Broadcom Inc.’s discussions to purchase analytics software company SAS Institute Inc. have ended without a deal, according to reports. That deal was reportedly slated to be finalised in the next few weeks. An acquisition would have valued SAS at $15 billion to $20 billion.
The purchase of the SAS would have extended Broadcom’s expansion into software. Of late, Broadcom has made multiple deals to transform the company into one of the world’s biggest semiconductor makers by market value.
In recent years, Broadcom has been on an acquisition spree aimed at becoming a power player in the business software market. Broadcom acquired infrastructure software developer CA Technologies in late 2018 for $18.9 billion, cybersecurity software vendor Symantec in late 2019 for $10.7 billion, and storage networking specialist Brocade Communications in 2017 for $5.5 billion.
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Software generated 27 per cent Broadcom’s revenue in its most recent quarter. Acquisitions, which were initially disliked by investors, have lessened the company’s dependence on the chip market for sales.
Broadcom has a market capitalisation of nearly $200 billion.
SAS, founded in 1976 by Chief Executive Officer Jim Goodnight and Executive Vice President John Sall, sells business analytics and management software. Goodnight, who was a statistics professor at North Carolina State University when SAS began, is the company’s largest shareholder.
Prior to the pandemic, SAS had been profitable for 44 years. The company provides analytic platforms that are used by more than 83,000 businesses, governments and universities.
