A brief history of Broadcom

Henry T. Nicholas III founded Broadcom in 1991 with Henry Samueli. Here is a brief history of the Irvine-based maker of computer chips used in iPods, mobile phone headsets and Nintendo's Wii console:

1991: Samueli and Nicholas write checks for $5,000 each to launch Broadband Telecom; it operates out of Nicholas' Redondo Beach home.

1995: Broadcom moves to Irvine.

April 17, 1998: Broadcom goes public; the stock jumps 123% on the first day.

2000: Broadcom joins the S&P 500 as revenue tops

$1 billion; employees, 2,391.

Jan. 23, 2003: Nicholas quits as chief executive.

Feb. 25, 2005: Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, buy the Mighty Ducks hockey team from Walt Disney Co. for

$75 million

May 18, 2006: Broadcom's audit committee begins review of option grants after analysts and the media suggest the company used backdating

to boost the value of grants.

June 9, 2006: Securities and Exchange Commission tells Broadcom it will seek information on its stock option grants.

July 14, 2006: Broadcom says its review found misdated option grants from 2000 through 2002.

Sept. 8, 2006: Broadcom reports finding misdated options back to 1998, estimates charges of at least $1.5 billion.

Dec. 14, 2006: SEC issues formal order of investigation, giving it subpoena power.

April 22: Broadcom agrees to pay $12 million to settle SEC charges of option backdating.

May 14: SEC files a civil complaint accusing Samueli, Nicholas, former Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle and General Counsel

David Dull of fraudulently backdating options. Samueli steps aside as chairman and chief technical officer pending resolution of the complaint.

June 4: A federal grand jury indicts Nicholas and Ruehle with backdating millions of stock options for five years to improperly reward Broadcom employees. A second indictment naming only Nicholas accused him of maintaining homes and commercial properties in Orange County and Las Vegas to distribute illegal drugs.

Source: Times research