Qualcomm announced plans to review its corporate structure and cut USD 1.4 billion in costs, as part of a deal with its activist shareholder Jana Partners. Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said the agreed changes will lead to improved execution and financial and operating performance. The agreement with Jana will be filed with the SEC.
The "right-sizing" project will see USD 1.4 billion in cost reductions by the end of fiscal 2016, including a USD 300 million reduction in annual share-based compensation. The cost initiatives include reductions in headcount and temporary workforce, streamlining the engineering organization, reducing the number of offices and increasing the mix of resources in lower-cost regions.
Executive compensation will be further aligned with performance, including returns on investment, and Qualcomm agreed to reduce the average tenure of directors on its board and add new directors with additional skills. The first new appointments will be Palo Alto Networks CEO Mark McLaughlin and Tony Vinciquerra, a senior adviser to Texas Pacific Group. In addition, Qualcomm agreed to continue to return significant capital to shareholders, including at least 75 percent of free cash flow.
It will also review alternatives to its current corporate and financial structure. Qualcomm confirmed earlier reports that this may include a separation of its businesses, as well as other options for returning capital, and strategic and financial alternatives. The review should be completed by the end of the calendar year. The company also intends to focus its investments on core smartphone and adjacent growth opportunities. Qualcomm is reducing its investments outside of its main divisions QTL and QCT and will focus these investments around the highest-return opportunities, including data centres, small cells and certain IoE verticals.
