based, tied to the stock performance, or both, there's an obvious incentive to keep the dividend going. The dividend has become more political than normal. In finance theory, a dividend is supposed to be a paid-out return. If you're cutting salaries to pay the dividend that means that you don't have enough surplus...by definition.…

What does surplus even mean with respect to wages? You could always pay your employees more! So what you mean is surplus is when you pay the market rate wages which in turn suggests the minimum amount of money the company should pay to ensure it gets the workers it needs. If they cut the salaries and still enough people stay, then the money they saved still is surplus by that definition.

“Gets the workers it needs” Clearly it doesn’t, since Intel couldn’t even save itself during a chip shortage when prices were sky high. They’re getting smoked by AMD and TSMC, in terminal decline much like the mismanaged Motorola of old. It certainly doesn’t have the leadership it needed, so if anyone should have their pay cut, it’s the fat cats at the top who financialized the company a la GE and ran it into the ground.

Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#172

Post by ddorian43 »

ryanisnan wrote: post #139
bickfordb wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

real talent leaves

This. I've had one pay cut in my career, and it immediately made me just up and leave. I don't know why one would tolerate such a thing, unless there was significant up-side still on the table.

Depends on the market. If everyone gets a paycut and Powell strikes the interest rates you' may have no other alternative.

Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#173

Post by elihu »

graton wrote: post #156
elihu wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel is projecting a loss next quarter, something that hasn't happened in a really long time. Pat doesn't want it to happen on his watch, but I think it would have been better to cut the dividend or take the loss than to do pay/bonus/benefit cuts like this. Wouldn't be surprised if the words "organize" and "union" are spoken in hushed tones by a few people in the hallways tomorrow. If that gets any momentum behind i…

They had a loss last quarter of $700 million [1]. They had a loss of $500 million in Q2 of 2022 [2] [1] https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1600/... [2] https://www.intc.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/1563/...

Good point: it was a loss according to GAAP, but the non-GAAP results weren't a loss. Whereas it looks like they're projecting a non-GAAP loss as well next quarter.

(I don't know what the relevant differences are here on GAAP vs non-GAAP.)

Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#174

Post by miguelazo »

raws wrote: post #161
ryanisnan wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I've had one pay cut in my career, and it immediately made me just up and leave. I don't know why one would tolerate such a thing, unless there was significant up-side still on the table.

Upside might be not having to search for a job in current job market with layoffs happening left and right.

There are still plenty of opportunities out there. Layoffs are a social contagion that do very little, if anything, for a company’s financial health. This is all about the trend and trying to “discipline” labor. But it won’t work, especially this time because the US doesn’t have decent childcare (many mother won’t return to the workforce for a year or more) and has blocked millions of immigrants who would normally have entered the country the past several years.

Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#176

Post by User23 »

cmdrriker wrote: post #89
UncleOxidant wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. This is a very capital intensive business. They should be investing that capital into upgrading their technology. The dividend should be off the table for the next few years, at least. Paying a dividend probably made sense in the 90s and even into the early 2000s when Intel pretty much owned the whole PC CPU market. But now they're in a tough spot and the only way out is to invest that money that they're thro…

Intel lost this battle years ago when leadership decided to badge engineer the shit out of their product portfolio and do stock buy-backs. In a capital intensive enterprise, Jack Welch school of management will only give the company maybe 10 years before those opportunity costs blow signifgant holes in your boat. Look at TSMC, they take government money, invested that in people and material. They’ve got a work plan i…

The universe has been moving towards RISC since the mid 90s. The universe moves slow.

Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#178

Post by vkou »

anonreeeeplor wrote: post #55

You don’t want a Silicon job because your talent is illiquid. They can take a giant dump directly in your mouth while making steady eye contact and you can’t leave because there is nowhere to go. In software and in startups if you have relevant skills and modern, up to date experience you can switch easily. Don’t work in industries that are declining and have no future and require advanced technical training that is…

> In software and in startups if you have relevant skills and modern, up to date experience you can switch easily.

I will also point out that in the current climate, 'switch easily' isn't a given in software.

Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#179

Post by int_19h »

adg001 wrote: post #77

If I were an Intel employee I would never accept a pay cut "justified" by the company's willingness to pay dividends. Investors get dividends when the management creates a reasonable amount of profits, not when employees have to waive their dues to do investors a favor.

It's a textbook example of how owners of capital can extract economic rent from wage workers they hire to utilize that capital to produce something valuable. The whole point of any for-profit business that is not worker-owned is to "do investors a favor" with the money obtained by paying workers less than market value of the goods they produce.

Re: Intel Cuts Employee Pay to Maintain Quarterly Dividend

#180

Post by vkou »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #118
tanelpoder wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't the previous employer in the previous state still be able to sue you in their state (as your old employment contract specifies that any disputes will be resolved in the courts of that previous state)?

Don't let previous employer know where you're working.

Your new employer will call your current employer when they do background checks, and will receive a legal threat about poaching in response.

Your new employer will also ask whether you currently have active non-competes against you, and may think twice before extending you an offer.

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