While no deal has been finalized between the two firms, Bloomberg reported late in the 1st week of July 2019 that talks are advanced and a deal could potentially be reached within weeks. According to this report - Symantec CEO Exits as Company Misses Earnings Forecast - it states that with Symantec's declining sales, revenue and stock price value, and the abrupt exit of its CEO in May, the firm appears to be rudderless and the interim CEO appears to be courting buyers for a sale of the firm.
In 2005, Symantec - then helmed by Enrique Salem - acquired storage vendor Veritas for $13.5 billion. But the supposed benefits of combining a storage and a security firm failed to materialize. Investors have been continuously calling for Symantec to ditch Veritas. In August 2015, Symantec announced that it was selling Veritas to The Carlyle Group, an asset management firm, for $8 billion in cash.
Broadcom came into prominence when in 2018 it announced a hostile takeover of Qualcomm. Prior to the hostile takeover being rejected by the US authorities, the CEO of Broadcom, Tan Hock Eng, a Malaysian and a Penang born boy was hosted by US President Trump at the White House where the President announced that Broadcom will be moving their HQ from Singapore to the US.
Mr Tan Hock Eng
Under the stewardship of Tan Hock Eng, Broadcom has been growing through various mergers and acquisitions to arrive at where they are now.
Is this the first time that a cybersecurity company was acquired by a non competitor? Answer is NO.
McAfee was acquired by Intel in 2010 for $7.7 billion and rebranded to become Intel Security. The acquisition did not work out and Intel sold the business to TPG, a private equity/hedge fund in 2017 for $4.2 billion.
Broadcom is obviously aware of the pitfalls of an unconventional mash up. Can Tan Hock Eng, the Malaysian helming and has been instrumental in the rise of Broadcom to where they are presently, perform the same magic in successfully melding his company and a security vendor in his attempt for greater market dominance?