Anything about execs leading by example and taking a 90% cut
Typically, executives get a fairly nominal base salary, with stock as the primary bonus mechanism. Basically, if the company performs, the execs get "raises" in stock options that they can keep or sell. If they sell, that gets reported. For example:
Apple CEO Tim Cook sold 511,000 shares of company stock worth about $88 million as the stock price has tumbled from its all-time high.
www.investopedia.com
CEOs aren't kings; they answer to the Board of Directors and shareholders, so when you hear stories about "CEOs giving themselves a raise," this is false, the Board has to approve that, and Board members are usually looking out for the owners of the company first. The CEO can always ask, but it's not up to him. Basically, Pat might still bring home a good salary, but if Intel's stocks tank, he's lost a lot of net worth. Honestly, I can understand why executives make big money--considering the number of livelihoods they are responsible for, you want to offer a really good salary to hopefully get a really good leader. Otherwise there could be the temptation to do something like Enron's execs did, screwing over employees, stockholders and customers.
All that said, even a big salary isn't a guarantee of good performance and ethical behavior. However, it can more often be corporate silos and in-fighting that can cause these big failures. Like at MS, for example, where the Windows and Office teams seem to never be on the same page. A good CEO knows that this ultimately falls on him, and he can only spin this stuff for so long before the truth comes out. Intel has been treading water for too long, and it looks like investors are finally taking notice. I actually wonder how much more runway Pat has with as many issues as we're seeing--Raptor Lake problems, node production issues, big losses in the GPU division. Much of that he inherited, but none of it has improved. I actually wonder if the GPU division is on the list of things to get cut. It doesn't look like it will be profitable any time soon.