Intel said on Friday that an internal error was responsible for a data leak that prompted it to release an earlier quarterly earnings report. The company said its corporate network was not compromised, reversing an earlier statement.
The company’s chief financial officer, George Davis, had previously told the Financial Times that Intel published its earnings before the stock market closed on Thursday because it believed that a hacker stole confidential financial information from the site.
The company’s quarterly results were originally scheduled to be published hours after the closing of Wall Street talks on Thursday.
“An infographic was hacked from our public relations writing website,” Davis told the newspaper. He quoted an unnamed company spokesman as saying Intel was notified that the chart was circulating outside the company.
Early access to this information can benefit a stockbroker.
On Friday, Intel issued a statement saying it determined that no hack occurred.
It said that “the URL of our earnings infographic was inadvertently made publicly available before the publication of our earnings and accessed by third parties. As soon as we become aware of the situation, we promptly issue our earnings announcement. Intel’s network has not been compromised and we have adjusted our process to prevent this in the future. “
The company’s stock price fell more than 9% on Friday, with investors reacting to signals from new CEO Pat Gelsinger that he does not plan to make major changes to the company’s manufacturing strategy. Intel was thinking of sending advanced manufacturing to rivals and some investors were pushing to break up the company.
Intel is Oregon’s largest corporate employer, with 21,000 working on its campuses in Washington County.
– The Associated Press