Henry Nicholas Net Worth

What is Henry Nicholas' Net Worth?

Henry Nicholas is an American businessman, engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who has a net worth of $22 billion. Henry Nicholas earned his fortune as the co-founder of Broadcom Corporation, the semiconductor company he launched with Henry Samueli in 1991. Nicholas served as Broadcom's president and CEO and helped turn the company from a startup operating out of a condominium into one of the world's most important communications-chip companies. Broadcom went public in 1998, making both founders extraordinarily wealthy, and was ultimately acquired by Avago Technologies in a $37 billion transaction in 2016.

Since leaving Broadcom in 2003, Nicholas has devoted substantial resources to philanthropy, education, and victims' rights. He helped establish the Nicholas Academic Centers, which have assisted thousands of students from underserved communities, and he became the driving financial force behind Marsy's Law, a victims' rights initiative named for his sister, who was murdered in 1983.

Nicholas has also been the subject of extraordinary personal and legal controversies. These have included allegations involving drugs and prostitutes at a secret underground entertainment complex, federal drug and securities indictments that were ultimately dismissed, and an August 2018 drug arrest at the Encore hotel in Las Vegas.

Early Life

Henry Thompson Nicholas III was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1959. His father, Henry Nicholas Jr., worked as an attorney for the IRS, while his mother, Marcella, was a teacher. His parents divorced when Henry was four, after which he and his younger sister, Marsalee, moved with their mother to Southern California. Marcella later married journalist and screenwriter Robert Leach.

Nicholas attended Santa Monica High School and then enrolled at the United States Air Force Academy. He left after three years. Nicholas, who stands approximately 6-foot-6, later said his height meant he would not be able to become the fighter pilot he had hoped to be.

He transferred to UCLA, earning a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1982 and a master's degree in 1985. He later completed a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at UCLA in 1998.

During graduate school, Nicholas' family suffered a devastating tragedy. In 1983, his 21-year-old sister Marsalee, known as Marsy, was murdered by a former boyfriend who had been stalking her. Her death would eventually shape much of Nicholas' later philanthropic and political advocacy.

Broadcom

After completing his undergraduate studies, Nicholas worked at defense contractor TRW in Redondo Beach, California. It was there that he became acquainted with Henry Samueli, an electrical engineer and UCLA professor who would become his business partner. Nicholas later joined PairGain Technologies, where he served as director of microelectronics.

In 1991, Nicholas and Samueli left to launch Broadcom Corporation. The company began in the spare bedroom of Nicholas' Redondo Beach condominium, with each founder reportedly contributing just $5,000.

Broadcom specialized in semiconductor technology that enabled high-speed transmission of voice, video, and data. Its chips became increasingly important as cable modems, broadband internet, networking equipment, Wi-Fi, and other digital communications technologies expanded during the 1990s and early 2000s.

Broadcom went public in April 1998. Its shares more than doubled on their first day of trading, leaving Nicholas and Samueli with stock holdings worth roughly $650 million apiece. Within months, both men were billionaires.

Broadcom's growth continued at an extraordinary pace. In 2000, the company surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue and described itself as the fastest-growing U.S. semiconductor company to reach that milestone. At the height of the dot-com boom, Nicholas' Broadcom holdings were briefly worth approximately $10 billion.

Nicholas was known for an intense management style and relentless work ethic. He served as president, CEO, and co-chairman before resigning from Broadcom in 2003 amid difficulties in his personal life.

In 2015, Avago Technologies agreed to acquire Broadcom Corporation for $37 billion in cash and stock. The transaction closed in 2016, and the combined company adopted the Broadcom name. Nicholas received substantial consideration from the transaction, while the enormous subsequent increase in Broadcom's value further enhanced the fortunes associated with its founders.

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Philanthropy and Marsy's Law

Nicholas has donated extensively to education, youth programs, medical research, technology, and victims' rights through organizations associated with the Henry T. Nicholas III Foundation.

One of his most significant projects has been the Nicholas Academic Centers, which he co-founded with retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Jack Mandel. The centers provide tutoring, mentoring, college preparation, scholarships, and other support to students from underserved communities in Santa Ana, California.

Nicholas has contributed more than $50 million to the program. The Nicholas Academic Centers have graduated more than 2,000 students, with the overwhelming majority continuing into post-secondary education.

His sister's murder also led Nicholas to become one of the country's most prominent advocates for expanded legal rights for crime victims. In 2008, he helped finance and promote California's Proposition 9, known as Marsy's Law, which amended the state constitution to expand rights for crime victims and their families.

Nicholas subsequently helped fund campaigns to enact versions of Marsy's Law elsewhere in the United States. The initiative has been adopted in varying forms in 12 states.

Personal Life

Nicholas married electrical engineer Stacey Feller in 1987. They had three children together.

Their marriage began falling apart during the period when Nicholas was attracting attention for his lifestyle away from Broadcom. Stacey filed for divorce in 2002, beginning a lengthy and contentious separation.

In April 2008, Nicholas entered the Betty Ford Center for alcohol treatment and later continued treatment at Cliffside Malibu.

The Underground Lair

One of the strangest chapters of Nicholas' life involved an elaborate construction project at his Laguna Hills estate.

After becoming enormously wealthy from Broadcom's IPO, Nicholas began renovating his property in the exclusive Nellie Gail Ranch community. A project that reportedly began as a relatively conventional renovation ultimately expanded into a sprawling undertaking involving tunnels, hidden entrances, underground rooms, a sports bar, high-end audio equipment, elaborate decorations, and a Jacuzzi. The cost of the work was reported to have ballooned into the tens of millions of dollars.

Court filings from contractors later alleged that Nicholas intended portions of the underground complex to function as a secret location for drug use and encounters with prostitutes. Nicholas disputed the most sensational accusations.

Neighbors complained about construction noise and armed security guards blocking access to nearby horse trails. Local officials eventually discovered that portions of the work lacked permits and ordered construction stopped.

According to court filings and subsequent reporting, Nicholas then shifted part of the project to a nearby industrial warehouse in Laguna Niguel. The location became known as "The Ponderosa" or "The Pond."

Contractors and former employees alleged that the warehouse was used for extravagant parties involving drugs and prostitutes. Federal prosecutors later repeated a number of those allegations in a criminal indictment, claiming that Nicholas supplied cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana, and other drugs to friends, employees, and business associates.

Nicholas denied criminal wrongdoing.

In 2007, the allegations became national news after contractors described the original underground project as a secret lair intended for drugs and prostitutes.

Federal Indictments

Nicholas' legal problems intensified in 2008 when federal prosecutors brought two separate criminal cases against him.

One indictment accused Nicholas and other Broadcom executives of participating in improper stock-option backdating. Broadcom had previously restated its financial results to recognize approximately $2.2 billion in previously unrecorded stock-based compensation expenses.

A separate federal indictment accused Nicholas of distributing controlled substances. Among the government's more sensational allegations were claims that he supplied cocaine and ecstasy to associates, hired prostitutes for himself and others, and once generated so much marijuana smoke aboard a private aircraft that the pilot used an oxygen mask.

Nicholas pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution ultimately collapsed. In December 2009, U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney dismissed the stock-options case after finding serious misconduct by federal prosecutors, including improper pressure placed on potential defense witnesses. Prosecutors subsequently asked that the separate narcotics case against Nicholas also be dismissed, and the judge granted that request in January 2010.

Nicholas therefore was not convicted of any of the charges contained in the 2008 federal indictments.

Las Vegas Arrest

On August 7, 2018, Nicholas and a companion, Ashley Fargo, were arrested following an incident at the Encore hotel in Las Vegas.

Nicholas had reportedly become locked out of his villa and asked hotel security to help him enter. Inside the room, security personnel encountered Fargo, whom police reports described as unresponsive with a partially deflated balloon nearby. Fargo's attorneys later disputed that characterization and said she had simply been asleep.

Police were called, and officers reported finding large quantities of drugs inside two hard-sided cases in the hotel room, including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, and psychedelic substances. Nicholas and Fargo denied that the drugs belonged to them, and their attorneys argued that prosecutors could not establish ownership of the luggage.

The case was resolved in October 2019. Nicholas entered an Alford plea to one felony drug-possession charge. Under an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors possess sufficient evidence that could potentially result in a conviction.

Prosecutors agreed not to pursue the more serious drug-trafficking charges. Nicholas was required to undergo drug counseling, complete 250 hours of community service, remain out of legal trouble, and donate $500,000 to Las Vegas-area drug-treatment organizations. Fargo entered a similar agreement and also donated $500,000.

The plea arrangement allowed Nicholas to avoid prison and provided for the case to be dismissed upon successful completion of its conditions.

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