Qualcomm scion Paul E. Jacobs faces complete ouster from the company that already relieved him of his duties of Executive Chairman earlier this month, Reuters reported Friday, citing people familiar with the development at the San Diego, California-based chipmaker. The company’s board of directors is said to have met earlier today to discuss the possibility of removing Dr. Jacobs from his directorial seat to which he was effectively demoted a week ago. The latest turn of events is understood to be a culmination of recent tensions between the former Executive Chairman and the rest of the board which repeatedly clashed over the firm’s strategy to fend off Broadcom’s hostile takeover attempt which lasted for four months until being ended by a direct order of President Trump signed on Monday.
While both executives and other employees are said to have celebrated Broadcom’s defeat and the fact that Qualcomm managed to maintain its independence, Dr. Jacobs reportedly started making plans to take the company private, having already met with several investors that could fund such a move, with one of them being SoftBank. Qualcomm’s scion reportedly informed his peers of his intentions to attempt organizing a buyout and maintaining his grasp over what started as a modest chip business co-founded by his father Irwin M. Jacobs in 1985 and developed into one of the world’s largest technology companies with a market capitalization of $88.7 billion as of Friday morning EST. The fact that the board is now discussing Dr. Jacobs’s removal suggests Qualcomm’s leadership isn’t supportive of such a move, with the rogue director now being expected to step down in the coming days, as per the same report.
Dr. Jacobs reportedly has an insignificant stake in Qualcomm yet is now supposedly planning the largest buyout in the history of trading which would dwarf the 2007 transition of Energy Future Holdings which Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Texas Pacific Group funded with $45 billion, only to see the power utility company file for Title 11 bankruptcy seven years later. Dr. Jacobs may now leave his board seat before March 26 when Qualcomm’s annual shareholder meeting is scheduled to take place.