SAN DIEGO _Shareholder support for Qualcomm's board of directors took a nosedive this year from last, as Broadcom's hostile takeover attempt fueled shareholder frustration with the San Diego company's lagging performance.
The cellular technology giant announced results late Thursday of shareholder balloting for its board and other corporate matters. Its annual meeting was held last week.
All of Qualcomm's board nominees were re-elected with a majority of votes cast by shareholders. But they received significantly less support than they did a year ago.
CEO Steve Mollenkopf got 665.9 million votes in favor of his re-election. There were 172 million "withheld" votes, which signals nonsupport.
Last year, Mollenkopf received 1.1 billion votes for re-election, with 4 million withheld votes.
The halfhearted support was expected after a five-month battle with chip rival Broadcom.
Broadcom nominated six alternative candidates to Qualcomm's board, which if elected would have given it a majority to pursue its $117 billion hostile buyout.
Broadcom hammered Qualcomm's performance in its pitch to shareholders, highlighting declining revenue over the past three years, costly legal battles with Apple, heavy fines from regulators and a stagnant share price while other semiconductor stocks soared.
Broadcom's takeover was derailed on March 12 when President Donald Trump blocked a deal over national security concerns. His executive order barred Broadcom's candidates from standing for election. As a result, Qualcomm's candidates were running unopposed. Any votes for Broadcom's candidates weren't counted.
But a significant number of shareholders appear to have cast protest votes_either by continuing to support Broadcom's slate even though they were disqualified or withholding support for Qualcomm's nominees.
Of the 1.15 billion shares voted this year, about 313 million came in for Broadcom candidates and therefore weren't tabulated.
Those shareholders had 11 days to change their ballots between Trump's executive order and Qualcomm's March 23 annual meeting but did not.
Mollenkopf received the lowest level of support after adjustments for ballots that were inadvertently not revised in favor of three Qualcomm board candidates following Broadcom's withdrawal.
Lead Independent Director Tom Horton received the second lowest vote total, with 677 million in favor and 160 million withheld.
Horton, former head of American Airlines, was among the most visible Qualcomm advocates against Broadcom, appearing on TV and in videos to characterize its $79 per share offer as too low.
Last year, Horton received nearly 1.1 billion votes for re-election, with 26 million withheld votes.
Paul Jacobs, former chairman, CEO and son of co-founder Irwin Jacobs, left the board March 23 after seeking to buy the company and take it private. This is the first time in Qualcomm's history that the Jacobs family is not represented on Qualcomm's board. His seat will not be filled.
No Qualcomm board member received more than 69 percent support, based on 1.15 billion shares voted. Last year, all but two board members netted close to 90 percent of votes in favor of re-election.
