Broadcom plans to acquire VMware for a whopping $61 billion

The big picture: If the transaction does go through, it would be one of the biggest tech deals ever, just behind Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $69 billion and Dell’s EMC buyout for $67 billion (a deal that included VMware).

Today, Broadcom announced plans to buy VMware in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at approximately $61 billion. The deal would also result in Broadcom assuming VMware’s $8 billion in debt.

Broadcom is mainly known for designing and manufacturing a wide range of semiconductor products, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS chips used in many smartphones and routers.

VMware is a cloud computing and virtualization technology company. The firm launched in 1998 and was acquired by EMC in 2004. It became part of Dell when the latter bought EMC in 2016 before spinning off to become a standalone company again last year.

If the deal does go through, Broadcom plans to rebrand its Broadcom Software Group to VMware and incorporate its existing infrastructure and security software portfolio as part of VMware.

Michael Dell, who personally owns more than 40 percent of outstanding Dell stock, and global private equity firm Silver Lake, which owns another 10 percent, have both given their approval to the deal.

The acquisition is expected to close in Broadcom’s fiscal year 2023, which starts in November 2022.

It’s worth mentioning that Broadcom also tried to acquire fellow chipmaker Qualcomm a few years ago for over $100 billion. That deal fell through when former president Donald Trump blocked the acquisition, citing national security concerns.