Rumor: Broadcom wants to acquire Symantec

Broadcom and Symantec are said to be negotiating a takeover. It is not known how much Broadcom is willing to pay for the security company. There were already rumors that Broadcom wants to acquire more software companies.

The acquisition could be completed within a few weeks, but the talks could also come to nothing, sources familiar with the talks told Bloomberg. Symantec’s market value at the time of the site’s publication was $13.7 billion, Broadcom’s at $118 billion.

Symantec is one of the largest security companies in the world. It had revenue of $4.8 billion in fiscal 2018, 350,000 customers, and more than 12,000 employees. However, the company has to deal with intensified competition and a decrease in consumer interest in antivirus products. Last year, Symantec announced that it would cut 8 percent of its workforce.

Broadcom acquired the software company CA Technologies a year ago for nearly $19 billion. In the past, that company was mainly known for its security products, but now makes much more software. Broadcom targets software company takeovers after a hostile takeover of Qualcomm bounced off amid US concerns over national security implications. The group does not want to combine the acquired companies with its chip activities, as Intel did with McAfee at the time, but to have them function as independent profitable business units to be less dependent on hardware.