![]() Hill, the retired chief executive of Novellus, was named interim CEO. Starboard, which owns about a 7.6 percent stake in Tessera, already has forced through several changes at the company, including the firing of its CEO in March. And Starboard has amassed stakes in other valley companies, including Verifone and Extreme Networks. Still another proxy battle is currently underway at San Jose semiconductor firm DSP Group, with a shareholder vote expected June 10. After a proxy threat, MIPS agreed to place two Starboard nominees on its board a year later, the company was sold to a British technology outfit. Starboard also amassed a big stake in another valley pioneer, chip design company MIPS Technologies. The company, with Feld as its board chairman, now is focused exclusively on licensing “and, if necessary,” suing to protect its patent portfolio. Last year, at Starboard’s behest, Openwave - a pioneering but long-troubled maker of software for mobile communications companies - sold off its messaging business, changed its name to Unwired Planet and quit Silicon Valley for Reno. Starboard officials declined this newspaper’s request for comment, saying it would be inappropriate before Thursday’s proxy vote.īut in open letters to Tessera shareholders, Starboard managing member Peter Feld said Hill and Tessera’s board were guilty of “false claims” and “manipulative tactics” in a desperate attempt to retain control of the company, which has seen revenues and profits dwindle in recent years. Companies that seem to have a difficult road ahead of them are very susceptible.” “What we’re seeing now is the realization that a patent portfolio can be one of those assets. “For decades, you’ve had situations where investors come in and realize the assets of the company are worth more than the company as a going concern,” he said. ![]() Hill called it a shortsighted strategy akin to “cutting down the apple tree to harvest the apples.”īryan Kohm, an intellectual property attorney with Fenwick & West in San Francisco, said an increasing number of Silicon Valley companies are at risk for such shareholder actions. ![]() In a column published at, Richard Hill claims the fund, Starboard Value, wants the company to slash its R&D budget and spend more money filing patent infringement claims. In 2013, he was he was recognized as one of “World’s Top 300 leading IP Strategists” by the IAM magazine.The CEO of San Jose’s Tessera Technologies, facing a proxy battle this week for control of the board, is pleading with shareholders not to let a New York hedge fund “turn the company into a patent troll.” He has authored several articles for industry publications and is a frequent speaker at conferences. He is a certified licensing professional and is an active member of the Licensing Executives Society and the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). Sandeep holds an MBA in international management, an MS in industrial engineering and a BS in mechanical engineering. Earlier in his career, he worked for major international consulting, engineering and OEM companies as an engineer and business development manager. Sandeep has a deep understanding of federal and university technology transfer systems and managed a business accelerator/incubator in the past. Sandeep came to Tessera from IP Value Management Inc. ![]() Prior to that, Sandeep was CEO and President of an IP services company providing prosecution and monetization expertise to world-wide clients and Vice President of Portfolio Development at Tessera. Prior to founding Goalset IP LLC, Sandeep was Vice President of Acquisitions at Xperi/Adeia (NASDAQ: XPER and ADEA) a company with 11,000 patents and $300 million in annual licensing revenues. Sandeep Agarwal is a seasoned professional with 35 years of experience within manufacturing, consulting and R&D environments. ![]()
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