Intel Corporation CEO On Why He Canceled Trump Event

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Intel CEO Brian Krzanich has finally given an explanation for why he canceled Donald Trump’s event. On Tuesday at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech 2016 conference, Krzanich was reported as saying, “I’ll tell you what really happened.”

Conversation about issues turned into a fundraiser

Krzanich explained that last month he canceled an event with likely Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump after the planned discussion became a campaign fundraiser. Krzanich said that originally, he scheduled a gathering at his home to discuss with Trump the issues important to himself and Intel.

On Tuesday at the Fortune conference in Aspen, Colorado, Krzanich said it was supposed to be a conversation about issues, but it turned into a fundraiser, “which is when we backed out.” He added that he does not believe it is a part of the tech industry’s job to get behind a candidate.

“Our job is to get behind issues, issues that are important to a society or issues that are important to this industry,” the CEO said.

Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign, did not immediately commented on the matter. In June, however, Hicks said the event was canceled because of a scheduling conflict.

Intel CEO won’t endorse any presidential candidate

At that time, it was said the event which was to be held at Krzanich’s home in California in June was called off by him after Intel received an inquiry about it from The New York Times. Krzanich responded to the reports about the event then with a tweet stating he would not endorse any presidential candidate and that he intends to engage with the campaigns of both major parties.

On Tuesday at the conference, Krzanich repeated these words, saying the tech industry should support issues such as a more competitive tax rate, diversity, and strengthening U.S. manufacturing. Intel is moving toward its publicly stated goals of making its workforce more representative of the U.S. population, said Krzanich. The progress to the 2020 goal is “not as far as we’d like but we’re far enough,” the CEO noted.

According to Re/code, there was a ruckus within the company because of Trump’s anti-immigration policies and his comments about women. Over $300 million has been invested by the chip maker into increasing diversity.

On Tuesday, Intel shares closed up 1.63% at $34.94. Year to date, the stock is down almost 1%, while in the last year, it is up almost 20%. The stock has a 52-week high of $35.59 and a 52-week low of $24.87.

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