July 20, 2023
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally cleared U.S. tech company Broadcom’s $69 billion purchase of VMware.
The CMA said the deal would not weaken competition in the supply of critical computer server products and that it explored concerns that the deal could harm the ability of Broadcom’s rivals to compete if the merged company were to make their products work less well with VMware’s server virtualization software.
The proposed deal has highlighted chipmaker Broadcom’s aim to diversify into enterprise software, but comes as regulators worldwide ramp up scrutiny of deals by Big Tech. However, the CMA said it found that the deal would be unlikely to harm innovation.
The $69 billion deal, consisting of $61 billion in equity and the rest in debt, is also being examined by U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The CMA’s provisional approval is a major step forward for the deal, but it is not yet final. The CMA will now consult on its provisional approval before issuing a final report by Sept. 12.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
