Replies to post #146003 on InterDigital Inc (IDCC)

[dmiller]

You may have been surprised but many, many other people were not surprised. There were many people calling for Howards head. The only surprise in imo was that we got what we wanted.

I also remember the people who attacked the people who wanted Howard gone. Now that we have some hindsight, would those same people still want Howard around? Look how far we've come in such a short time with Bill M.

Imagine how far we'd go with a new COB!

[Learning2vest]

My first thought after reading Tom's comments about IDCC's COB was "What does he think the CEO's job is?" I only want 2 things from the Board of Director's "Chairman" at a firm I'm invested in,... pick the right CEO, and do not sell me out cheap.

Harry is aces in my book. Spent a few minutes eyeball to eyeball with him at the 2001 ASM and decided that he is the guy I want holding the keys to IDCC's poison pill lock box.

In addition, I LIKED seeing him swap out Howard Goldberg, Rip Tilden, and Alain Briancon for Bill Merritt without missing a beat last year. IMO those guys had lost focus and Bill Merritt put things back on track in a hurry.

Top management is a team effort where each player has his own assignments to carry out. I'm looking to CEO Bill Merritt and his direct reports to do the things Tom appears to expect from COB Harry Campagna.

Who needs a "star" COB from some other venue when we have our own rising stars playing on the "home team"? IMO Bill Merritt, Mark Lemmo, and Brian Kiernan are ALL "star" caliber executives.

They are highly capable engineers with the "right stuff" to take IDCC where this shareholder want's to see it go. All I want from board chairman Harry is keep those guys employed, and don't sell me out until they "Get 'er Done!".

[Corp_Buyer]

"Carpenter must have been thinking this for a long time"- yes, back in Sept, 2003, he wrote:

"To take the company to the next level, we encourage management to add to its depth by adding a well-connected wireless industry veteran or two. Executives who could bring a wealth of contacts with the original equipment manufacturers and wireless carriers would be especially welcome. We believe this would enhance the firm’s image and could open new doors on the licensee front. Although IDCC has 3G deals with NEC and Sharp, other major OEMs are noticeably absent.

In our opinion, the addition of one or more wireless industry veterans could change this. In fact, we suggest the veteran start at the top: in the roll of Chairman of the Board. InterDigital’s current Chairman is a garment industry entrepreneur and does not appear to us to have a substantial day-to-day role with the company.

Yet, the individual has a combined one million shares and options. This is more than double the number of the President of IDCC, more than five times the number of the Chief Financial Officer, and approximately four times the number of IDCC’s head of licensing.

Also, he has sold three times the number of shares in 2003 as any other officer or board member of InterDigital. While the Chairman has been at IDCC a long time, he is also one of the two members of the compensation committee. We believe InterDigital would be better served by having a wireless industry veteran in the Chairperson role.

Someone that brings a wealth of OEMs relationships to the position and could travel and meet with OEMs to enhance IDCC’s profile in the industry could add immense value to InterDigital, in our opinion. Quite possibly, the person could also help IDCC unlock the value of its strong patent portfolio, which could translate into a much higher share price."

TC is merely, and rightfully, and accurately IMO, assessing management competence and policies in his analysis of IDCC's fundamentals. As long term investors in IDCC, we should all be concerned about the fundamentals of this company, and management competence is certainly a key fundamental issue.

MO,
Corp_Buyer

[ams13sag]

Agreed, i also have never seen such a bold recommendation.

ams

[rmarchma]

Ranger re Carpenter's recommendation and Mr. Campagna

Well it's clear that Tom Carpenter does not think that Mr. Campagna is the right person for the job at hand. In 2003, Carpenter was calling for some new directors with wireless industry experience and extensive contacts for IDCC's BoD, and for a new board chairman. It appears that Campagna compromised and got three new board members with wireless industry experience, but did not step down as CoB.

Now Carpenter is calling for Campagna to actually resign from IDCC's BoD. This is stronger than Carpenter's 2003 comments, which just asked for new directors and for Harry to give up the chairmanship of the board. Now Carpenter would like to see Campagna completely off of IDCC's BoD and its leadership team.

You said "But, if the board decides to replace Harry, at least we (and others on Wall Street, etc.) won't be surprised". First the existing directors can not force Harry to resign from the BoD, and replace him with a new director. However, the existing board could elect a new chairman from amongst themselves and thus replace him as CoB.

My own preference is for Mr. Campagna to resign voluntarily, for the good of the company. Whatever benefits or contributions that Harry might have previously brought to the organization are no longer there, in the opinion of Carpenter, other analysts, the ISS, some large institutional investors, and many individual investors. If Mr. Campagna will not voluntarily resign from the BoD, he should at least step down from his position as CoB.

[ellismd]

I don't see it as just boot HC out the door, it is more of a call that he has done an outstanding job in the face of adversity and if not now in the soon to be future IDCC will be at a point that it needs the industry heavyweight to carry it to the next level, I hope. IMHO, it is not the shareholders or the analyst place to decide that point in time, but it should be left up to the BOD and HC to decide the time and place for that to occur. There has been some real turbelent times that can be attributed directly to the business environment and IDCC is starting to shine like a diamond that was not too long ago still looking like a piece of coal. It looks like things are moving in the right direction on all fronts, lets just sit back and enjoy the ride for what it is worth.