In Focus

Survive This: Nicholas at Broadcom

Unless you live on a desert island yourself, you've probably heard of the television ratings blockbuster, "Survivor." I am addicted. It's a soap opera within a game. The contestants compete with and against each other while trying to survive, all to be the last one remaining to win the million dollars. Are these people really being genuine as they befriend their teammate, or is it a ploy to get an ally and not be voted off? Who's real, who's playing, and who is out for blood? Sounds like corporate America.

In last year's series, Richard walked away with the million. Nobody liked Richard. Richard was an overweight, outspoken, nude, gay man. From the beginning, fans of the show wanted Richard voted off the island. He spent no time getting to know his teammates or opponents -- he could barely remember their names. Richard was in the game to win. Any way he could. During his numerous talk show appearances after he won, Richard confessed to playing with people's minds, manipulating situations and making every strategic move in order to place himself in the driver's seat. He also said that this was not the real day-to-day Richard, but the Richard with a task at hand, and he was going to come away the winner. Sounds a lot like Dr. Henry T. Nicholas, CEO of Broadcom (BRCM).

Nick (as he is called around the office) thrives on competition. He lives to be the winner. If there is a company making more money than his, Nick goes after their clients. If there is a corporation forming partnerships and alliances trying to corner the market, Nick forms more partnerships. If there is a top employee at a competitor, he coerces them to jump ship and join his team. Every day is game day in Nick's world, and he wants to win each and every one.

Nicholas, 41, was born in Malibu, California and dreamed of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot. He probably would have made it if hadn't sprouted past the legal height requirement. He's a basketball coach's dream, and an actor's envy at 6 feet 6 inches. (Speaking of, he looks a lot like George Hamilton with a little Baywatch's Peter mixed in.) Nicholas and his Type-A personality would have succeeded in whatever he chose to do, but he chose to start a semi-conductor company and make it number one. He succeeded.

Broadcom is the leading provider of highly integrated silicon solutions that enable broadband digital transmission of voice, video and data. (He could easily beat me at that game, especially when put in lingo that flies over my head. Who understands that?) In Karin-language, Broadcom makes chips that go into everything. Little teeny chips that allow your Palm Pilot to talk to your computer, that allows your cell phone to talk to your internet provider, and will eventually allow your voice to talk to your refrigerator. His goal is to have a chip in every product made. cars, televisions, phones, sprinkler systems, coffee pots and the list goes on. Imagine a chip in the scoreboard of the arena of your favorite sports team. You are at the dentist getting a root canal and have no way to watch the game. In the middle of suffering through the drilling, you feel the buzz of your Palm Pilot telling you that your team has scored. Praise the Lord, you can pause the dentist! You take out your Palm, punch in the replay button, and voila. you see Phil Housley go end to end with the puck. To keep the dentist at bay a little longer, you quickly send Phil a congratulatory voice message, which he hears inside his helmet, and then wish him Happy Valentines Day at the same time. (This is all unbeknownst to the coach who is scratching X's and O's on the interactive board behind the bench, which is sent to the screen inside Phil's visor.)

This is Nicholas's dream. Chips, his chips, everywhere. Since he started Broadcom in 1991 with his friend and PhD professor, Dr. Henry Samueli (Henry taught Henry at UCLA), Broadcom has grown to over a billion dollars in annual revenue. They did this faster than any semi-conductor company in history. Before BRCM, Intel and Cirrus held the record for the fastest-growing companies. Should Intel be getting nervous?

Last year Intel sued Broadcom for stealing three of Intel's top employees. Broadcom came out the winner and was able to employ the ex-Intel-ers. Even more recently, Intel has sued Broadcom again over patent infringement. Seems BRCM has impending patents on all the cutting-edge technology that Intel swears are theirs. Nicholas angrily responded to the suit in Semiconductor Business News, "It is widely recognized in the industry and investment community that Broadcom is the leader in digital cable TV, cable modem, Gigabit Ethernet, home networking, and other key 21st Century communications IC technologies. Intel's allegations are an insult to the more than 1,000 Broadcom engineers who work day and night to develop these technologies." He was serious, they do work day and night. He calls meetings at midnight and expects everyone to be there. Hmmm.Intel is going to need more than luck to stop Nicholas from catching up to them.

In an interview with EBN Online, Nicholas says, "You could describe my (management) approach as scorched earth. I believe I'm an understanding person, unfortunately the market isn't understanding. It can be brutal, but my job is to make sure that our employees are ready to take on the sacrifices in their lives that'll be necessary to win. We expect to be No. 1 in everything we do."

Sounds like something Richard would say.