Let's try to be fair to SM in this situation. I think we can all agree he is nothing short of a PowerPoint presentation in human form and a sh-- leader, but he is not clueless.
He is probably well aware, as many of us are, that QCOM is on life support and will slowly decline to obscurity. So in a sense it's very rational of him to line his pockets before the ship sinks (though he could have substituted a bit of greed for some illusion of leadership).
But let's talk about the real culprit here...
With all the talk about nepotism and how it's corrupting the company, I think many of us never think about what institutionalized it in the first place: Irwin handing the reigns to his son, Paul. We follow by example, and this is where Irwin, who we should all admire and who has made many of us very, very rich, had made his tragic misstep. Not only did this cement QCOM as a monarchy rather than a meritocracy, but the empire was handed down to a Caligula.
For all of Paul's faults, one thing to his credit is his CEO-like presence. He is tall, good looking, white, and charming. With silver spoon in hand, it isn't a far stretch to assume that papa Jacobs groomed Paul to one day inherit the throne. But this was all done without the consideration of what Paul had achieved besides being the founder's progeny.
Whispers in the hall never reflected him as a man of integrity. He is rumored to be a generally uninterested, unsociable, out of touch, and cold person. His personal affairs were also afflicted by dramatic streaks. As CEO, people did his work for him and he made appearances as required. He lacked vision, and every venture Qualcomm undertook under his command has been a dismal failure. The modem has been Qualcomm's bread and butter before his reign, and it remains so well after his "resignation". The company failed to expand, the company failed to diversify. The company got complacent, and the competition is now eating our lunches. Adding insult to injury, PJ saw it upon himself to handsomely reward his efforts in reducing the company to rubble, with him and SM being some of the highest paid executives of 2015.
So how can QCOM successfully move forward under this sort of leadership? The answer is it cannot, unless Qualcomm chairmen and senior executives are disposed of, top to bottom. The likelihood of that happening is marginal, unfortunately, so it behooves one to seek other employment. Working a deadend job is one thing, but I cannot under good conscience work for a company being looted by those in command. The thought of them making another penny off the sweat of my brow makes my stomach turn.
I bid thee farewell Qualcomm, I gave you some of the best years of my life, and it crushes me to leave you in a worse spot than how I found you.
Repost: @F3ajtnD