Intel Corp. Plans to Sell Some Venture Capital Assets

The technology giant has invested millions of dollars since 1991, now its considering selling some of its venture capital assets at a price of $1 billion.

The world’s largest maker of computer component, Intel Corporation is planning on selling its venture capital unit assets which could be worth as much as $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The people close to the matter further stated that the technology giant is currently looking for potential buyers for the unit with the help of UBS Group AG. Since the information is presently private, the people who disclosed the news asked not to be named.

This move by the company has come two months after Arvind Sodhani, the president took retirement after a long 35 year period from the tech giant. The retirement came as an abrupt change in the unit due to which the biggest chipmaker in the industry had to restructure its venture capital unit in January.

According to a statement by Intel, the former president was replaced by Wendell Brooks, who was currently the head of mergers and acquisitions at the technology organization. It further added that this move was designed in a way so better investment decisions can be made by the firm.

Presently, the selling move by the company is still at an early stage and is focusing on attracting private equity firms who specialize in the purchase of portfolios that are popularly known as secondaries firms. Furthermore, this sale is likely to create a ripple affect not only for Intel but the entire industry.

Intel Capital was initiated in 1991 and ever since its inception it has invested as much as $11.6 billion in over 1,440 companies expanding through at least 57 countries across of a range of sectors. On 2015, the technology organization invested over $514 million in over 143 companies which its focus on a number of sectors including wearable devices as well as security software.

The Wall Street Journal believes that the company might not go forward with this sale as this move comes as a change in strategy by the current chief executive, Brain Krzanich who was appointed the position in 2013 when the former CEO Paul Otellini got retired. It is believed that under the leadership of Mr. Otellini, the Venture Capital unit flourished and was considered the most active venture investors in the world.

In addition to that many believe that times has change in the tech industry as PCs are being replaced with smartphone devices and cloud computing has become a destructive technology for data centers. This sale, during this transitional period, could allow Intel to use more resources in that growing and key technology areas.

Intel has declined to comment on this move and after the news broke Intel stock went up 51 cents to $31.76.

Intel Geared Up To Fire 300 Employees

Intel is all set to fire 300 employees in Folsom and Santa Clara.

Intel Corporation has confirmed that it wishes to minimize its workforce the previous week. The reason why the company has come up with this decision is that a downtrend has been in the PC market followed by a weaker revenue stream. According to the recent update, the company has decided to lay off more than 152 employees working at its Folsom Campus by 15th July, FY15. Along with that 165 employees will leave the company’s Santa Clara headquarters as well.


In accordance with the recent news, the company has already provided a letter on June 11 to the State Employment Development Department where it has acknowledged the authorities that it will reduce the head count. The reason why they have already acknowledged is that the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act (WARN) had instructed big organizations that they are required to issue a warning before they actually implement the round of layoff.

The news about the massive layoffs which Intel Corporation is about to undergo has been successful in gaining immense traction in the past couple of weeks. The company has decided that it will cut down on the number of employees from 18,600 in the Washington County to a number that remains undisclosed. The company also revealed a memo according to wish they stated that “Yes, we are implementing headcount reductions.”

The chief executive officer of Intel, Mr. Brian Krzanich circulated an email at Intel explained that this plan will first hit Arizona and Oregon. The reason why Intel is undergoing a layoff is that it can accommodate all the expenditures to a minimum amount as it faces difficulty in keeping pace with the personal computer market. Moreover, the authorities have also decided that they will reduce almost $300 million the company earlier spent for research and administration purposes.

Intel Corp. round of layoffs is primarily due to the “underwhelming” demand of personal computers. This has caused them to face a major setback resulting in a massive layoff. The company faced a loss of $4 billion the previous year in its mobile unit.

Hence in a nutshell, Intel is undergoing massive structural changes that will affect them in the long run. Mr. Brian Krzanich has taken a good step to opt for a layoff that will help them to attain stability. However, it is extremely early to predict the future of these layoffs and its impacts will be visible in the times to come. Meanwhile, we can just wait and see what happens next.