Qualcomm CEO Talks His Stock Down

Stocks:  (QCOM)(TXM)(BRCM)(ERIC)(NOK)

The world is against Qualcomm. It is currently in a war of word and in the courts with its largest customer, Nokia. Despite a peace offerig from Ericsson last week, Qualcomm’s CEO says that the firm will not redue its royalties to get business from cell companies. As a matter of fact, it is in the courts to enforce royalty payments on its chips.

Texas Instuments and Broadcom are claiming that Qualcomm’s fees are not “fair and reasonable”.

All of the screaming and shouting has dropped Qualcomm shares by 30% this year, and investors have to wonder whether it would be better if Qualcomm’s CEO, Paul Jacobs, would rather battle with other companies in the press or quietly try to work out a compromise that might assuage his shareholder’s concerns about the company’s future.

Based on all the evidence, Mr. Jacobs prefers to talk and talk.

Qualcomm has patents on certain intellectual property that cell manufacturers need for their phones. The company does have a dicey problem. It can drop royallties and keep customers as well as avoiding anti-trust accusations or it can hold its royalties high and make its largest customers unhappy.

Or, they can all move to WiMax.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own shares in companies that he writes about.