Broadcom has reached a deal to acquire VWmare for $61 billion in one of the biggest tech acquisitions in history.
News broke Sunday that Broadcom and VMware were in talks for the former to purchase the latter. At the time, there was no indication of a possible price or the terms of a potential deal. According to CNBC, the a deal has been struck for $61 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction.
The deal would be the third-largest tech deal, behind Microsoft’s pending deal for Activision Blizzard at $69 billion and Dell’s purchase of EMC for $67 billion, and help Broadcom continue its diversification efforts.
Broadcom is well known as one of the leading semiconductor manufacturers in the world, with its chips used in a wide array of products, such as smartphones, networking equipment, and more. The company has increasingly been moving into the enterprise software market, an unsurprising move given the volatility of the semiconductor market and the shortages it has been experiencing.
It remains to be seen if the deal will pass regulators. Broadcom is well known for using acquisitions to help it grow, but its deals haven’t always been approved. In late 2017, the company made an attempt to acquire Qualcomm, in a bid the latter company rejected. Broadcom then tried to move forward in a hostile takeover attempt that was blocked by the US.
Nonetheless, if the deal should go through, it will make Broadcom a major player in the virtualization and cloud market.
