Qualcomm has reversed its stance on an acquisition offer by competitor Broadcom, providing it raise the takeover bid to $160 billion including $25 billion in assumed debt, according to Financial Times. Broadcom initially proposed an unsolicited bid of $130 billion in November of 2017, which was unanimously rejected by Qualcomm’s board of directors.
Qualcomm turned down Broadcom’s first deal for two reasons: Qualcomm said it undervalued the company and came with “significant regulatory uncertainty.” The objection about “dramatically undervaluing” the company gave some indication that Qualcomm might be open to a higher offer, and today’s news seems to confirm this. Qualcomm restated that Broadcom’s offer was not sufficient and is asking that it be raised to above $90 a share. The two companies had been dancing around the deal over the past few months, with Qualcomm continually rejecting Broadcom’s increased offers until last week, when Broadcom dropped the bid to $79 per share after Qualcomm announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire NXP Semiconductors.
Should an agreement be reached, the merge between Qualcomm and Broadcom will be the biggest tech deal ever struck, and would make the new firm the world’s third-largest chipmaker behind Intel and Samsung. The news comes just days before Qualcomm’s annual shareholder meeting, which also includes the election of board members.