Hock Tan | |
|---|---|
| 陳福陽 | |
 | |
| Born | Tan Hock Eng 1951 or 1952 (age 73–74) |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Business executive |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Title | CEO ofBroadcom |
| Spouse | Lya Truong |
| Children | 3 |
Tan Hock Eng (Chinese:陳福陽;pinyin:Chén Fúyáng;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Tân Hok-iâng; born 1951 or 1952) is aMalaysian-bornChinese-American business executive. He is the CEO ofBroadcom Inc. He was the third-highest-paid CEO in the US in 2023, earning US$161.8 million that year.[1]
Tan was born inPenang, Malaysia, in 1951 or 1952.[2] He received a scholarship to attend theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1971. In 1975, he graduated with a bachelor's degree inmechanical engineering and earned a master's degree in the same subject later in the year.[3][4] Tan also attendedHarvard University to earn anMBA a few years later.[2][5]
After receiving his MBA from Harvard Business School, Hock Tan held finance roles atGeneral Motors andPepsiCo.[6] Tan then returned to Malaysia to take on a director role atHume Industries, a building materials manufacturer.[7] Five years later, Tan became managing director of Pacven Investment, a Singapore-based venture capital firm he co-founded.[7]
In 1992, Tan took a vice president role atCommodore International, a computer and electronics manufacturer founded byJack Tramiel.[8] Two years later, he joined the Pennsylvania-based chip maker Integrated Circuit Systems.[6] In 1995, he became senior vice president.[9] In 1999, he became chief executive officer.[9] Under Tan, the company was taken private and eventually sold to an investor group led by senior management,Bain Capital, andBear Stearns.[10][6]
Avago was created following a US$2.66 billion private equity buyout of the Semiconductor Products Group ofAgilent Technologies in 2005. Tan was hired to lead this new company as chief executive.[11]
In 2015, Tan merged the company withBroadcom Corporation following an acquisition, leading to the creation ofBroadcom Inc which he currently runs.[12]
In 2017, Hock Tan led a $117 billion bid for Broadcom's competitor, the San Diego-basedQualcomm.[13][14] The takeover would have constituted the largest technology deal of all time. In March 2018, the U.S. government blocked the transaction.[13][14]
In April 2018 Broadcom announced that it had completed its move fromSingapore back to the United States, which Tan claimed would yield $20 billion yearly in revenue for the US Treasury.[15][16] Tan then pursued a series of deals that expanded Broadcom's software business,[14] includingCA Technologies in 2018 andSymantec’s corporate-focused security business in 2019.[17][18]
In April 2020 Tan drew criticism when it was announced that he was forcing employees of Broadcom to return to work for 1 week a month during the COVID-19 outbreak.[19] In September 2020, Tan stated that all Broadcom employees were working in the office in Asia excluding India, and 50% in North America.[20]
In 2023, Tan's total compensation from Broadcom was $161.8 million, up 167% from the previous year and representing a CEO-to-median workerpay ratio of 510-to-1 for the company, as well as making Tan the third highest paid CEO in the US that year.[21]
In 2024, he received theDr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award from the Global Semiconductor Alliance.[22] Since February 2024, he has been a member of the board of directors ofMeta.[23]
Tan became a U.S. citizen in 1990.[24] He married his first wife, K. Lisa Yang.[25] Their three children spent their early years in Singapore.[2] The family moved toPhiladelphia after their son Douglas was diagnosed withautism by a pediatricneurologist at theChildren's Hospital of Philadelphia who suggested the boy would receive a better education in the U.S.[25] Douglas attended the Timothy School in Philadelphia, and now lives in a Devereux Advanced Behavioral Healthgroup home.[25] Their daughter Eva has been diagnosed with a milder form of autism.[2] Yang helped Eva with her "poor auditory processing skills" when she started taking classes atHarcum College.[25] Eva was later hired bySAP under their Autism at Work program.[25] Their other son, who does not have autism, works as an investment banker inCalifornia.[25]
Tan and K. Lisa Yang divorced and Tan is now married to Lya Truong.[26]
Hock Tan has donated money to hisalma mater, theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2015, Tan honored former MIT professorNam P. Suh by donating $4 million to the school toendow a mechanical engineering professorship.[27]
Hock Tan and his first wife, K. Lisa Yang, have also donated money to autism and disability charities. In 2015, Tan and Yang donated $10 million to Cornell University to fund the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Employment and Disability Institute.[25] In 2017, they donated $20 million to MIT to fund research to find effective treatments for autism and find its causes.[25] Their donation created the Hock E. Tan and K. Lisa Yang Center for Autism Research.[25] In 2019, Tan and Yang donated $20 million toHarvard Medical School to create the Tan-Yang Center for Autism Research, a sister of the MIT center.[28] Tan and Yang donated $28 million in 2020 to MIT to create the Yang-Tan Center for Molecular Therapeutics in Neuroscience.[28]