back to article 'Qualcomm, we will buy you... for... one HUNDRED... BILLION DOLLARS' – Broadcom

Broadcom is channeling Dr Evil of Austin Powers fame, and considering blowing more than $100bn to buy Qualcomm, it was claimed on Friday. Apparently, Broadcom is planning to offer within the next few days about $70 a share in cash and stocks to acquire California-based Qualy. Right now, Qualcomm's shares stand at $62.71 apiece …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple has a much better relationship with Broadcom

    Might be easier to bury the hatchet on the Qualcomm case if this went through.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    No way in hell

    There is no way in hell this will be allowed by competition authorities. There is a long list of business sectors where a merger will remove the little competition that is still remaining.

    1. Velv
      Pirate

      Re: No way in hell

      Really?

      You seem to forget who is in the Whitehouse trying to remove regulation

      1. Sandtitz Silver badge

        Re: No way in hell @Velv

        This merger would be under scrutiny at least in EU and China as well. They are after all, bigger economic powerhouses that US, so does it really matter who is in the White House at the moment?

  3. Lysenko

    Qualcomm are still digesting NXP who are themselves only part way through digesting FreeScale. Put all that together and Qualcomm are bigger (in scope, not necessarily revenue) in embedded automotive and other "things" (Philips Hue lights, DVRs etc) than they are in phones.

  4. Mage Silver badge

    NXP

    Qualcomm should not be allowed to buy NXP, for various reasons. One is their ambitions as Patent Troll. If Broadcom ended Qualcomm's royalty approach (which ought to be illegal), it would be good.

    TI bought National. ADI bought Linear Tech. Intel bought Altera. Microchip bought AVR. I don't see a huge competition issue on Broadcom buying Qualcomm as long Qualcomm does not get NXP (not approved yet in EU last time I looked).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: NXP

      Well if you believe the FT, Broadcom is also considering NXP. Personally I'm not nearly as sanguine as the competition authorities seem to be about the assembly of these virtually unchallengeable mega-corporations - a market with just two players is not a competitive one (c.f. Intel v AMD), yet that appears to be those authorities' benchmark.

    2. BillG
      FAIL

      Re: NXP

      NXP's purchase of Freescale resulted in hundreds of layoffs, all done very quietly. Right now, in the semiconductor industry, there are more semiconductor pros out of work than there are with work. I watched as friends were laid off, only to be replaced months later by cheap H1B visa applicants for HALF what they were being paid (yes- HALF!!!).

      This massive merger would not only stifle competition, it would be an economic hazard. I see thousands losing their jobs.

  5. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "embedded engineering – an industry rebranded to the much more trendy-sounding Internet of Things"

    Are you sure IoT and engineering belong in the same sentence unless there's a negative in it?

  6. chivo243 Silver badge
    Windows

    Boggled

    100 Billion! Money loses it's meaning at such HUGE numbers...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Boggled

      It'll be debt, too. It's your pension fund that will be used to create the buyout.

      Quite logical really. As share prices go up, pension funds go up. As expensive engineers get laid off, future pension costs go down. How's my fund doing? Very nicely, thanks. And so wealth continues to get transferred from the young to the old. If they ever really wake up to what's going on, there's going to be hell to pay.

  7. JJKing
    Facepalm

    These numbers no longer have any meaning.

    100Billion here, a 100Billion there and pretty soon you're talking about real money. But then we are talking about 'Murican billions which cheat by multiplying by 1,000 instead of 1,000,000.

    1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: These numbers no longer have any meaning.

      I've been a little fuzzy on the UK / US billion thing. I'd heard of it , but didnt really believe it would be possible for two countries to have different values for one number.

      Its bad enough with the metric / imperial thing.

      And even worse their gallons are different to our gallons.

      But a billion being different by a factor of 1000? surely not?

      I've never heard anyone say " ....and those are US billions " , or uk ones .

      I've never heard anyone say " no , i was talking the other type of billion - you owe me another nine hundred thousand millions"

      Is this real?

      Also I was under the impression it was the other way round : Our billion is a thousand millions and , allegedly , a US billion is a million millions , according to some people.

      Is any of this true?

      Am i talking shit again?

      What day is it?

      1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip Silver badge

        Re: These numbers no longer have any meaning.

        It was true, but now it isn't.

        A UK billion used to be a million million, but that ended years ago, precisely because it causes confusion otherwise.

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