Broadcom Ltd formally abandoned its attempt to acquire rival chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. after US President Donald Trump blocked the deal citing national security risks.
The announcement Wednesday concludes a months-long battle to land the technology industry’s biggest ever deal. Singapore-based Broadcom said it will continue to move forward with its redomiciliation process and will hold its special shareholder meeting as planned on 23 March.
The retreat ends chief executive officer Hock Tan’s most ambitious move yet in his efforts to build a chip empire, after leading Broadcom through a string of deals that have reshaped the $400 billion semiconductor industry in the last several years. The company launched its unsolicited bid in November and was quickly and repeatedly rebuffed by Qualcomm’s management and board. Broadcom had been gathering support from investors to overturn its target’s resistance to a deal.
An investigation of the deal by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which reviews purchases of American businesses by foreign investors, confirmed national security threats related to the acquisition by Broadcom, the treasury department said in a letter to both companies made public on 12 March. Later that day Trump took the committee’s recommendation and banned the deal. Bloomberg
Source: Mint