HENRY T. NICHOLAS III
CO-FOUNDER
BROADCOM
THE MONEY: Sole trustee of the Nicholas Technology Holding Trust, which was reported to hold about $1.8 billion in Broadcom stock at time of its 2016 sale to Avago Technologies. Shares are up nearly sixfold.
THE NUMBERS: He sold an estimated $1.2 billion in Broadcom shares since the company went public in 1998.
KEY METRIC: Broadcom shares are up nearly 80% from a year ago.
THE TWO HENRYS: Nicholas established Broadcom in 1991 in a spare bedroom of his Redondo Beach home with fellow OC’s Wealthiest member Henry Samueli. His 2008 divorce is the primary reason the Business Journal’s $6 billion estimate for Nicholas lags that of Samueli, who remains chairman of Broadcom.
RECENT: Business-related news regarding Nicholas has been slow for several years since the Avago sale. News now largely comes from his academic nonprofit, Nicholas Academic Centers, which was co-founded with retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Jack Mandel. It has multiple centers in Santa Ana and have graduated more than 1,000 underserved, primarily Latino students in the Santa Ana Unified School District. Graduates have reportedly received over $60 million in scholarships, attending top schools, such as Stanford, Harvard, Columbia and Dartmouth.
PHILANTHROPY: On quest to improve victims’ rights following the 1983 murder of younger sister, Marsalee. Known as “Marsy’s Law,” Nicholas-backed initiative protects victims and their families through the legal process, from the defendant’s trial to restitution to parole or other post-judgment release decisions.
School Ties
In June, Henry Nicholas attended the 15th annual graduation ceremony for the Nicholas Academic Centers, which included the 202-member Class of 2023. He’s given more than $45.7 million to support the center since its founding.
“One hundred percent of the NAC graduates will move forward with their academic careers at prestigious universities, receiving 1,749 college acceptances,” the institution said.
“The NAC graduates represent the ‘American Dream’—you can start from nothing and achieve great things,” Nicholas said in June. “Ninety-six percent of NAC scholars are Hispanic/Latino, with 94% of them being of first in their extended family to attend college. Our NAC graduates have graduated from elite universities and returned to their communities to become leaders and contributors. The NAC scholars are changing their family trajectories, enriching their community, and making the world a better place.”
