Chipmaker Broadcom to buy cloud services firm VMware in $61-bn deal

Broadcom Inc said on Thursday it will acquire cloud computing company VMware Inc in a $61 billion cash-and-stock deal, the chipmaker’s biggest and boldest bid to diversify its business into enterprise software.

The acquisition is the second biggest announced globally so far this year, trailing only Microsoft Corp’s $68.7 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc.

Broadcom’s offer price of $142.50 per VMware share represents a premium of nearly 49% to the stock’s last close, when talks of the deal were first reported on May 22. Broadcom will also assume $8 billion of VMware’s net debt.

The chipmaker’s shares were down nearly 1% in premarket trading on Thursday, while VMware rose 1.3%.