Cisco closes US$28 billion Splunk deal without antitrust drama

AT A time when many large mergers are being blocked or delayed by regulators, Cisco Systems took just six months to close its US$28 billion acquisition of Splunk.

“Hats off to our legal teams,” chief executive officer Chuck Robbins said on Monday (Mar 18) after the deal’s completion was announced. The fact that the two companies have very different businesses is a big reason the transaction did not attract regulatory scrutiny, he said.

Cisco announced the acquisition of data-crunching software maker Splunk in September 2023. The deal is an attempt to further diversify Cisco’s business, giving it more services to sell to corporate customers, including tools that monitor network health and cybersecurity risks. Cisco’s traditional business of selling networking hardware to business has been dogged by a slowdown in tech spending.

Regulators in multiple countries are increasingly sceptical of larger acquisitions – particularly by major tech companies seeking to move into adjacent markets. In December, Adobe abandoned its efforts to buy rival software maker Figma after more than a year of antitrust scrutiny. Nvidia, too, abandoned its purchase of Arm from SoftBank Group after the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block it.

“We tried to help the regulators understand that from a cyber perspective – this is super important – this is going to be good for customers,” Robbins said.

Importantly, the Cisco-Splunk deal did not require regulatory approval in China, which was a stumbling block for Intel’s 2023 bid for Tower Semiconductor. BLOOMBERG

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