Sirf Tech Digs Its Own Grave

Sirf's decision to push forward with the patent litigation now looks foolish, if not downright reckless.

In announcing the latest ruling, Broadcom said it remains open to "reaching a mutually acceptable resolution of these disputes." In reality, Sirf now has zero bargaining power. Certainly the terms of any deal won't be anywhere near as favorable for Sirf as they might have been had Sirf's lawyers hammered out a settlement prior to the ITC ruling.

Perhaps the notion of a new management team turning things around at Sirf was never realistic.

The company ousted the CEO and the CFO in April. But the current "acting" CEO, Dado Banatao, has served as the company's chairman from Day One. And Kanwar Chadha, a Sirf co-founder and VP of marketing, has always played a key role at the company and that appears to continue to be the case.

With much of the decision and strategy-making structure still in place, the changing of the guard looks less like an attempt to find a fresh start so much as a token gesture to appease shareholders while carrying on with business as usual.

Unfortunately, investors are now paying the price.

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