Henry Samueli
Encyclopedia
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
, and a prominent philanthropist
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
in the Orange County, California
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
community. In 2007 Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
placed Samueli's net worth at $2.3 billion. He currently resides in Corona del Mar, California. On June 12, 2010, he was awarded the UCLA Medal.
Education
Samueli's parents, Sala and Aron, were Polish Jewish immigrants who survived Nazi Europe and arrived in the United States with almost nothing. Samueli stocked shelves in his family's Los Angeles liquor store and graduated from Bancroft Junior High School and Fairfax High SchoolFairfax High School (Los Angeles)
Fairfax High School is a Los Angeles Unified School District high school located in Los Angeles, USA, near the border of West Hollywood in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles...
. Samueli became interested in electronics when he took a shop class at Bancroft.
Samueli attended UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, where he received his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
(1975), master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
(1976), and Ph.D
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
(1980), all in the field of electrical engineering. His Ph.D. advisor was Alan N. Willson Jr. and his Ph.D. dissertation is entitled "Nonperiodic forced overflow oscillations in digital filters".
Broadcom Origins
In 1991, while still working as a professor at UCLA, Samueli co-founded his company, Broadcom Corporation, with one of his former students, Henry NicholasHenry Nicholas
Henry Thompson “Nick” Nicholas, III , is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and leader of the victims’ rights movement. He is the co-founder, and former Co-Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom Corporation, a Fortune 500 company.Nicholas served Broadcom in...
. Each invested $5,000 and worked out of Nicholas' Redondo Beach home, moving to Irvine four years later and took the firm public three years after that. In 1998, when Broadcom became a publicly traded company, Samueli stopped working as a professor, but the UCLA Department of Electrical Engineering
Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California, Los Angeles was opened with an enrollment of 379 students in the fall of 1945. It opened as the College of Engineering until it was changed to school on February 21, 1969. The School now has seven...
still maintains his name on the list of faculty.
Anaheim Ducks Ownership
In June 2005 he and his wife Susan bought the NHLNational Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim from the Walt Disney Company for $75 million. The deal also included Anaheim Arena Management, the company that operates the city-owned Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, the home of the Ducks. In 2006, Samueli announced he was changing the team's name to the Anaheim Ducks
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
and the arena's name to the Honda Center. The Ducks are now worth a reported value of $188 million.
Under the ownership of Samueli and his wife Susan, the Ducks won the 2007 Stanley Cup
2007 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2007 Stanley Cup Final was a best-of-seven playoff series that determined the National Hockey League champion for the 2006–07 season. As a culmination of the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Western Conference champion Anaheim Ducks defeated the Eastern Conference champion Ottawa Senators in...
championship, becoming the second-westernmost team to win the trophy.
In June 2008, the NHL indefinitely suspended Samueli as owner after he pleaded guilty to lying to U.S. securities regulators.
On November 12, 2009, when it became apparent that the charges were baseless, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman reinstated Henry Samueli as owner of the Anaheim Ducks.
The case was ultimately dismissed on December 10, 2009, by U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney. Reinforcing commissioner Bettman's decision and exonerating Samueli.
Philanthropy
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, where he is professor, and UC Irvine, were renamed after Samueli when he donated to these institutions, $30 million and $20 million, respectively, in the year 1999. Samueli's donation founded the Sala and Aron Samueli Holocaust Memorial Library at Chapman University
Chapman University
Chapman University is a private, non-profit university located in Orange, California affiliated with the Christian Church . Known for its blend of liberal arts and professional programs, Chapman University encompasses seven schools and colleges: Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media...
, which was dedicated in 2005.
Health
The Samuelis established the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, and the Samueli Institute of Information Biology based in Washington, D.C. Both organizations seek to research, identify and promote best practices in the field, with both the mainstream alternative medicine disciplines as well as the lesser known disciplines. Henry and Susan have also supported the world renowned John Wayne Cancer Institute’s ground-breaking research in the area of cancer prevention and treatment, which has already had a dramatic impact on cancer treatment.Education
Before starting Broadcom, Henry Samueli ran the department of engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the couple continues to support the UCLA School of Engineering and Applied ScienceHenry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California, Los Angeles was opened with an enrollment of 379 students in the fall of 1945. It opened as the College of Engineering until it was changed to school on February 21, 1969. The School now has seven...
and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
. The Foundation has also given grants to Tarbut V' Torah, Chapman University, the Orange County High School of the Arts (OCHSA), the Ocean Institute, El Viento, THINK Together, Orangewood’s Guardian Scholar Program, KOCE, the Discovery Science Center and Hope University, all of which have a mission dedicated to improving the lives of others through education.
Social Services
The Samueli foundation has supported The Orangewood Children’s Foundation, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Kidworks Hillview Acres, Canyon Acres, the Children’s Bureau, ChildShare, and other agencies that provide both preventative and restorative care for at-risk families and foster youth.In addition to funding agencies serving the foster care population, the Samuelis fund other social service agencies serving underserved, at-risk populations both locally and abroad. American Jewish World Service , the International Justice Mission and Opportunity International serve critically impoverished and oppressed peoples—mostly women and children—in developing countries, regardless of their denomination or religious affiliation.
Religion/Jewish Community
The Samueli family directs much of their philanthropic support to Jewish organizations that work to preserve Jewish history, namely programs dedicated to Holocaust history and education. The Sala and Aron Samueli Holocaust Library at Chapman University preserves ongoing testimony to the horrors of the genocide. The Library houses Holocaust artifacts as well as books and testimonies from survivors, and will serve to educate thousands of students for years to come.Henry and Susan support Jewish organizations in both Orange County and Israel that foster and preserve Jewish community and culture, such as the Irvine-based Jewish Community Center and Tarbut V' Torah Community Day School.
Financial Investigation
Both the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the Department of Justice had been investigating Broadcom Corporation for backdatingOptions backdating
Options backdating is the practice of issuing options contracts on a later date than that which the options have listed. While options backdating is not, in and of itself, an illegal practice, intentional backdating that coincides with low underlying stock prices and accounting reports that claim...
of stock options. Although an internal Broadcom investigation cleared Samueli in mid-February 2007, Samueli hired his own attorney confirming that "the company and Samueli were responding to investigators separately".
On May 15, 2008, Samueli resigned as Chairman of the Board and took of a leave of absence as Chief Technology Officer after being named in a civil complaint by the SEC.
On June 23, 2008, Samueli pleaded guilty for lying to SEC for $2.2 billion of backdating. Under the plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
, Samueli agreed to a sentence of five years probation, a $250,000 criminal fine, and a $12 million payment to the US Treasury.
During the technology boom in the 2000s, Samueli and Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III awarded millions of stock options to attract and reward employees. Prosecutors alleged Samueli and Nicholas granted options to others, including some other top executives but not themselves, to avoid having to report $2.2 billion in compensation costs to shareholders.
Prosecutors focused on the fact that Samueli denied under oath any role in making options grants to high-ranking executives. As part of his plea agreement, Samueli admitted the statement was false, and admitting to being part of the options-granting process while not acknowledging that the options awards were flawed. However, an internal Broadcom probe laid the majority of blame on Henry Nicholas
Henry Nicholas
Henry Thompson “Nick” Nicholas, III , is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist and leader of the victims’ rights movement. He is the co-founder, and former Co-Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom Corporation, a Fortune 500 company.Nicholas served Broadcom in...
and William Ruehle. Nicholas has been distanced from the company since leaving in 2003 and later facing drug charges.
On September 8, 2008, U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney (a fellow UCLA alumnus) rejected a plea deal that called for Samueli to receive probation, writing: "The court cannot accept a plea agreement that gives the impression that justice is for sale".
16 months later, on December 10, 2009, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney dismissed the case against Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry Samueli of a criminal charge of lying to investigators in a probe of improper accounting at the Irvine microchip designer, citing significant prosecutorial and police misconduct and attempts by the United States Government to coerce and intimidate Samueli and others into guilty pleas.
See also
- Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied ScienceHenry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied ScienceThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California, Los Angeles was opened with an enrollment of 379 students in the fall of 1945. It opened as the College of Engineering until it was changed to school on February 21, 1969. The School now has seven...
(UCLA) - Henry Samueli School of EngineeringHenry Samueli School of EngineeringThe Henry Samueli School of Engineering is the academic unit of the University of California, Irvine that oversees academic research and teaching in various disciplines of the field of engineering...
(UCI) - Anaheim DucksAnaheim DucksThe Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California, USA. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
- Honda Center
External links
- Samueli's biography at the UCLA Department of Electrical Engineering
- The Samueli Foundation
- Henry and Susan Samueli honored