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Softbank is selling a stake in ARM to a Saudi investment group less than a year after buying the Brit chipmaker, according to reports. The £6.5bn ($8bn) stake – 25 cent of ARM's total value, according to the BBC – will go to Saudi Arabia's new Vision Fund. The $100bn fund is already due to receive a $25m investment from …

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  1. Your alien overlord - fear me

    It's giving $25 billion to a fund so that fund can buy $8 billion worth of itself. Have they just employed Jimmy Carr's accountant?

    6 1 Reply
    1. MyffyW Silver badge
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      hhhHancocks Half Hour

      $25bn - that's almost an armful !

      8 1 Reply
    2. werdsmith Silver badge
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      It's giving $25 billion to a fund

      Maybe check that number.

      3 0 Reply
    3. Charlie Clark Silver badge
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      It needs the money to fund its purchase of the satellite company OneWeb (and service its Sprint and ARM-related debt). IOW: it's all available to the highest bidder. As for those jobs: safe as the ones at Vauxhall…

      10 0 Reply
  2. Matthew Smith

    Saudi Arabia chopped off a quarter of ARM

    Thats what they do to thieves.

    13 0 Reply
  3. springsmarty

    Maybe ARM will add staff

    > given that the usual consequence of a buyout tends to be staff cuts as new owners seek maximum financial returns ASAP

    Not necessarily. Many of the tech acquisitions over the past 15 years are about acquiring innovative capability. Companies are buying the skills and culture, not the products. At least that's a premise of my dissertation on the topic.

    3 0 Reply
    1. BebopWeBop
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      Re: Maybe ARM will add staff

      Some skills maybe, sometimes - culture Hell No! Having observed HP, IBM, CISCO and other aquitions.

      5 0 Reply
  4. YARR

    ARM chip designs are used in ... 10 per cent of its tablets...

    So which CPU do the other 90% of tablets use?

    6 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
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      Anonymous Coward

      Maybe they think Surface sells a LOT more than it does...

      4 0 Reply
  5. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Coat

    Well if the Saudi's have a $100Bn investment fund and like the UK

    Reaction Engines Ltd would be interested.

    Ground floor of a fully reusable SSTO launch vehicle?

    0 0 Reply
    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
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      Re: Well if the Saudi's have a $100Bn investment fund and like the UK

      Based on past UK experience, not a hope in hell that REL and the UK will ever launch anything.

      Maybe they'll licence the engine. Maybe they'll sell out, but I'll be shocked if anything ever comes of it as a fully REL/British project. We simply don't have the angel investor/venture capitalist/financial landscape for REL to become the next SpaceX.

      This really pisses me off, but unfortunately I've reached the age where the cynic gland has started to work at optimal performance levels.

      0 0 Reply
  6. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Not Surprised

    In fact, pretty much what I expected.

    2 0 Reply
  7. Dan 55 Silver badge
    Flame

    The Financial Times reported that the Prime Minister's office raised no concerns about the deal

    That's the know-how and long-term thinking we know and expect from the current party in government.

    And, what's worse, is that there probably isn't any other party who's any better, with the possible exception of the SNP.

    3 1 Reply

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