Broadcom Corporation

Broadcom Corporation was an American fabless semiconductor company that made products for the wireless and broadband communication industry. It was acquired by Avago Technologies for $37 billion in 2016 and currently^[update] operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of the merged entity Broadcom Inc.

Founded in 1991 by a professor-student pair Henry Samueli and Henry Nicholas from the University of California, Los Angeles, the company moved from its Westwood, Los Angeles, office to Irvine, California, in 1995. Broadcom became a public company three years later with a listing on the Nasdaq. The company was known for its aggressive acquisition strategy, which led to significant growth and market share.

Broadcom Corporation was founded by professor-student pair Henry Samueli and Henry Nicholas from UCLA in 1991. In 1995 the company moved from its Westwood, Los Angeles, office to Irvine, California. In 1998, Broadcom became a public company on the NASDAQ exchange (ticker symbol: BRCM) and employs about 11,750 people worldwide in more than 15 countries.^[when?]

Broadcom Corporation acquired ServerWorks Corporation, a maker of chipsets for IA-32-based servers, in 2001 for $957 million. This acquisition was one in a string of purchases of companies by Broadcom in the beginning of the 2000s. Unlike the others, which were struggling start-ups, ServerWorks was revenue-generating and profitable.

In 2012, Broadcom's total revenue was $8.01 billion. As of 2011, Broadcom was among Gartner's Top 10 Semiconductor Vendors by revenue. Broadcom first landed on the Fortune 500 in 2009, and climbed to spot #327 in 2013.

In June 2007, the U.S. International Trade Commission blocked the import of new cell phone models based on particular Qualcomm microchips. They had found that these Qualcomm microchips infringed on patents owned by Broadcom. In January 2017, the FTC sued Qualcomm, who allegedly made use of unlawful tactics to maintain "a monopoly on cellular-communications chips."

On April 26, 2009, Broadcom settled its four-year legal battle with Qualcomm over wireless and other patents. The deal also ended the complaints of anti-competitive behavior. As part of the settlement, Qualcomm paid $891 million in cash to Broadcom over a four-year period ending June 2013.

In March 2006, a report by the Center for Financial Research and Analysis identified Broadcom as one of 17 companies "at risk" for having back-dated stock options grants between 1997 and 2002. On May 18, 2006, amid media reports about options practices, Broadcom said it had started an internal review of its stock options grants. On June 12, 2006, Broadcom announced it had received a "request for information" from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and that it might soon be the subject of an informal inquiry.