Alan E. "Lanny" Ross, a board who has been serving as COO since last November, is assuming the responsibilities of president and CEO while the Irvine-based company conducts a search for a permanent chief executive officer.

Nicholas will serve out his current term as co-chairman, but will not seek re-election to the board at the company's shareholders meeting in May 2003. "After more than a decade of helping to build Broadcom from a start-up enterprise to a billion dollar leader in broadband communications markets, I am taking much needed time off to attend to serious family matters," Nicholas said in a statement.

The move follows a series of losses, layoff, and product setbacks for the company, which has been hit hard by the IC downturn. It also follows a massive reorganization that was announced earlier today by the company.

Broadcom's net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2002 was $295.9 million, an increase of 2.1% from the $290.0 million reported for the third quarter of 2002 and an increase of 30.5% from the $226.8 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2001.

Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2002 computed in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) was $1.758 billion, or minus $6.40 per share, compared with a net loss of $183.3 million, or minus $.68 per share, for the third quarter of 2002, and a net loss of $329.6 million, or minus $1.27 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2001.

Net revenue for the year ended December 31, 2002 was $1.083 billion, an increase of 12.6% from the $961.8 million reported for the year ended December 31, 2001. GAAP net loss for the year ended December 31, 2002 was $2.237 billion, or minus $8.35 per share, compared with a GAAP net loss of $2,742 million, or $10.79 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2001.

In addition, Broadcom announced that it has completed a reorganization and appointed vice presidents to head four business units.

The appointments include three vice presidents whose businesses address market segments and technologies were formerly served by the company's Networking, Carrier Access and Home Networking Business Units, plus a new vice president to lead the company's Broadband Communications Business Unit.

The new vice presidents in networking and carrier access are Thomas F. Lagatta, vice president and general manager of the Client Server Networking Business Unit; Robert A. Rango, vice president and general manager of the Network Infrastructure Business Unit; and Ford G. Tamer, vice president and general manager of the Switching and Security Business Unit.

Those three business units represent a reorganization of the company's Networking, Carrier Access and Home Networking Business Units. The former Networking Business Unit was headed by Martin J. Colombatto, who has been with Broadcom for over six years and is currently on a leave of absence, the company said. The Home Networking Business Unit was headed by Jeffrey D. Thermond, who has been with Broadcom since 1999 and now serves as vice president and general manager of Home and Wireless Networking, reporting to Lagatta.

The Client Server Networking Business Unit designs, develops and supplies Gigabit and 10/100 Ethernet products for servers, workstations and mobile PCs, IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networking (LAN) and Bluetooth solutions, and HomePNA home networking products.

In addition to managing his business unit, Lagatta is responsible for establishing a global networking client strategy within Broadcom, coordinating with other business units to produce a variety of networked computing client platforms.

Prior to joining Broadcom in May 2002, Lagatta served as a vice president and general manager of Anadigics Inc., heading its Fiber Communications Products Business Unit.

The Network Infrastructure Business Unit consolidates all of Broadcom's switching and security products, including the RoboSwitch product line, the StrataSwitch/StrataXGS product lines, and the MetroSwitch and Gemini product lines. The security products include standalone encryption chips and boards, embedded encryption cores, and network conditional access offerings.

Prior to joining Broadcom in March 2002, Rango held several vice president and general manager positions at Lucent Microelectronics and Agere Systems.

Prior to joining Broadcom in June 2002, Tamer was a co-founder and the president and CEO of Agere until it was acquired by Lucent Microelectronics.

Broadcom also appointed of Daniel A. Marotta as vice president and general manager of the company's Broadband Communications Business Unit. Prior to joining Broadcom in October 2002, Marotta was chief operating officer of Conexant Systems Inc., Buffalo.

Marotta replaces Tim Lindenfelser, who, after nearly nine years with Broadcom, is on a leave of absence, the company said.

Lindenfelser and Colombatto informed the company more than a year ago of their desire to take time off, Broadcom said.

All four of the new vice presidents report to Lanny Ross, Broadcom's chief operating officer.

Broadcom's Switching and Security Business Unit is headquartered in San Jose. The other business units are headquartered in Irvine.

EBN, a sister site to SBN, contributed to this report.