Once he takes the top spot, McGregor will also take charge, albeit indirectly, of Broadcom's new storage initiative. Tom Lagatta, Broadcom's VP and GM of its enterprise computing business group, which is responsible for the storage products, will report to McGregor.
At least one analyst thinks McGregor's arrival bodes well. "Mr. McGregor appears to be a good choice for Broadcom at this stage in its history," writes Allan Mishan of CIBC World Markets in a note today. "He has extensive experience running a large communications and consumer semiconductor business... He also has experience incubating and growing new businesses..."
On the downside, Broadcom's at a crucial juncture. The company's weathered some setbacks, such as recently reduced guidance for the present quarter (see Broadcom Lowers Q3 Guidance and Broadcom Reports Q3). Indeed, McGregor's arrival comes at a turning point for the company, which continues to hold its own in the communications chip market while attempting more focused forays into telecom and storage networking.
There's competition, too, particularly in the area of storage chips. Agere Systems Inc. (NYSE: AGR.A) is one example, despite its considerable problems (see Agere Wields Jobs Axe). Indeed, Agere was rumored to be a possible buy for Broadcom earlier this month (see Rumor: Is Broadcom Buying Agere?). Another competitor, Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), however, isn't as challenged and has made it clear it also intends to play in storage.
McGregor has the earmarks of a solid leader: At Philips, his division had over 35,000 employees, and its third-quarter revenue of 1,388 million accounted for about 19 percent of the parent company's total for the period. In a prepared statement, Royal Philips CEO Gerard Kleisterlee had this to say about McGregor leaving last month: "Whilst we respect Scott McGregor's personal decision to return to the United States, we regret to see him leave. He has led the Semiconductors division through one of the most difficult periods in its history and managed to turn it around successfully into a leaner business with a strong focus on innovation."
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