Henry Samueli’s 1.9% stake in Broadcom (Nasdaq: AVGO) rose more than $2B in two trading sessions last week after the company reported blockbuster fiscal Q2 results, resulting in the company’s shares jumping 15%.
His stake is now valued at over $15B, with the chipmaking giant’s stock hitting its all-time high last week.
Given Broadcom’s stock nearly tripling over the past two years, Samueli—Broadcom’s current chairman, largest known individual shareholder, and co-founder of the then Irvine-based firm that Avago Technologies bought in 2016 and took on its name—clearly isn’t short of cash.
Regulatory filings show that Samueli “declined all compensation, including equity awards,” for his work at the San Jose-based semiconductor company in fiscal 2023.
How is Samueli’s growing fortune being spent? Outside philanthropy, it is being put toward real estate in OC. See Kaitlin Aquino’s front-page story for news on his family’s latest big investment in Anaheim, next to Angel Stadium.
There’s no indication that the Samueli family has had their eye on the city’s baseball team as an investment.
Samueli’s OCVibe planned mega-development surrounding Honda Center, about a mile from his latest purchase, has a price tag estimated around $4B.
Henry and Susan Samueli paid a reported $70M for the Anaheim Ducks in 2005; Forbes currently values the hockey franchise at nearly $1B.
Arte Moreno paid $183.5M for the Angels in 2003, the baseball team is now valued at well over $2B.
Newport Beach’s Bhathal family has seen a similar upward appreciation for their investment in the Sacramento Kings; they were part of the group that paid around $525M for the NBA team in 2013; it’s now worth about $3.5B, according to national reports.
The Bhathals appear to have hit another winner with their recent purchase of women’s soccer club Portland Thorns FC at the start of the year. Raj Sports, headed by siblings Lisa Bhathal Merage and Alex Bhathal, paid a reported $63M for the team, then a record price for a team in the NWSL.
Since then, another club in the soccer league traded at a $120M valuation.
The Bhathals are adding some additional OC ties to their Portland Thorns FC investment.
Former NBA player Josh Childress, who heads Irvine-based real estate investment firm Landspire Group, has taken a stake in the club, as has Kunal Merchant, partner and COO at Newport Beach’s Revitate, an investment arm of the Bhathal family.
Additional investors include Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle and Sam Garvin, a part-owner of the Phoenix Suns.
Balboa Island resident Jeff Moorad’s PE firm MSP Sports Capital counts stakes in several overseas soccer clubs, and again this offseason is being linked to Premier League teams Everton and Tottenham.
MSP also has a large stake in Formula One racing club McLaren Racing and the action sports brand X Games, which it bought in 2022.
Plans were announced last week to “provide a year-round international competition calendar for X Games.”
“In essence, we’ve used Formula One as a model for this new X Games League,” Moorad said. “To that end, we are creating a year-round calendar and introducing new commercial opportunities to accelerate the overall growth” of the league.
