Intel CEO sold all the stock he could after Intel learned of security bug

Enlarge / Brian Krzanich, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., speaks during Automobility LA ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, US, on Tuesday, November 15, 2016. (credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Brian Krzanich, chief executive officer of Intel, sold millions of dollars’ worth of Intel stock—all he could part with under corporate bylaws—after Intel learned of Meltdown and Spectre, two related families of security flaws in Intel processors.

While an Intel spokesperson told CBS Marketwatch reporter Jeremy Owens that the trades were “unrelated” to the security revelations, and Intel financial filings showed that the stock sales were previously scheduled, Krzanich scheduled those sales on October 30. That’s a full five months after researchers informed Intel of the vulnerabilities. And Intel has offered no further explanation of why Krzanich abruptly sold off all the stock he was permitted to.

As a result of his stock sale, Krzanich received more than $ 39 million. Intel stock, as of today, is trading at roughly the same price as Krzanich sold stock at, so he did not yield any significant gain from selling before the vulnerability was announced. But the sale may still bring scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission for a number of reasons.