Intel CEO Krzanich Resigns Over Inappropriate Employee Relationship

Today’s topics include Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigning over an inappropriate employee relationship, and Teradata suing SAP for copyright infringement in HANA DB.

Intel reported June 21 that its chief executive officer of five years, Brian Krzanich, has resigned after admitting to having a consensual relationship with a company employee, which violates a non-fraternization policy that applies to managers.

Outside of a news release on the company’s website, Intel declined to provide any more information about the relationship. Robert Swan, Intel’s chief financial officer, has been appointed interim chief executive while the company begins its search for a permanent CEO.

According to Intel Board Chairman Andy Bryant, “We are confident in Bob Swan’s ability to lead the company as we conduct a robust search for our next CEO. Bob has been instrumental to the development and execution of Intel’s strategy, and we know the company will continue to smoothly execute. We appreciate Brian’s many contributions to Intel.”

Data platform and analytics provider Teradata last week filed a copyright infringement suit against SAP, contending that SAP utilized its trade secrets to develop a crown jewel product, the in-memory HANA database. The suit, which Teradata filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges “trade secret misappropriation, copyright infringement and antitrust violations.”

The litigation claims that when Teradata and SAP entered into a joint development agreement in 2008, SAP entered with the intent of gaining access to intellectual property and creating a competing database product that it then tried to coerce its customers to use.

SAP said it was surprised by the Teradata complaint and may issue a statement once it has reviewed the lawsuit.