New details emerge on the office affair that led to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich's surprising resignation on Thursday (INTC)

Brian Krzanich Brandee Krzanich

The office affair which sparked Intel CEO Brian Krzanich's surprise resignation on Thursday started a decade ago and ended before he became CEO in 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported.
That relationship was with a woman who still works at Intel, the report said.
Krzanich announced his resignation after the affair, a violation of company policy, was reportedly brought to the attention of the corporate counsel on June 14.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned on Thursday after it was found that he violated a company policy regarding relationships with co-workers. But the affair that put him in hot water was over before he took over as CEO, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The relationship was with a woman who still works at Intel and started about a decade ago, sources told the Journal. She was reportedly a middle manager at the start of the relationship and didn't work closely with Krzanich.

Krzanich, whose wife Brandee previously worked at Intel as a process engineer, became CEO in 2013.

The affair reportedly ended in 2013, before he became CEO. The policy he's accused of violating, which prohibits managers from having sexual and romantic relationships with direct and indirect reports, was put in place in 2011.

Before the policy was implemented, Intel had multiple highly-visible office relationships. Krzanich's predecessor, the late Paul Otellini, met his wife Sandy at the company. She was a lawyer at Intel until 1995.

Krzanich's resignation follows months of high-profile resignations and dismissals across industries as the #MeToo movement sheds light on inappropriate workplace behavior exhibited by men in power.

Though the events are reportedly years old, Krzanich's resignation was triggered when an employee mentioned the past relationship to a colleague, who then reported it to Intel's general counsel on June 14, according to the Journal.

Outside of the affair, Krzanich's last year as CEO was marred by the Spectre and Meltdown chip security flaw as well as his $24 million stock sell off before Intel publicly disclosed the flaw.

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