The 63-year-old chief executive of Avago Technologies Ltd. stepped into the limelight on Thursday with a $37 billion cash-and-stock deal to buy Broadcom Corp. The transaction would meld two companies with complementary sales of communications chips, including processors that handle different chores in smartphones from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
It also would continue the CEO’s practice of using debt to finance takeovers of bigger name firms with larger workforces, shedding nonessential operations and staff and taking other steps to boost profit margins.
“He has a unique ability to run a big business as if it were a small business,” said Kenneth Hao, an Avago director and managing partner at Silver Lake, the chip maker’s second-largest investor.
People who have worked with him say he spends little time on anything but work, preferring to let results speak for themselves. Those include his $6.6 billion deal in 2013 for LSI Corp., which roughly doubled Avago’s size, despite the fact that Mr. Tan sold off LSI operations that some industry executives had deemed promising.
One of Mr. Tan’s hallmarks is to rein in spending on speculative projects, colleagues say, focusing on chips with established customers and favorable profit margins. Avago, they note, sells many parts whose technology originated in developments decades ago at H-P and AT&T.
Read more: The Wall Street Journal
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1:00 - 5:00 pm
Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process
Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:
Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns. They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning. Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process. This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented. If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form. The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.
2:00 - 5:00 pm
Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations.
Limited space available.
10:30 - 5:00 pm
General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
Sponsored by UBS
General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.
The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.
