According to media reports, microchip company Intel (INTC) has hired Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley (MS) to help it fend off activist investors.
Although Intel has grappled with pressure from activist investors in the past, no new campaign has been formally launched against the company.
However, CNBC is reporting that Intel chief executive officer (CEO) Pat Gelsinger has hired Morgan Stanley to help defend the company against any new approaches by activists.
The hiring of Morgan Stanley comes after Lip-Bu Tan, a Silicon Valley veteran, resigned from Intel’s board of directors on Aug. 22 after two years.
It also comes as Intel’s share price has declined nearly 60% this year, making it one of the worst performing stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Intel has also lost its title as the biggest U.S. chipmaker by revenue to rival Nvidia (NVDA) and is see by many analysts as missing out on the current boom in artificial intelligence (A.I.).
Earlier in August, Intel announced that it is cutting 15% of its workforce, or 15,000 jobs, as part of a $10 billion U.S. cost-reduction plan.
The cost cuts come after Intel reported dismal second-quarter financial results that badly missed Wall Street’s forecasts and suspended its dividend payment to shareholders.
The problems at Intel largely stem from the company’s ongoing efforts to shift its business from being a designer of microchips and processors to a foundry that manufactures chips, both for itself and other companies.
The pivot to making microchips and processors for third parties has proven to be costly and led Intel to fall behind rival chip designers such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
The stock of Intel is currently trading at $20.54 U.S., which is 57% lower than where it was trading five years ago.
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