Broadcom executive claims he was fired to prevent $5 million stock vesting
Eitan Cohen, 58, is seeking over $1 million in damages after 18 years at the company. He alleges that Broadcom used a restructuring process as a pretext to remove an expensive, older employee, while the company says his dismissal was based solely on business considerations.
Eitan Cohen, a senior executive at Broadcom Israel who managed chip development teams in Bulgaria, alleges that the company dismissed him in January 2026, after 18 years of service, in an attempt to deprive him of accelerated vesting of stock worth more than $5 million. He also claims that his termination was motivated by the high cost of his compensation and age discrimination. Cohen is 58.
The allegations appear in a lawsuit seeking NIS 3.3 million ($1.04 million) in damages, filed on Sunday with the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court against Broadcom’s Israeli subsidiary, which employs approximately 800 people and is headquartered in Tel Aviv.
According to the statement of claim, Cohen is an engineer with 36 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He spent 10 years as the owner of an ASIC company he founded, which was acquired by Broadcom approximately a decade ago. For the past eight years, he served as a director of R&D, managing teams and reporting directly to Rajesh Sathapathy, Broadcom’s global head of engineering.
In that role, Cohen oversaw the company’s development center in Bulgaria, which employs approximately 360 staff members and subcontractors. He was responsible for copper-based chip technologies used in the automotive and telecommunications industries.
According to the employment contract attached to the lawsuit, Cohen’s compensation included a gross monthly salary of NIS 38,100 ($12,019) and a global overtime allowance of NIS 16,300 ($5,142), covering up to 60 hours of overtime per month. His stated annual compensation was NIS 882,000 ($278,233), in addition to an annual performance bonus of NIS 228,000 ($71,924), equivalent to 35% of his annual base salary.
The contract also entitled Cohen to an initial, one-time grant of restricted stock units (RSUs) valued at $1 million, vesting over four years at a rate of 25% annually. He was also eligible for annual equity grants worth $300,000, also in the form of restricted stock units and subject to a four-year vesting schedule.
In the lawsuit, Cohen stated: “As of the date my employment ended (January 2026), the value of the unvested restricted stock units exceeded $5 million.”
Cohen alleges that the process leading to his dismissal began in December 2025 and was “flawed and abusive.” He claims the company sought to get rid of an older, long-serving senior employee because of the high cost of his employment and to prevent him from receiving accelerated vesting of his shares.
According to the pre-termination hearing notice attached to the lawsuit, Broadcom attributed the decision to changes in the semiconductor industry. The company cited an expected decline in orders for 8nm chips and lower production volumes of copper PHY chips, saying these developments made a workforce reduction necessary.
Cohen disputes that explanation. He argues that the company’s stated reasons did not reflect the actual nature of his work, claiming that activity in one of the units he managed had declined by only 10%, while the team responsible for 90% of the operation was showing signs of business growth rather than contraction. He also alleges that Broadcom refused to consider transferring him to another position as an alternative to dismissal.
In a response to the allegations, Cohen’s attorney, Grigory Danovich, received a letter from Broadcom’s attorney, Shira Lahat, in which the company categorically denied any age discrimination. “The decision to terminate Mr. Cohen’s employment was based solely on business considerations related to a workforce reduction and had absolutely no connection to his age,” Broadcom said.
Regarding the stock awards, the company stated: “Unvested shares/options do not undergo accelerated vesting upon the standard termination of employment.”
