Intel has worst day on Wall Street in 50 years, falls to lowest price in over a decade

Intel shares plunged the most in 50 years on Friday, reaching a price not seen since 2013, after the chipmaker reported a big earnings miss and announced a massive restructuring.

The stock plummeted 26% to $21.48 at the close. It was the second worst day ever for the shares, behind only a 31% drop in July 1974, which was three years after Intel's IPO. The company's market cap is now below $100 billion.

The dramatic selloff contributed to a 2.4% drop in the Nasdaq and pulled down global semiconductor stocks. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. — known as TSMC — closed 4.6% lower in Taiwan, and Samsung was down more than 4% at the end of the session in South Korea. TSMC is the world's biggest manufacturer of chips, while Samsung is the largest memory semiconductor firm globally.

Intel's numbers were bad across the board.

The company swung to a $1.61 billion net loss after reporting net income of $1.48 billion in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings per share of 2 cents fell way short of the average analyst estimate of 10 cents, according to LSEG. Revenue also missed expectations.

Intel said it won't pay its dividend in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024 and lowered its forecast for full-year capital expenditures by over 20%. The company said it would lay off more than 15% of its employees as part of a $10 billion cost-reduction plan.

"This is the most substantial restructuring of Intel since the memory microprocessor transition four decades ago," Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger told CNBC's Jon Fortt in an interview that aired on Friday. "We have laid out an audacious journey of rebuilding this company, and we're going to get that done."

A decision to more rapidly produce Core Ultra PC chips that can handle artificial