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Important Information
The
following includes a transcript of the conference call held by
QUALCOMM Incorporated (Qualcomm) on January 5, 2011
to announce that it had entered into a definitive agreement with
Atheros Communications, Inc. (Atheros) and the related
slides used in the call.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
In connection with the proposed transaction, Atheros intends to
file a definitive proxy statement and other relevant materials with
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Before making any
voting decision with respect to the proposed transaction, stockholders of Atheros are urged to read
the proxy statement and other relevant materials because these materials will contain important
information about the proposed transaction. The proxy statement and other relevant materials, and
any other documents filed by Atheros with the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SECs
website at www.sec.gov or from Atheros at www.atheros.com or by contacting Atheros Investor
Relations at: David.Allen@Atheros.com and 408.830.5762.
Participants in the Solicitation
Atheros and Qualcomm and each of their executive officers and directors
may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Atheros stockholders in favor
of the proposed transaction. A list of the names of Atheros executive officers and directors and a
description of their respective interests in Atheros are set forth in the proxy statement for
Atheros 2010 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 7, 2010, and in
any documents subsequently filed by its directors and executive officers under the Securities and
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Certain executive officers and directors of Atheros have
interests in the proposed transaction that may differ from the interests of stockholders generally,
including benefits conferred under retention, severance and change in control arrangements and
continuation of director and officer insurance and indemnification. These interests and any
additional benefits in connection with the proposed transaction will be described in the definitive
proxy statement.
Conference Call Transcript
QCOM QUALCOMM Incorporated
Qualcomm to Acquire Atheros Conference Call
01/05/11 / 08:30AM ET
CORPORATE PARTICIPANTS
Warren Kneeshaw
Qualcomm Incorporated IR
Paul Jacobs
Qualcomm Incorporated Chairman & CEO
Steve Mollenkopf
Qualcomm Incorporated EVP & Group President
Craig Barratt
Atheros Communications, Inc. President & CEO
Bill Keitel
Qualcomm Incorporated EVP & CFO
CONFERENCE CALL PARTICIPANTS
Brian Modoff
Deutsche Bank Analyst
James Faucette
Pacific Crest Securities Analyst
Simona Jankowski
Goldman Sachs Analyst
Maynard Um
UBS Analyst
Rod Hall
JPMorgan Analyst
Mark Sue
RBC Capital Markets Analyst
Mark McKechnie
Gleacher & Co. Analyst
Stacy Rasgon
Sanford Bernstein Analyst
Jonathan Goldberg
Deutsche Bank Analyst
Romit Shah
Nomura Securities Analyst
Arnab Chanda
Roth Capital Analyst
David Wong
Wells Fargo Analyst
Gus Richard
Piper Jaffray Analyst
Craig Berger
FBR Capital Markets Analyst
Alex Gauna
JMP Securities Analyst
OPERATOR
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Qualcomm Announces its Definitive
Agreement to Acquire Atheros conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only
mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder
this conference call is being recorded January 5, 2011. The playback number for todays call is
1-800-642-1687. International callers please dial 706-645-9291. The playback reservation number is
35060578. I would now like to turn todays call over to Warren Kneeshaw, Vice President of Investor
Relations. Mr. Kneeshaw, please go ahead.
WARREN KNEESHAW
Thank you, Celeste. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our conference call regarding the
announcement of Qualcomms pending acquisition of Atheros. Todays call will include brief remarks
by Dr. Paul Jacobs, Steve Mollenkopf, and Dr. Craig Barratt, President and Chief Executive Officer
of Atheros. In addition, Bill Keitel will join the question-and-answer session. An Internet
presentation and audio broadcast accompany this call and you can access them by visiting
www.qualcomm.com. We may make forward-looking statements relating to our expectations and other
future events that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and these expectations may
differ materially from Qualcomms actual results. Please review our SEC filings for a detailed
presentation of each of our businesses and associated risks and other important factors that may
cause our actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements. Before making any voting
decision with respect to the proposed acquisition, investors are urged to read Atheros proxy
statement and other relevant materials when they become available because they will contain
important information about the transaction. With that I would like to turn it over to Qualcomms
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Paul Jacobs.
PAUL JACOBS
Thanks, Warren, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I am very pleased to announce
our planned acquisition of Atheros; a company that many of you are well acquainted with. They are a
leader in connectivity and networking solutions, and they have a strong track record of execution,
growth and financial performance. This said, this acquisition makes sense on a lot of levels. From
a vision standpoint, we believe that communications capability will go into more and more devices
in the world around us and that the phone will be used to interact with these devices. From a
strategy standpoint, we will continue to lead in technology through significant R&D investments and
this acquisition allows us to profit from those investments across a larger base of devices. From a
tactical standpoint, we will have access to a strong team and a new set of technologies, partners,
and distribution channels and we will also be able to broaden our relationships with existing
customers. Now in terms of the specifics of the deal, we have entered into a definitive agreement
to purchase Atheros for $45 per share in cash for an enterprise value of $3.1 billion. The
transaction has been approved by the Qualcomm and Atheros Boards of Directors, and we expect the
transaction to close in the first half of 2011. Atheros will become known as Qualcomm Networking
and Connectivity, or QNC, and Craig Barratt will continue as President of QNC, reporting to Steve
Mollenkopf. And we are looking forward to working even more closely with Craig. Excluding
amortization of acquired intangibles, we expect the acquisition to be modestly accretive to
earnings per share in fiscal 2012, the first full year of operation, and we will finalize our
estimates of the transactions financial impact, as well as the accounting, for the transaction
upon deal close. Personally I am very excited about this acquisition. We have had a close working
relationship with Atheros, and I am confident that our teams will come together quickly and
effectively. And now I would like to turn the call over to Steve Mollenkopf for some specifics.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Thanks, Paul. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us on the call. Our announcement today is
an important step for our business. It is a clear indication of our strategy to move aggressively
into silicon beyond cellular. We believe that it will expand our opportunities with new products,
new customers, and new sales channels. It will enable us to grow a platform business in additional
areas such as consumer electronics, networking, and computing. You have heard us talk about our
vision around the convergence of mobility computing and consumer electronics. Our announcements
today should be viewed as a statement about our commitment to provide a complete set of solutions
to address this trend as it is clearly unfolding in front of us today. You have also seen us
execute on our strategy for quite some time. We lead with technology and win by providing complete
system solutions. This acquisition provides us a wider set of products and technologies to expand
that strategy. This acquisition will allow us to build upon our capabilities and add to our suite
of best-in-class technology assets. Our strong portfolio of products, historically focused on
modems and integrated application processors for cellular, will be supplemented with Atheros
wireless LAN, Ethernet, Bluetooth, GPS, Passive Optical Networking, and powerline solutions. We are
also excited about the fact that we are acquiring a proven leader with a strong existing product
portfolio, mature sales channels, and an outstanding team that, like us, clearly has a focus on
execution. This acquisition significantly expands our opportunities as a semiconductor provider.
With this incremental set of products, channels, and customers, we can accelerate the extension of
our technologies and platforms beyond cellular to computing, consumer electronics, and networking,
both home and enterprise. I would like to congratulate Craig and the rest of the Atheros team on
their accomplishments. We have worked with Atheros for many years and know them well. They have
built a strong organization and a very successful business. I am excited about todays news and the
opportunities this creates, and I look forward to working with the Atheros team. With that I will
now turn the call over to Craig.
CRAIG BARRATT
Thank you, Paul and Steve. I would just like to add a few comments before we turn it over to Q&A.
As Paul and Steve mentioned, the two companies have had a long-standing, successful working
relationship. We are very familiar with Qualcomms capabilities, including their technology
leadership and their commitment to execution. We have the same focus and strong track record of
success at Atheros. We have similar engineering cultures and approaches to the marketplace. As
an example, we have successfully collaborated with Qualcomm on reference design projects in the
mobile space for years. I agree with Paul that there is a strong alignment between the teams, and I
am looking forward to hitting the ground running. Clearly, this has been an exciting start to the
new year for Atheros. The combination of the two companies is a very exciting opportunity for our
stockholders, our employees, and our customers. Bringing together these like-minded teams and their
best-in-class technologies will allow us to offer a broad range of system solutions to our
customers. Personally, I am excited about the growth opportunities for the combined businesses as
well as Atheros new role upon close as Qualcomm Networking and Connectivity. With that I will hand
the call back to Warren.
WARREN KNEESHAW
Thank you, Craig. Operator, we are ready for questions.
NEW SECTION
OPERATOR
(Operator Instructions) Brian Modoff, Deutsche Bank.
BRIAN MODOFF
Hi guys. Congratulations on the merger. A question for you; Atheros has some non-WiFi-based
revenues. What are your plans with that area of the company? Are you planning to keep the entirety
of Atheros or would you perhaps look at selling this off to other vendors that might be able to
leverage them more efficiently? Thank you.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Brian, this is Steve. Thank you, first of all. No, actually our view at this point is really to
leverage the basket of technologies that Atheros brings to us and really use that in addition to
the channels. Technologies and channels are both important here. to grow our ability to provide
platforms, I think, into new segments, really. So I really think more we are in the process of
continuing to develop those basket of technologies versus whittle it down.
BRIAN MODOFF
Then real quick also, Steve, when would you have combination chips available in the market where
you are combining you already have your GPS, you have Bluetooth, now you have obviously WiFi.
When do you think you would have combo chips into the market for smartphones and tablets? Also,
would you did you have another strategy perhaps embedding the WiFi technology with your modems?
How do you see that strategy? Do you plan to embed and, if you plan to do combos, when would you
have combos available?
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Well, Brian, I think really no change in strategy I think for either of the entities. We very much
believe, based on what we have announced already, that integrating in products is actually very
beneficial at the platform level. And, in fact, our existing plans for the 8960 and our existing
wireless LAN products lines that are based off of our internal Qualcomm internal solution will
continue to move forward and we are very pleased with how that is going. In addition, though, you
get access to connectivity products and even in the case of wireless LAN you get access to
connectivity that is actually optimized for markets outside of mobile. I think over time you will
start to see some scale synergy, as well as you are just engaging in more of the market. I think
you become more of a hardened solution that way. I think there is some real because you are
engaging with many, many markets you tend to be able to lead more in the individual markets, so
its really a scale advantage. But I dont think there is we are thinking of a change in
strategy either from the platform level or how we address the individual products. Maybe I could
ask Craig if he could give his comments as well.
CRAIG BARRATT
Yeah, Brian, I think we really have a shared vision about expansion together into a variety of new
technologies and segments, so its a lot more than just about WiFi. As you know, Atheros already
has a much broader portfolio of connectivity technologies really driving the connected home,
driving consumer devices. And many of these markets many of these segments are separate from the
cellular market. So its more than WiFi; its more than cellular platforms. Its really about
driving a broad portfolio of technologies into additional segments.
BRIAN MODOFF
Okay. All right, guys, good luck. Thank you.
OPERATOR
James Faucette, Pacific Crest.
JAMES FAUCETTE
Thank you very much. First, in terms of the impact from the combination of the two companies, can
you talk a little bit about, Steve, maybe where you see some opportunities for leverage beyond just
the product portfolio itself, particularly
from a cost savings perspective? And then secondly, from a strategic standpoint following on kind
of where Brian was headed, where should we be thinking about the best opportunities to get the
leverage from the combination of the two companies? Is this into the traditional handset business
where Qualcomm has always played or should we be thinking more about the opportunities outside of
handsets in areas like tablets or even smartmeters, etc.? Thank you.
BILL KEITEL
Good morning, James. Its Bill Keitel. On the opportunities beyond the technology and the channel,
as Steve mentioned, we are very impressed by Atheros capability and position in their channel. We
have built in some good synergies into our forward forecast. It comes more about from how we see
the development aligning rather than an immediate impact to one or another organization. So in
effect, the synergies that we are seeing are more so of a with the combination we expect to be
hiring less people than what we otherwise would have done. But still the primary synergy we are
seeing here is, as Steve said, its the products and technologies and the expansion of our
opportunities here as we go forward.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
That is right. This is Steve, James . We have very similar I think its very complementary
technologies actually. And we see a lot of the benefit actually about growing our top line as well
as our ability to really meet this strategic opportunity that we have been talking about where we
think what is happening really is that with the growth of smartphones and really mobile OSes you
are starting to see, I think, a very broad change in the way computing happens. Not just in the
phone but also in a lot of adjacent markets which we think are going to have similar platform
requirements to the phone. However, when you go into those requirements, you go into those new
areas I think there is going to be a need for different channels as well and a different basket of
goods in terms of technologies in order to do that. Now we get, I think, a number of those things
covered with this acquisition and we really start with the position of a leader, which we are very
excited about. So its very much a continuation of the same trend we have been talking about. We
think its going to expand into different markets. It will help us, of course, in our home market
of cellular, but we really look at it more as this is cellular expanding into other markets. And as
we go we are going to need new assets and new people to help us get there.
OPERATOR
Simona Jankowski, Goldman Sachs.
SIMONA JANKOWSKI
Good morning and thank you very much. Steve, I think at the analyst day in November you had talked
about having a Snapdragon product this year on 28 nanometer which was going to integrate
connectivity including WiFi. So just curious if that is still on track and will that include your
own WiFi or the Atheros solution? And then just related to that point, I think from a technology
perspective integrating WiFi in with a chipset is a pretty significant engineering challenge. So
how much visibility do you have on whether integrating Atheros silicon will make that challenge
any easier than it has been so far?
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Sure. No change actually to our announced plans on 8960 or even our stand-alone wireless LAN plans
that we have announced and have been executing on for some time. So we will continue to work on
that solution. Its on track and we are quite pleased with that approach. I think long term there
is an opportunity to merge the roadmaps. However, I think its important and maybe I could ask
Craig to comment a little bit more on this its important to understand that wireless LAN is a
very broad category of technologies. Our particular implementation that we have today is focused
really on that integration aspect that you mentioned, really optimized for using against our
chipset. But its a very broad product category and maybe, Craig, you could expand on that a little
bit? You could maybe help explain.
CRAIG BARRATT
Sure, that is right. Certainly the WiFi market is really quite broad in terms of product types and
the specific channels and segments. The mobile market, based on cellular platforms, clearly has
been growing strongly. One thing I should make clear is, as you know, Atheros and Qualcomm have
partnered together for many years. This announced transaction really has nothing to do with the
WiFi capability on Qualcomms side having any issues or challenges on mobile platforms. It is so
much more about driving WiFi into additional channels, additional segments. The type of WiFi
technology that is necessary in networking platforms like gateways and routers, set-top boxes and
TVs, in consumer platforms as well are really very, very different to those in mobile devices and
that requires a significant additional level of capability and resources to address those channels
and segments. And so, just as Steve mentioned, its really about adding a broad horizontal
capability in a set of new technologies, including WiFi, addressing a broad set of channels in
addition to getting that much
more capable in the vertical platforms that Qualcomm has so capably
grown and delivered in the mobile and cellular markets.
OPERATOR
Maynard Um, UBS.
MAYNARD UM
Hi. Thank you. Can you just talk a little bit more about the new markets and the synergies? I
understand the connected home but it doesnt really strike me that getting into TVs will help to
drive QCT, so I am trying to understand the synergies between the two companies. What does Qualcomm
bring to Atheros? What does Atheros bring to -? I understand what Atheros brings to Qualcomm, but
in particular I guess how does being under the Qualcomm umbrella help Atheros as well? Because I am
just trying to understand how there are synergies between the two businesses in terms of overlap of
cross-selling and things like that. And then if you can also just talk about the process of the
acquisition, was there an open auction for the company? Thanks.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Sure, Maynard, this is Steve. In terms of synergies, one thing that I just want to try to talk a
little bit about our view of what is happening in the market. First of all, we think that the
platform strength of smartphones is really going to generate an enormous pressure on a number of
adjacent markets to adopt a similar type technology platform. And you are already starting to see
that in the case of tablets where the tablets, instead of using technology which historically may
have come from platform technology which may have historically come from the PC world, it is really
pulled the phone world up, including bringing technology providers and application suppliers from
that world. As we start to drive that strategy, which has been a stated strategy for some time, we
start to encounter really two areas that we think are addressed by this acquisition. The first one
is that you start to encounter more technology that you need to connect to different things than
you need to connect to in the phone. In the case of and we would kind of broadly call that
networking or connectivity, and its really building on what Craig said was an example. The
wireless LAN that you might need to support a platform play in a tablet may be different than what
you use for a handset. As we do that we either have to invest in that or we need to partner and so
we obviously know which direction we went there. We think there is going to be a lot of momentum in
other markets in a lot of places where people are going to want to have that same smartphone
experience but throughout their entire daily life. And I think its going to really require us to
add a larger platform of goods and technologies that the Atheros team has. In addition, for us to
grow a platform business outside of our traditional customer base, you need to have, I think, a
mature and well operating sales channel and the ability really to make money at doing that. We
really have been impressed over the years as we have worked with the Atheros team as how they are
able to manage their channel. And so I think you get really a different channel, a different set of
technologies and you are doing that at a time when the industry is changing quite a bit. And you do
it from, I think, a leadership position instead of having to run and catch up. So that is really
how we view it.
OPERATOR
Rod Hall, JPMorgan.
ROD HALL
Thanks for taking my question. I have just got a couple of quick ones. One is with regards to
royalty streams. I wonder if Atheros was a pretty early mover in WiFi so could you just comment
on whether there is any intellectual property that you are getting there that would generate
ongoing royalty streams. And then the second question that I had, you are talking a lot about
connectivity in these adjacent markets. Do you have ambitions and does this indicate some sort of a
strategy to move beyond just connectivity though and maybe leverage your application processor
platforms into some of these other markets? I mean TVs now are basically computers themselves so I
wonder if you can just comment on what the opportunity in those adjacent markets might look like.
PAUL JACOBS
This is Paul. So to comment on the IP, this acquisition is primarily focused on products and a new
distribution channels, new partnerships. To the extent that we do licensing in Qualcomm it tends to
be portfolio licensing, so that encompasses sort of all of the patents in our portfolio.
ROD HALL
Paul, could you just comment on whether does that but does this add to that portfolio so that
you would potentially be able to get back more from it or not really very much?
PAUL JACOBS
It adds to the portfolio. There is more IP in our portfolio, but we generally do full portfolio
license. If you look at our model over time, every time we have added a new technology its not
like we have gone back to the market and asked them, here give us a little bit more, a little bit
more each time. Its generally the way that we work is we set up licensing deals with our partners
and say you get whatever we create. Obviously that is a general statement and there are some
specifics that are different, but generally I would say this is not intended as an incremental
licensing opportunity.
ROD HALL
Okay.
CRAIG BARRATT
Rod, this is Craig; I will take a second question. Just as Steve reflected in his previous answer,
the evolution of mobile and cellular technology is really starting to outstrip what is necessary in
many of these other segments and channels as we see in the connected home. So we just see it as a
tremendous opportunity to leverage those technologies which are now being so successfully deployed
in mobile devices, like tablets and smartphones, into other channels and segments like the
connected home. The other megatrend which is really important is there is simply more and more
connected devices all seamlessly interconnected. And so having a common set of technologies that
can be used to drive media and content between multiple devices throughout the home, whether its
wide-area connections or whether its local area connections, we think is an important trend over
the next several years which a broader portfolio of technologies will allow us to address very
successfully.
ROD HALL
Yes, I guess I was just wondering if Snapdragon ends up selling into some of these adjacent
markets. We are thinking about Snapdragon as purely selling into tablets and handsets today, but
does Snapdragon start selling into cameras and TVs and all kinds of other connected devices over
time in your guys minds?
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Absolutely, I think that is absolutely the vision. We actually believe that the market is moving
very rapidly toward bringing those type of technologies. and really the expectation that the
applications that you run on your phone are going to be running in many, many places that you
interact with. I think that is a very, very powerful trend in the industry and we are going to try
to accelerate it to the greatest degree possible.
ROD HALL
Okay. Thanks a lot, guys.
OPERATOR
Mark Sue, RBC Capital Markets.
MARK SUE
Steve or Craig, recognizing that its early, are there some thoughts on the cost and power savings
which can be passed down to your customers once you do have a fully integrated solution that
integrates Atheros? And then Bill, quickly on your thoughts on accretion, how we might get there
and what other moving parts there considering that it does seem like its going to be two separate
paths for quite some time? Should we also expect some cost synergies in addition to the revenue
synergies?
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Sure; I will take the first one. We talked a bit about how some of the advantages of integration at
our analyst meeting and we will not be nothing will change in terms of that regard. Its
probably a bit too early for us to try to set an expectation about how we can deal with that. I
would say one thing though that because of our combination and the fact that we tend to through
Qualcomm and the systems business tend to drive maybe a little faster to the advanced nodes, it
probably provides a bit more of leading edge access to some of the other businesses . But its
really too early for us, I think, to set an expectation there.
BILL KEITEL
Mark, on the accretion question, yes, there will be cost synergies. We expect that to come more
about from the opportunities we have seen working together thus far with Atheros from a reduction
of what we would otherwise be adding into Qualcomm. So I think, as you know, we didnt give
specific guidance beyond fiscal 2011, although we did say that we are our internal plans have
double-digit growth both in the QCT and QTL over the next five years. And so for fiscal 2012 our
internal plans at this point, we are seeing with this acquisition an increment in revenue and a
reduction in the cost profile that we otherwise we were seeing.
MARK SUE
Okay. Thank you and good luck, gentlemen.
OPERATOR
Mark McKechnie, Gleacher & Company
MARK MCKECHNIE
Thanks and congrats to both companies on the merger here. A lot of the good questions have been
asked. But Atheros core competency, getting RF to run on digital CMOS, maybe for Craig and/or
Steve, do you see any application of that technology within the Qualcomm chip roadmap for the
cellular applications or is that a little too far out to think about?
CRAIG BARRATT
Mark, this is Craig. I mean, that technology capability, which Atheros has very successfully
applied in our technology areas, I think has been well available and Qualcomm, I think, has a very
similar capability that they have been applying in the cellular market. Both teams, I think, are
going to be very focused on leveraging common technologies and also driving integration. Of course,
doing that on a CMOS-based technology has really been the bread and butter for both companies for
many years.
MARK MCKECHNIE
Great, that helps. Thank you.
OPERATOR
Stacy Rasgon, Sanford Bernstein.
STACY RASGON
Hi guys. Thanks for taking my question. How do you feel about your complete portfolio now post the
acquisition? And are there any other areas that you might be looking to augment as well?
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Stacy, this is Steve. Actually we feel very, very good about where we are sitting, both from a
technology perspective as well as a channel perspective. And also I think we are going to learn
from the Qualcomm side we are going to learn a lot about some markets that we have just started to
engage with. So I think there is really going to be a flow back and forth in terms of learning. In
terms of technology, I think we are going to continually be looking at how we are going to need to
continue to invest in the business to continue to grow it, as we would at any time, even if we
hadnt had this call. So we continue to make drive the business by investing in technology and
delivering that in a way that other people probably cant because of our scale. So I dont think
anything really changes there, but we are certainly in a better position today than we were before.
STACY RASGON
Got it. And one other quick housekeeping question; you said that Craig you will be reporting to
Steve. Does that imply that QNC is going to be subsumed within QCT or will it be split out? And if
its subsumed how is that going to impact the reporting those things like MSM shipments and QCT
margins and the like?
BILL KEITEL
Stacy, this is Bill. For our external reporting, given the strong similarities in Atheros and QCT
and the fact that it will report to Steve, it will be a segment reported within QCT.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Can I say also, just from an industry perspective, we thought it was important to maintain one
unified voice in terms of how we interact with the industry? And we really have done that under the
QCT name for a long time. For example, how we integrate or how we deal with the GSA and the SIA and
a number of our suppliers. I think its important for us to maintain a unified, this is Qualcomm
semiconductor business. Its just I think grown in terms of capability and stated ambition.
STACY RASGON
And the only reason I ask is that you know how people always have a relatively hyper focus on the
QCT margins. I mean this would be dilutive to QCT margins, I would assume, once its integrated.
BILL KEITEL
Yes, Stacy, Atheros has operated at a bit lower gross margin and operating margin than has QCT. But
as we said, we see this accretive to fiscal 2012 and beyond.
STACY RASGON
Absolutely, absolutely. Its just people always focus on that number; I just wanted to check. Thank
you, guys.
OPERATOR
Jonathan Goldberg, Deutsche Bank.
JONATHAN GOLDBERG
Hi, good morning. I am going to hazard a guess that this is not the first time you two have
considered combining. If you thought about this a few years ago, what has changed today and what
gives you greater confidence that you are stronger together? What is new here and how does that
affect how you are going to integrate the two companies? Thanks.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Jonathan, this is Steve. We have had, I think, a long-standing integration relationship, as Craig
mentioned, where the two teams have worked together to deliver products on a common platform which
tends to have been associated with the MSM. So I think we have a very strong familiarity with each
other and I think actually I think strong affinity, both technically and personally. But I think
at this point, in terms of timing, its really for us its we see the industry changing pretty
rapidly per the strategic discussion that we had earlier and we thought this is the time really to
create a leadership position in the face of that change. And I think its very good timing for us.
CRAIG BARRATT
I just wanted to jump in there as well. I think compared with a few years ago Atheros now has much
more substantial scale and a much more broader portfolio of technologies . And I think the trend
that we see out there, as I mentioned earlier, is just this ever-growing trend of more and more
connected devices that we use and we use throughout the home and work. Putting those two things
together I think makes this acquisition look that much more exciting for us strategically.
JONATHAN GOLDBERG
Great. Thank you and good luck.
OPERATOR
Romit Shah, Nomura Securities.
ROMIT SHAH
Hi. You guys have not done an acquisition of this size as far as I know. Can you just discuss your
execution strategy for maintaining the relationships on the PC and networking side where previously
you havent had a presence and presumably there is some uncertainty today? Thank you.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Sure, this is Steve. A couple of side; on the internal side, product delivery side, its as we
said, its really more of an extension of the existing integration relationship that we have had.
And as we mentioned earlier, a lot of the technologies are complimentary so its probably one of
the there are a number of topics that dont come up when those issues hit. The other side to
remember too is in addition to having a technical integration relationship we have had to
coordinate within the channel and across common sales accounts in the past. In fact, that is one of
the reasons why I think some of the sales teams know each other quite well and it was fairly easy
to meet the folks. So I think there is certainly opportunities there to make that better but we
have had to establish a lot of these working relationships throughout the years anyway. Also, I
should mention too that Craig is going to continue to be around and we are very excited about that.
And I think its a key component of our integration strategy.
OPERATOR
Arnab Chanda, Roth Capital.
ARNAB CHANDA
Yes, a question for Craig. It seems like you are just at the cusp of getting success in some of the
new devices like smartphone tablets. What was the genesis of selling the company at this point?
Thank you.
CRAIG BARRATT
Arnab, I think its a good question. Looking at Atheros long-term strategic goals we just see an
ever-increasing intersection with several key technologies. One, of course, is cellular and the
evolution towards 4G. There is just a huge trend of more and more devices, and not just voice and
data used in smartphones but ultimately machine-to-machine applications, the so-called Internet of
things. And if I look out five or more years having that capability is really critical. Also, there
are capabilities in application processors, media processing, and software depth and capability
that I think is much more challenging for a smaller company like Atheros to really be world class
at . And so when we look at the vertical platform
capability of Qualcomm the horizontal channel
that we can provide across a variety of segments and really the phenomenal capability of the
combined technology of the two companies its, frankly, just compelling and it really accelerates a
lot of our strategic objectives.
OPERATOR
David Wong, Wells Fargo.
DAVID WONG
Thanks very much. Can you give us some idea of what percentage of Atheros revenues are not WiFi
related and similarly the percentage of the consumer revs that are wireless handset related?
CRAIG BARRATT
This is Craig. We actually Atheros in its public reporting actually does not do a breakout by
technology. To be clear, the breakout that we do provide is in our three main channels so that is
the networking channel, the consumer channel, and the computing channel. So historically, the
networking channel that is mainly retail products, enterprise and service provider products,
things like gateways, routers, and so on. Historically that has been a bit over 50% of our revenue.
The PC business, roughly computing platforms, primarily has been around 20% of our business. And
the consumer area that contains not only mobile phones but also gaming devices, digital cameras,
ebook readers, a whole variety of consumer devices. That has been growing quite rapidly and that
makes up the high 20% range. And that is the split that we report by channel.
DAVID WONG
Okay, thanks. One other quick one. I think you guys mentioned Qualcomm and Atheros have partnered
in the past. Has there ever been an IP sharing arrangement? Is there any of Atheros IP or circuitry
currently in any Qualcomm products?
CRAIG BARRATT
To date the partnership we have had has actually been more of a reference design relationship. It
has been extensive; we have been working together closely for, I believe, five years. But this is
doing silicon each company is providing chips on a common hardware reference design so there is
no IP sharing. Albeit we have done a lot of work to do software integration so that the time to
market for our joint customers can be accelerated, and that has allowed the teams to really
cooperate closely over the last several years.
DAVID WONG
Thanks so much.
OPERATOR
Gus Richard, Piper Jaffray.
GUS RICHARD
Yes, thanks for taking my question. Congratulations, I think the merger is brilliant. Just quickly,
Craig, do you see the cellular technology as a third leg of home networking? And sort of any
thought on you use tensilica MIPS and Qualcomm is an ARM shop, do think you are going to
migrate over to ARM?
CRAIG BARRATT
So taking both of those questions, just as we said earlier and I think as Steve reflected earlier,
I think cellular technologies will be pervasive in many new applications. And so around the home we
not only see many media devices in the home being the other end of the connection for the mobile
phone or tablet, you are delivering media and content from the device, but we also see LTE
technologies in the future being used as backhaul, for example, into devices in the home. So you
can imagine gateways backhauled with LTE. Clearly, femtocells to flip things around, providing more
capacity within the home are also become will become more and more integral to the fabric in the
home. And, ultimately, as we have reflected also, the overall trend with the Internet of things
many more interconnected devices in the home. Many of those will use local area technologies; some
will use wide-area technologies provided we have the right level of technology and capability to
enable those. With regards to your specific question about processor cores, I think both companies
have a great deal of experience with a variety of architectures. At Atheros we use MIPS and tensilica.
And clearly as we look at the roadmaps and so on I think we will address that question over
time. I think both companies, even on a combined basis, will continue to have a strong capability
in multiple underlying technologies.
OPERATOR
Craig Berger, FBR Capital Markets.
CRAIG BERGER
Thanks so much for taking my question and congratulations. For Qualcomm, maybe Paul or Steve, it
sounds like you guys want to get more aggressive in some of these non-WiFi, non-cellular
technologies. Do you plan on stepping up your investments in that area or diverting other cost
reductions from Atheros into those areas? What technologies might you still want to get into and
how aggressive are you going to be pushing into China and other areas? Thank you.
STEVE MOLLENKOPF
Sure, this is Steve. I will take it and, Paul, please jump in as well. I think we definitely see it
the way that you characterize it. We see this big opportunity to grow the business outside of the
home space. As Bill characterized, we really had a plan and this helps us in terms of developing
some of that plan so therefore we dont have to invest as much as maybe we thought. Bill talked
about some of those forward-looking synergies . As we start to grow those businesses it is
conceivable that we will continue to need to invest, as we would in any case when we go into new
business areas. So we had always had a plan to expand the business per the strategic discussions
that we have had. And this is, I think, obviously a very big step in doing that and we will
continue to invest as we need to, as we have always done actually, to grow the business.
PAUL JACOBS
This is Paul. So if you look back at some of the presentations we have been making recently,
particularly I would say the analyst meeting this year and last year, we really have started to
migrate the vision of where we think the industry is going to one where wireless is going to be an
enabling technology. Its going to be embedded into a lot of things. The phone is going to act as
an interface for people into those other devices and so we have been on this path for a while. We
have been planning this and I think this is a vision and a direction that has got a lot of legs to
it. So we are going to continue to invest into this area and we are going to try and drive the
future of this evolution.
CRAIG BERGER
Just as a follow-up, can you just remind us your desires or uses of cash between dividends,
buybacks, future acquisitions, other? Thank you.
PAUL JACOBS
So we have been, I think, pretty aggressive about dividends and buybacks, return of capital to
shareholders. We dont have any other acquisitions that are of this size that are on the plate, but
I never say never so things can happen. I will say it is great to be able to use the strong balance
sheet that we have. One question that hasnt come up was at this stage we see this acquisition
being primarily funded with offshore cash, so that is also a nice thing. That is typically not
available for dividends and buybacks.
OPERATOR
Alex Gauna, JMP Securities.
ALEX GAUNA
Thank you. Let me close it out by also saying congratulations. I was wondering if in a
forward-looking sense in the areas of corporation on the client-side or consumer side are there any
particularly new thrusts coming out. Is it in the
[one by one N, two by two N], some of those beam
forming capabilities where there is particular optimism in terms of growing your share in that
category or is it maybe in the Bluetooth combo types of chips? I know you have had some recent
announcements. And then also I am wondering about the metro WiFi footprint that Atheros has and how
important that might be for Qualcomm in accelerating that initiative that I know has been underway
for a couple of years as well.
CRAIG BARRATT
Alex, this is Craig. Atheros has I think broad leadership in many of the WiFi categories and this
is back to my earlier point that WiFi has many different feature requirements and different
technology requirements. So I think, we really believe over time that more and more advanced WiFi
features will become important in high-performance platforms like tablets and other devices. So as
you point out, migrations from single stream 11n to higher order solutions will become more and
more important. And of course there are future major technology transitions in WiFi coming up with
technologies like 11ac, 11ad and all of these will have a different lifecycle in every one of the
channels and segments we talked about. And so this is where I think having scale of resources and
technology capability will be very important. Now your comment about metro WiFi I think is
important. We believe as cellular technologies migrate towards 4G we think there will be even more,
a more significant part of the business model for our carriers that will involve local area
offload. And so by having seamless and high-performance offload capability in those next generation
networks will be important. And I think that is another case where having both a capability at both
ends of that link for WiFi and of course a strong platform capability on the device side will be
ever so more important.
ALEX GAUNA
Thank you. Congratulations again.
OPERATOR
At this time we have reached the end of the call. I would now like to turn the call back over to
Dr. Jacobs for any remarks.
PAUL JACOBS
I want to thank everybody for joining us. Obviously, we are very excited by the acquisition. As I
said earlier, its really an expression of a vision that has been evolving inside Qualcomm for a
while. And obviously we have spent a lot of effort over
the past decade or more spending R&D dollars, putting new capabilities into the cellular devices.
Now we see those capabilities going out into all sorts of other types of devices. And so in Atheros
we are combining with a very strong team that has executed extremely well and we see this great
opportunity for growth together. It very much accelerates our expansion beyond cellular products as
the industry is moving in that direction and allows us to bring together a set of complementary
technologies to really provide the system solutions that we are known for. So I think the two
companies together we are going to continue to drive our existing business model really leading in
technology, innovation, focus on execution to performance specifications and schedules, and really
continuing to work very, very closely with an increasing set of partners. And I just wanted to say
to the Atheros team, we are really looking forward to working together even more closely. And to
all of you that are on the call thanks very much for joining us.
OPERATOR
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes todays conference call. You may now disconnect.
Conference Call Presentation
QUALCOMM TO
ACQUIRE ATHEROS
January 5, 2011
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Safe Harbor
Before we proceed with our presentation, we would like to point out that the following
discussion will contain forward-looking statements from industry consultants, Qualcomm
and others regarding industry trends, anticipated future results and product availability,
potential market size, market shares and other factors that inherently involve risks and
uncertainties, including the rate of development, deployment and commercial acceptance
of CDMA- and OFDMA-based networks and technology and fluctuations in the demand
for CDMA- and OFDMA-based products, services or applications.
These and other risks and uncertainties relating to Qualcomm's business are outlined in
detail in our most recent 10-K form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Please consult those documents for a more complete understanding of these risks and
uncertainties.
|
Additional Information
Additional information and where to find it
In connection with the proposed transaction, Atheros intends to file a definitive proxy statement
and other relevant materials with the SEC. Before making any voting decision with respect to
the proposed transaction, stockholders of Atheros are urged to read the proxy statement and
other relevant materials because these materials will contain important information about the
proposed transaction. The proxy statement and other relevant materials, and any other
documents filed by Atheros with the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SEC's website
at www.sec.gov or from Atheros at www.atheros.com or by contacting Atheros Investor
Relations at: David.Allen@Atheros.com and 408.830.5762.
Participants in the solicitation
Atheros and Qualcomm and each of their executive officers and directors may be deemed to
be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Atheros' stockholders in favor of the proposed
transaction. A list of the names of Atheros' executive officers and directors and a description of
their respective interests in Atheros are set forth in the proxy statement for Atheros' 2010
Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 7, 2010, and in any
documents subsequently filed by its directors and executive officers under the Securities and
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Certain executive officers and directors of Atheros have
interests in the proposed transaction that may differ from the interests of stockholders
generally, including benefits conferred under retention, severance and change in control
arrangements and continuation of director and officer insurance and indemnification. These
interests and any additional benefits in connection with the proposed transaction will be
described in the definitive proxy statement.
|
Qualcomm to acquire Atheros for
$45 per share in cash
Enterprise value of $3.1 billion
Expected to close in first half 2011
subject to:
Atheros stockholder vote
Regulatory approvals
Other customary closing
conditions
Modestly accretive to Qualcomm
earnings per share in fiscal 2012,
excluding amortization of acquired
intangibles
Qualcomm to Acquire Atheros
|
"It is Qualcomm's strategy to continually integrate
additional technologies into mobile devices to
make them the primary way that people
communicate, compute and access content. This
acquisition is a natural extension of that strategy
into other types of devices. The combination of
Qualcomm and Atheros is intended to accelerate
this opportunity by utilizing best-in-class products
for communications, computing and consumer
electronics to broaden existing customer
relationships and expand access to new partners
and distribution channels."
- Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm
Overview
|
"Qualcomm and Atheros have a long history
of collaboration and share a culture of
technical innovation and execution
excellence. The Atheros team will build upon
Qualcomm's strengths and leadership to
bolster our customers' ability to deliver
innovative and differentiated products in the
increasingly connected world."
- Craig Barratt, president and CEO of Atheros
Overview (cont.)
|
"With this acquisition and our complementary
products, Qualcomm will be in a strong position
to take our successful mobile strategy of
bringing the best technologies together into a
systems solution and apply this to new
opportunities. We see this strategy as central to
helping our customers capitalize on the
ubiquitous connectivity and seamless
experiences that are developing across mobile
phones, computing and consumer electronics."
- Steve Mollenkopf, EVP &
Group President of Qualcomm
Overview (cont.)
|
Headquartered in San Jose, CA
Global semiconductor company providing
innovative technologies for wireless and
wired solutions
Customer base across computing, retail,
carrier and enterprise networking, and
mobile and digital home consumer
electronics markets
Expert in designing single-chip wireless
systems solutions in standard digital
CMOS
Record revenues in Q3 2010: $247 million
9 consecutive years of revenue growth
1,700+ employees globally
About Atheros
|
Atheros' Solutions
Source: Atheros Company Filings
Networking Computing Consumer
Atheros Products Wireless LAN client and SoC chipsNetwork processor chipsEthernet transceiversEthernet switchesPowerline SoCs Wireless LAN client chipsEthernet controllersEthernet transceivers and controllersBluetooth SoCsGPS SoCs ROCm Wireless LANEthernet transceiversBluetooth SoCsGPS SoCs
Device Categories Wireless access points and routersBroadband gateways (DSL, Cable and PON)Ethernet switchesPowerline adaptersCardbus and USB adaptersHybrid WiFi/Powerline routers Notebook computersNetbook computersDesktop computersSmartbook computersTablets Mobile gaming Handsets and smartphonesMedia adaptersPNDsPrintersTelevisionsBlu-Ray playersVoIP phonese-Books
Sold to
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Atheros' Revenue Mix and Customers
(CHART)
Exposure To Several High
Growth Opportunities
Representative Customers
Total Q3 2010 Revenue: $247M
Source: Atheros Company Filings and Investor Presentation
COMPUTING
TOP 10 PC OEMS
CONSUMER
NETWORKING
LEADING OEMS
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