Security panel deals blow to Qualcomm takeover

The federal government yesterday (March 4) appears to have dealt a serious blow to Broadcom’s attempt to take over Qualcomm by ordering the local chip-maker to delay its meeting scheduled for tomorrow (March 6).

Singapore-based Broadcom has bid $117 billion for San Diego–based Qualcomm, which employs 13,000 people locally.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ordered a 30-day delay in the hostile-takeover vote. The agency “does not typically review mergers before companies have clinched an agreement,” says Reuters. The reason for the requested delay is a general concern about safeguarding Amrica's semiconductor technology over security worries. The semiconductor industry is in a race to develop a faster SG wireless technology, and Qualcomm is one of the major competitors of China, says Reuters.

However, Bloomberg reports this afternoon that Broadcom is on course to win all six of the seats that it is seeking on Qualcomm’s board. This will give it the thrust to push forward with the hostile takeover, even as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States is forcing a 30-delay in the meeting at which the vote will take place. “Based on the count of more than half of the votes already cast, Broadcom would have a mandate” to overturn Qualcomm’s opposition to takeover, says Bloomberg.

Here’s my opinion: hostile takeovers almost always result in a bad company. Qualcomm is right to oppose this greed-motivated deal. However, institutional investors generally determine who wins, because all they want is money. They have no concern about what will happen to the combined company, and in this case whether the United States will be a weaker competitor against China in producing faster wireless technology.