How Qualcomm's President Changes His Perspective
September 07 2019 - 12:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Asa Fitch
Cristiano Amon started building a career in telecoms in the
1990s, bouncing from NEC Corp. to Qualcomm Inc. and Ericsson AB
during the heyday of early cell networks. But after the dot-com
bubble burst, he found himself back home in São Paulo, Brazil,
trying to turn around a recently bankrupt mobile operator buried by
debt.
Assigned by a telecom venture-capital investor to help
restructure the company, Vésper, Mr. Amon and other top executives
reined in costs and convinced creditors to sell back more than $1
billion of debt at a discount. The company pushed technologies
never before tried in Latin America and traded in rights to
fiber-optic networks, part of a task Mr. Amon said "required a lot
of new and unconventional thinking." Vésper was eventually sold to
Embratel in 2003.
That make-your-own-luck spirit helped Mr. Amon rise up
Qualcomm's executive ladder after he joined the mobile technology
giant for a second stint in 2004, eventually taking charge of
product planning and development at the company's core mobile-chip
business. By building Qualcomm's relationship with Chinese handset
makers and leading the charge to roll out new 5G networks, Mr. Amon
has helped Qualcomm become a leading chip supplier and a key
American technology player at a time when the company has also
fought a handful of big, existential battles -- including a hostile
takeover bid in 2017 and a world-spanning legal challenge to its
business model from Apple Inc. The hostile bid was dropped last
year, and Qualcomm settled its differences with Apple this
year.
Here are four people he turns to for advice.
Nick Kauser
Former AT&T Wireless Services CTO
As Mr. Amon shifted from technical roles to more
business-focused ones, Mr. Kauser's broad-mindedness and
practicality have been an important guide. Mr. Kauser hired Mr.
Amon to work at the venture firm that had a stake in Vésper, and
they've remained close since. "He always talks about what is the
real problem the technology is solving, versus the technology
itself," Mr. Amon says.
Roberto Padovani
Former Qualcomm CTO
When Mr. Amon needs sage advice from an experienced hand, Mr.
Padovani is often the person he turns to first. Especially in the
years after he returned to Qualcomm, when Mr. Padovani was the
chief technology officer, Mr. Amon sought his advice on big
business decisions and how to navigate career-wise within Qualcomm.
"I'd use him as a sounding board," Mr. Amon says. "He was always
available."
Roberto Setubal
Co-chairman of Brazil's Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.
While their relationship is still young -- the men met roughly
two years ago -- Mr. Amon says Mr. Setubal is a growing influence.
He admires the Brazilian banker for his balanced, realist's view on
the intersection of banking and technology, but also his
willingness to adapt when circumstances call for it. Itaú Unibanco
put Mr. Amon on its digital advisory board in 2017. "He can always
bring a perspective different from the perspective I'm used to,"
Mr. Amon says.
Satya Nadella
CEO of Microsoft Corp.
Since taking the reins at Microsoft in 2014, Mr. Nadella
engineered a dramatic turnaround that investors have rewarded by
making it the world's most valuable company. Mr. Amon sees his
ability to make that pivot -- something Qualcomm and other tech
companies also may have to do one day -- as an inspiration. "When I
think about the future of the wireless industry, 5G and connecting
to the cloud, and industries that will be completely transformed, I
could not think of anybody better to be on my board," Mr. Amon
says.
Write to Asa Fitch at asa.fitch@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 07, 2019 00:14 ET (04:14 GMT)
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