When the outsiders believe that Broadcom and Qualcomm's merger and acquisition drama is about to enter the final climax, unknown variables will always come.
On the morning of March 9th, Eastern Time, Qualcomm announced that Paul Jacobs will no longer serve as the executive chairman, but will remain on the board of directors. Although Qualcomm stated that in order to successfully complete the transition of the leadership, Qualcomm established the implementation in 2014. The post of chairman, but at this stage, the independent chairman is more suitable for Qualcomm. However, this move is still being interpreted by the outside world as forced by the pressure of the acquisition. Qualcomm has already begun to have its first 'victim'.
However, the more 'explosive' news is that Intel is willing to participate in the merger and acquisition game between Broadcom and Qualcomm. In an interview with foreign media sources, sources said that if Broadcom's acquisition of Qualcomm's transaction may be successful, Intel may consider making an offer to Broadcom. Offer. However, Intel China denied the rumor to CBN and quoted an official caliber that Intel declined to comment on speculations related to acquisitions and mergers.
Although the wave of integration of European and American chip companies has allowed these big companies to start 'close combat', the story of 'Looking at Cockroaches, The Yellow Sparrow's Behind' wants to be true, but now it is still full of challenges.
Family Branding
Regarding the 'removal' incident interpreted by the outside world in the past few days, Qualcomm’s emphasis on the use of 'dismissal' to describe Jacob's change of position is inaccurate for Qualcomm. The other party said, 'I just no longer have the post of chairman. Paul is still on the board. '
The official website of Qualcomm wrote that 'the board of directors has ceased to perform the role of chairperson. The committee was established at the end of 2014 and is mainly part of the leadership transition plan.' For Qualcomm at this time, the board of directors believes that it has an independent director. It is in the best interests of the company and the shareholders to serve as chairman.
'Jeff is the ideal choice for this role, based on his profound financial, business and international experience as well as his strong shareholder orientation. We focus on maximizing shareholder value and will consider all options to achieve this goal, we seek Qualcomm Proposed to close the NXP acquisition, strengthen our licensing business, and use the huge 5G opportunity to be placed in front of us. 'Qualcomm’s chief independent director, Tom Horton, said in a statement.
In a sense, this may be the last thing Qualcomm did to appease the shareholders. The new chairman, Jeffrey Henderson, entered the board of directors as an independent director in 2016. At that time, the radical investor Jana Partners was on Qualcomm. The overall management and corporate structure were very unsatisfactory, trying to force Qualcomm to spin off the patent licensing business. To appease the aggressive investors, Qualcomm invited Henderson to enter the board of directors as an independent director to demonstrate the company’s determination to seek change.
Paul Jacobs is the son of Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs. He joined the Qualcomm Board of Directors since June 2005. He served as the CEO of Qualcomm from July 2005 to March 2014, and then held the position of CEO of Qualcomm. Handed over to Steve Mollenkopf. Not long ago, Jacobs was still defending Qualcomm's shareholder value, sending a letter to Hock Tan, Broadcom's CEO, and citing the prospect of operating Qualcomm as an independent company. The quote is too low.
In December 2016, at a media event, Paul's father, Irving Jacobs, commented on his work and said, 'Paul did a good job,' and said that although he resigned as CEO on the 20th anniversary of Qualcomm in 2005, Three years prior to that, he had proposed retirement to the board of directors and proposed to establish a committee to find the next leader. At that time, the board of directors put forward 10 candidates for interviews. And three years later, the board decided that Paul was the company leader. Owen Said that for the company, the introduction of some new blood and ideas, can inject a lot of young vitality into the company. How to continuously respond, or find opportunities in a fast-growing world, is very important for a company. 'Paul do What is good is that he led the company to see different ways to solve problems, as well as innovations in terminals and applications. He communicated with people in the global industry and eventually brought these innovations to the market.
However, judging from changes in this position, it is certain that the descendants of Qualcomm founders can no longer control the future of the company.
Giant nerves
In addition to Broadcom's and Qualcomm's 'counterparts', there is news that Intel's "stands" could not sit still, is considering a series of acquisitions, including the acquisition of chip maker Broadcom (Broadcom).
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, sources said that if Broadcom's acquisition of Qualcomm's transaction may be successful, Intel may consider making a bid to Broadcom. However, these sources said that such a purchase cannot be guaranteed. Some people even claimed that this It is impossible.
An Intel spokeswoman said that the company will not comment on trade rumors. She said in the statement: 'In the past 30 months, we have made several important acquisitions, including Mobileye and Altera. Our focus is to integrate these Acquisitions that benefit our customers and shareholders. '
Broadcom did not immediately respond. However, there are reports that Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm has been in trouble, may have to temporarily abandon the current transaction, and later come back.
However, Intel China denied the rumor to CBN and quoted an official caliber that Intel declined to comment on speculations related to acquisitions and mergers.
Sheng Linghai, a senior director at Gartner, told CFA reporters that Intel’s original business was affected by market saturation and that growth was weak. If price and capital operations are not considered, Intel’s strategy is only considered, the acquisition is reasonable because Intel and Broadcom, Qualcomm owns most of the product lines are complementary.
'But it is impossible to comment on the price and capital operation.' Sheng Linghai told reporters.
Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the China Mobile Alliance, told reporters that it is difficult to judge the trends of Broadcom, Qualcomm and Intel. 'Intel should not issue a tender offer now, and it may study whether there is an acquisition or not. Now that Qualcomm has acquired NXP Given that Broadcom’s acquisition of Qualcomm is still hanging, Intel’s chances are that it will become a mess. The probability of Intel’s acquisition of Broadcom this year or next year will not be great. After all, the entire approval process is very long, but he will definitely assess (Broadcom’s acquisition of Qualcomm’s influence. "He told reporters that from Intel's point of view, he certainly does not want Qualcomm to be acquired by Broadcom, because once Broadcom has successfully acquired Qualcomm, it will certainly have an impact on Intel's industry position."
At present, the largest merger and acquisition in the history of semiconductors involves many parties, not only Broadcom, Qualcomm, NXP, and now Intel, but also at the government level, the United States and the Chinese government. Wang Yanhui believes that Broadcom is now the most important acquisition of Qualcomm The U.S. government's attitude, 'China is still stuck,' and Broadcom’s acquisition interest has not been reduced. He believes that Broadcom’s acquisition of Qualcomm is a high probability event unless the U.S. government prevents it. However, if the Chinese government agrees that Qualcomm is acquiring NXP , it will increase the premium of Broadcom's acquisition of Qualcomm.