BIG TECH DEALS KEEP COMING: BROADCOM BUYS VMWARE FOR $61B

Computer chip and software maker Broadcom will spend about $61 billion to acquire the cloud technology company VMware, one of the biggest deals of the year despite an environment of rising inflation and economic uncertainty.

The proposed deal comes just weeks after billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to spend $44 billion on Twitter and it is second in size this year only to Microsoft’s nearly $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the maker of Candy Crush and Call of Duty.

The massive buyouts are occurring at a time of heightened anxiety because of turmoil on the global supply chain, war in Europe and rising prices that have the potential to cool both business and consumer activity.

But that uncertainty has also created opportunities for companies like Broadcom. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has tumbled more than 26% this year. In one day this week, social media companies had about $130 billion in market value erased over rising questions about advertiser spending.

With the perceived value of tech companies on the decline, at least for now, more buyouts could be on the way with targeted companies appearing relatively cheap.