Düsseldorf It could be a billion-dollar deal: the US chip manufacturer Broadcom is in talks to buy the software company VMware, as the “Financial Times” (FT) and Bloomberg report in agreement with reference to people familiar with the matter. Accordingly, the acquisition would provide Broadcom with the opportunity to transform into a diversified tech company.
VMware is currently valued at about $ 40 billion on the market. The FT reports that the purchase price could be more than $50 billion. Bloomberg assumes a sum of a similar amount. However, the financial news service, citing insiders, emphasizes that it is still unclear whether it will come to a conclusion at all. Representatives for the two companies declined to comment on Bloomberg and FT requests for comment.
The purchase would be another important step in Broadcom CEO Hock Tan’s strategy. Its goal is to build one of the largest and most diversified companies in the chip industry.
Most recently, the focus was primarily on software: Broadcom bought CA Technologies in 2018 and Symantec’s corporate security business just one year later. In March, Tan told analysts in a conference call after the release of business figures that Broadcom now had the capacity for a “good-sized” acquisition.
Broadcom recently held talks about the acquisition of SAS Institute. However, talks about the software company, whose value is estimated at up to $ 20 billion, ended last year without a conclusion.
VMware has already changed hands several times
Broadcom manufactures a wide range of electronics products, ranging from chips in iPhones to industrial equipment. However, data centers have become an important source of growth. The VMware acquisition would provide Broadcom with the opportunity to better tap into this market.
VMware, founded in 1998, is a pioneer company from Silicon Valley, which has already changed hands several times. It invented virtualization software: it consolidates applications and workloads on a small number of servers by using each server for more than one program.
But as more and more tasks were moved to the cloud, VMware found it difficult to secure a key role. The company eventually formed a close partnership with Amazon, one of the largest providers of cloud storage and services.
in 2004, storage technology giant EMC acquired VMware. This company then sold part of its shares three years later as part of the IPO of VMware. in 2016, the company was acquired by Dell. VMware was then spun off from Dell last year.
Michael Dell and the private equity firm Silver Lake are still the largest investors in VMware, according to Bloomberg.
