The protracted take-over tussle between Qualcomm and Broadcom ended earlier this week with the US government forbidding the deal citing security reasons. While the tussle was on, Paul Jacobs, son of Qualcomm’s co-founder Irwin Jacobs stepped down as the Chairman of the board and he was replaced by Jeffrey Henderson. Even though Jacobs was no longer the chairman, he was still a member of the board. However, things took a new twist for Jacobs after he vehemently stated his desire to pursue a potential buyout.
At a board meeting held on Friday, Jacobs said
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“there are real opportunities to accelerate Qualcomm’s innovation success and strengthen its position in the global marketplace”, and that these opportunities must be pursued as a “private company.”
Members of the board stated that Jacobs cannot perform his duties as director and prepare a bid for the company at the same time. Jacobs argued that both tasks have no relationship whatsoever and insisted that he will be fine but the board put it to a vote and the ex-chairman lost. According to a statement by the company, Paul Jacobs will not be nominated to the board again. It will take a lot of cojones and ambition for the ex-chairman’s bid for the company to be successful because as of now, he own’s a paltry 0.13% of Qualcomm. The company is currently valued at $90 billion and Jacobs will have to come up with a better figure for his proposal to pull through.
