Days after President Trump issued an order to block Broadcom from buying Qualcomm, the company has complied with that order.
Broadcom announced today that it'll drop its effort to acquire Qualcomm. In addition, Broadcom will withdraw its independent director nominees that it had made for Qualcomm's Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Here's Broadcom's statement on today's news:
"Although we are disappointed with this outcome, Broadcom will comply with the Order. Broadcom will continue to move forward with its redomiciliation process and will hold its Special Meeting of Stockholders as planned on March 23, 2018.
Broadcom's Board of Directors and management team sincerely appreciate the significant support we received from the Qualcomm and Broadcom stockholders throughout this process.
Broadcom thanks the independent nominees who stood for election to the Qualcomm board, not only for their time and effort but also for their unwavering commitment to act in the best interests of Qualcomm stockholders.
Broadcom appreciates the following statement from U.S. Treasury Secretary and CFIUS chair Steven Mnuchin on March 12: 'This decision is based on the facts and national security sensitivities related to this particular transaction only and is not intended to make any other statement about Broadcom or its employees, including its thousands of hard working and highly skilled U.S. employees.'"
Broadcom made an offer to buy Qualcomm for $130 billion last year, but that offer was shot down by Qualcomm. Since then, we've heard rumblings about Broadcom working to make another serious acquisition attempt, but earlier this week, President Trump moved to block any such deal from happening, citing "credible evidence" that a Broadcom acquisition of Qualcomm could threaten the national security of the US.