Jana Partners’ $2 billion investment in Qualcomm Inc. and its attendant activist campaign have been constructive. Until now. The relationship turned bumpy in late June after the technology company’s executive chairman said that there were no plans to spin off a chipmaking and tech licensing business. Those comments came after Jana Partners in April began publicly urging Qualcomm to consider whether a ‘partial or full’ separation of those business units made sense. Jana founder Barry Rosenstein contends that there clearly is a ‘sum of the parts’ discount in the stock, and he had been engaging the company for several months before launching the public campaign. Rosenstein made a variety of demands–at least two of which appear to have been partly met so far: Qualcomm authorized a $15 billion share repurchase program, though that also came after the resolution of a major antitrust dispute in China. The company also hired outside consultants to do a cost review. Rosenstein argues that his firm’s thesis is not ‘predicated’ on a partial or full separation of the licensing and chipset business, but Jana Partners probably wasn’t too pleased with the decision to keep the units intact. A Jana spokesman declined to comment.
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