Qualcomm re-elects 10 existing directors to board at annual meeting

Qualcomm Inc shareholders on Friday re-elected 10 directors to the company`s board at the mobile chipmaker`s annual meeting.

The re-election follows U.S. President Donald Trump`s move on March 12 to block Broadcom Ltd`s $117 billion hostile takeover bid for Qualcomm on national security grounds, and bar its nominated directors from joining its board.

Qualcomm last week said its board would shrink to 10 directors from 11 because former chairman Paul Jacobs, the son of Qualcomm`s co-founder, would not be renominated for the board after disclosing his intention to pursue an acquisition of the firm.

Qualcomm did not disclose on Friday how many votes its directors received at the annual meeting. Its shares were down 1.2 percent at $54.93 in midday trading.

There have been signs that some Qualcomm shareholders were in favor of Broadcom`s offer. Broadcom officials said that about 15 percent of Qualcomm shareholders had favored its bids in early vote counting.

Ahead of Friday`s meeting, Institutional Shareholder Services, a shareholder advisory firm, urged investors to lodge protest votes for Broadcom board nominees, even though they would not be counted under the company`s rules.

At the meeting, Qualcomm Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf reiterated the company`s strategic plans, originally outlined in January, calling for the completion of its $44 billion bid for chipmaker NXP Semiconductors, resolution of its legal dispute with Apple Inc and a $1 billion reduction in costs. All of that, Qualcomm executives say, should allow the company to bring in earnings per share of $6.75 to $7.50 for fiscal 2019.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)