Chipmaker Broadcom posted Q4 results saying that its net income doubled during the quarter, due in part to royalties from patent license agreements and orders for wireless chips. The company reported net income of $90.3 million, or 16 cents a share, for the quarter, compared with $45.1 million, or 8 cents a share, for the same quarter last year. Revenue rose 11% to $1.03 billion from $923.5 million year over year.
Broadcom has been embroiled in several patent infringement suits, including one with rival Qualcomm. Broadcom recently won an injunction, barring the sale of certain Qualcomm chips that were found to infringe Broadcom’s patents. The injunction was temporarily stayed, though Qualcomm has temporarily stopped shipments of some products and said it is developing workarounds for other products in light of the ruling.
In less positive news for the chipmaker, federal prosecutors have named Broadcom co-founders Henry Nicholas III and Henry Samueli in an investigation into the backdating of stock options. Former human resources executive Nancy Tullos, who pleaded guilty on one count of obstruction of justice, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors on the investigation. Her statement referred to Nicholas and Samueli as Executive A and Executive B, but U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney reportedly said that not publicly identifying them goes against the principles of open court hearings.
Nicholas left the company in 2003, but Samueli still serves as the chairman and chief technical officer.
Last year, Broadcom restated previous financial results by as much as $2.2 billion, to account for improperly backdated stock options.
Filed Under: Carriers
