Few people had heard of InterDigital although the brand is on the market since 1972. Even fewer people know, however, that this is the most profitable company in America. InterDigital (NASDAQ:IDCC) is the company that has developed many of the technologies that are now available on our mobile devices. As a result, the company is the most profitable in the U.S. with a net income of $937,255 per employee, according to Bloomberg.
As is the case of ARM, the company that designs chips for mobile devices, Interdigital doesn’t produce anything itself. It’s all about the design department which employs more than 200 engineers. Their patented ideas are worth billions of dollars. These are then presented to partners in industry, who incorporate them in their products.
In 2012 InterDigital sold 1,700 patents to Intel for $375 million, which made the InterDigital shares to rose by 27 percent in one day, after market speculation that the rest of the portfolio owned by the company is equally valuable.
In 2011, growth on the stock market was 70% after the company leaders announced that the company is for sale, and there were rumors that both Apple and Google would be interested in a takeover to ensure the intellectual property of the firm would be theirs. The sale has not materialized in the end.
Suing other companies is another sport that seems to add to InterDigital’s bottom line. The company sues any mobile company that has an approach somewhat close to the technology that it creates. Interdigital is suing Nokia, Huawei and ZTE for infringement of patents, seeking a ban on import of mobile giants’ products.
Lawsuits now have a smaller chance of success, after Samsung against Apple lawsuit, in which U.S. President Barack Obama used his veto to cancel a ban on older Apple products.
Jobs at InterDigital reflect the dual nature of the company which is seeking both hardware engineers and patent managers.
Meanwhile, the huge revenues per employee show that the most profitable thing between inventing new technologies and sue large companies is to do both at the same time.
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