Broadcom Now Seeking Fewer of Qualcomm’s Board Seats
Broadcom moved the goal posts in its hostile takeover bid for Qualcomm, announcing on Tuesday
that it was now seeking only a majority of the chip maker’s board seats in next month’s shareholder vote and raising questions about the future of the deal.
The chip company last week rejected Broadcom’s latest takeover bid, valued at about $121 billion, arguing
that it was still too low and that it offered insufficient commitments in case regulators moved to block a union on antitrust grounds.
Broadcom’s chief executive, Hock Tan, said in a statement on Tuesday
that reducing the number of director seats that his company was seeking would help provide some “continuity” for Qualcomm’s board
Putting the two companies together would create one of the world’s biggest chip
makers, whose products would be in a majority of the world’s smartphones.
Broadcom said that it would now pursue the election of six nominees it had put forward, rather than the full 11 it had originally named.