Broadcom CEO Calls AI Investors Gamblers, Days After Co-Founder Sold $750 Million in Stock
Broadcom chief calls AI investors gamblers amid insider selling
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan told a conference on Monday that many AI investors are behaving like gamblers, but records show his company's co-founder has sold roughly $750 million worth of Broadcom stock this year.
Tan spoke at the DBS Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore, where he compared the behavior of some AI investors to people playing at a casino. He also said many of them "have no clue what they are investing in," according to Bloomberg.
While Tan made those remarks, Broadcom co-founder Henry Samueli has been quietly selling large amounts of the company's shares. Samueli, who stepped down as chair of the board in June 2026, filed three sales documents in 2026 totaling about $750 million.
Co-founder's sales add up to three-quarters of a billion
Samueli's stock sales came in three waves:
- March: 781,967 shares sold at an average price of $319.71 each
- June: 654,241 shares sold at $382.13 each
- September: 702,190 shares sold at $356.04 each
In total, he sold 2,138,398 shares for approximately $750 million. Tan also sold 70,000 shares on January 6 for over $24 million.
Broadcom stock underperforms major indexes
As insiders collected cash from selling shares, the stock has lagged behind broader market benchmarks. Broadcom has fallen behind the S&P 500 by 11 percentage points year-to-date and behind the Nasdaq 100 by 18 percentage points.
The company acknowledged in its third-quarter earnings report that most of its revenue comes from AI semiconductors and infrastructure for AI data centers.
Why insider selling matters
When company leaders sell large blocks of stock, it can signal how they view their own company's future. The contrast between Tan's public comments and his co-founder's trading activity is notable: while Tan warned that AI investors are chasing hype, Samueli appears to be cashing out at scale.
What is still unclear
The source material does not explain Samueli's motivations for selling or confirm whether his actions reflect a specific concern about Broadcom's outlook. It is also unconfirmed whether other Broadcom insiders have made similar moves.
Sources
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