Broadcom’s ‘Driving Force’ CEO Hock Tan gets a $161.8M fill-up

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan and three other top executives split $242 million in cash and stock after successfully bringing the company through a monthslong, globe-hopping, $69 billion regulatory crucible to buy VMware, according to a U.S Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Tan received the lion’s share of the payout, taking home $161 million with $160 million delivered in the form of stock that is a “front-loaded” pay package meant to equal five years’ worth of bonus payments. Tan is not eligible for another bonus until 2027, Broadcom’s board said, according to the proxy statement posted Monday.

The compensation committee wrote that Tan’s leadership since taking Broadcom public as Avago in 2009 has led to a total shareholder return of 6,146 percent versus the S&P 500 return of 354 percent. In that time, Broadcom’s market cap has increased more than 15,000 percent from $3.8 billion at IPO to $606.8 billion Tuesday.

In addition to shareholder wins, according to the board, Tan has created a chip-making juggernaut that with the addition of VMware is now positioned at the crossroads of the hardware and the virtualized infrastructure that is relied upon by nearly every layer of the IT stack inside massive enterprises and governments around the world.

“The independent directors believe Mr. Tan has been and continues to be the main driving force behind Broadcom’s transformation from a semiconductor company into a leading infrastructure technology company that has increased (total shareholder return) by over 6,100% since our initial public offering in 2009,” the filing stated.

The directors highlighted the work of other executives as well, with CFO and Chief Accounting Officer Kirsten Spears winning praise for securing the $30 billion needed to finance the VMware acquisition and Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer Mark Brazeal for his work shepherding one of the largest tech mergers of all time through a complex gauntlet of regulators around the world.

Broadcom is asking shareholders to take a non-binding vote to approve the compensation, as well as the appointment of board members, at its annual meeting on April 22 in Palo Alto, Calif. CRN