VMWare Down After FT Reports China Holding Up Broadcom Buyout

By Rob Curran

Shares of VMWare slid premarket after the Financial Times reported that authorities in China were holding up chipmaker Broadcom's multibillion dollar buyout of the maker of virtualization software in the latest salvo of the U.S.-China tech battle.

The State Administration of Market Regulation in Beijing is delaying approval of the merger deal struck in May 2022, largely in response to the Biden administration's crackdown on exchanging U.S. semiconductor technology with China, the FT reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. The cash-and-stock deal was originally valued at around $61 billion. Approvals for merger-and-acquisitions among U.S. companies active in China are now subject to scrutiny from the more political Foreign Affairs and State Council ministries, the British financial newspaper reported.

Shares of VMWare fell 7% to $154.55 premarket. Broadcom rose 0.5% to $891.32.

Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 19, 2023 07:51 ET (11:51 GMT)

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