Sex, drugs, rock’n’roll… and semiconductors

by Rebecca Burn-Callander - Monday, 16th June 2008 - (1) comment - Business comment

Ah, the sweet corrupting influences of success, wealth and power. LA billionaire Henry Nicholas III, founder of silicon chip firm Broadcom, is embroiled in a media furore today as rampant tales of orgies, excess and Led Zeppelin hit the headlines.

When it comes to “good boy, gone bad” stories, this is the money shot. Henry Nicholas III, a 6ft 6" hot-shot entrepreneur with an MENSA IQ and a work ethic to make Alan Sugar cry, has been outed for his copious cocaine abuse, sex caves and penchant for rock.

The New York Post describes the “chiseled” Nicholas as a classic “comic book hero”. Au contraire. With his remote controlled hidden staircases, arcane Medusa statue and canisters of laughing gas, he’s more like a conglomeration of Batman’s nemeses.

The secret life of the 48-year-old Broadcom founder, reportedly worth some $2bn, has been brought to light as a result of an ongoing court case, filed by disgruntled ex-employees seeking back pay.

Talk about opening a can of worms. The tribuneral unveiled a catalogue of wrongdoings. From spiking execs' drinks with ecstasy and making death threats to terrified underlings, to the aforementioned “sex cave”, otherwise known as “The Ponderosa” or simply “The Pond”, Nicholas has been a very naughty boy indeed. And an unremorseful one at that. Charged with hiring prostitutes for clients, he quipped to The Orange County Register, “We started out as Broads.com, but there was a typo.”

Nicholas was bagged and electronically-tagged in April with a $3.3m bail on his head. He’s spent the past few months cleaning up at an exclusive rehab centre in Malibu. How the mighty have fallen.

For all you super-fly entrepreneurs this side of the pond, let this be a lesson to you: it’s not “stay away from drink and drugs”, nor is it “don’t build a sex palace underneath your marital home”. Nay, it is this: "always, but ALWAYS, pay your employees what they’re owed". Hell hath no fury like a staff member screwed.

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