Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Broadcom Responds

Broadcom responded promptly to my email query about Ms. Handel’s board appointment. They insist she is independent (copy of corporate quote at bottom of this post). My points are as follow: She is AMT’s CFO. Companies of this size and caliber do not allow their CFO’s to go sit around on other boards without some understanding of potential positive benefits. AMT’s shareholders would not be well served by key C-level officers providing someone else with the best that their brain can produce. Broadcom made a big deal about Ms Handel’s expertise and knowledge of the global semiconductor industry. Which master does she serve? Broadcom and AMT are both big fish in closely aliied industries. The likelihood of not colliding in the future is far fetched. Broadcom’s corporate tagline is “Connecting Everything”. This is how I connect the dots at this time. The potential for problems exists so caveat emptor. The quote follows

“Broadcom is a fabless semiconductor company and thus has no requirement for the products and services supplied by Applied Materials. In fact Applied Materials has not been a supplier to or customer of Broadcom for at least the past three years. Ms Handel has no prior relationship with Broadcom. Consequently we consider her to be an independent director and believe her long experience in a global company closely related to our industry will prove very valuable on our Board. We look forward to her active participation.”