The global technology industry in 2019 is still a troubled year.
Editor’s note: This article comes from “Tencent Technology” , Reprinted with permission.
The global technology industry in 2019 is still a troubled year. There are not many mergers and acquisitions in the Internet industry, but traditional IT is still expanding. Among them, the acquisition of Red Hat by IBM has become the largest this year ; Alibaba’s acquisition of NetEase Koala, ranked 10th; four transactions with a transaction value of more than 10 billion US dollars.
The following are the top ten technology mergers and acquisitions in 2019 selected by Tencent Technology:
1. IBM’s $ 34 billion acquisition of Red Hat
IBM announced in July this year that the company acquired Red Hat, a US open source solution provider, for $ 34 billion. The transaction is the largest acquisition of a software company in history, ranking third in the acquisition history of the technology industry, second only to Dell’s acquisition of data storage equipment manufacturer EMC, and semiconductor company Avago’s acquisition of chip maker Broadcom. After the acquisition is completed, Red Hat’s company revenue will increase to 11 times in 2017. This number is significant for a company with 21% revenue growth.
2, Salesforce acquires Tableau for $ 15.7 billion
![2019 Top Ten Technology Mergers and Acquisitions: IBM acquires Red Hat tops, and Ali Koala ranks 10th]()
In June, Salesforce announced the acquisition of Tableau, a data visualization analysis company, for $ 15.7 billion, increasing its ability to compete with Microsoft for greater market share. This is the highest acquisition in Salesforce history, and its purchase price is 42% higher than the closing price of Tableau the previous trading day. TableauSoftware is used to create interactive, visual dashboards and graphics, and businesses, universities, and governments use these resources to analyze everything from corporate financial data to baseball statistics.
3. Broadcom’s $ 10.7 billion acquisition of Symantec’s enterprise security business
In August, Broadcom announced that it would acquire the corporate security business of anti-virus software vendor Symantec for $ 10.7 billion in cash. Through this M & A transaction, Broadcom intends to expand its software business. Broadcom said the transaction with Symantec is expected to be completed in the first fiscal quarter of fiscal 2020 and will require approval from US, EU and Japanese regulators.
4. Infineon acquires Cypress for US $ 10.1 billion
In June, Infineon announced that it will acquire US chip maker Cypress Semiconductor for 9 billion euros (approximately $ 10.1 billion). This price is equivalent to the acquisition of $ 23.85 per share, which is 46% higher than Cypress’s volume-weighted average price from April 15 to May 28.
5. Nvidia acquires Mellanox for $ 6.9 billion
In March, Nvidia agreed to acquire chipmaker Mellanox for $ 6.9 billion in order to gain Mellanox’s expertise and help it continue to expand the growing data center chip market. Mellanox makes chips that speed the exchange of information between computer servers. This is Nvidia’s largest acquisition ever.
6, PayPal acquires Honey for $ 4 billion
On November 30, AOL payment service PayPal agreed to acquire coupon startup Honey Science for $ 4 billion, which is PayPal’s largest acquisition to date. Founded in 2012, Honey aims to help consumers save money on online shopping. Honey has a set of preferential services, including price tracking tools and points reward mechanism. PayPal said that Honey has about 17 million active users per month and was valued at $ 700 million last year.
7. Uber’s $ 3.1 billion acquisition of Middle Eastern rival Careem
In March, Uber announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Careem, its Middle East rival, for $ 3.1 billion. Founded in 2012, Careem, based in Dubai, has more than 30 million registered users and operates taxi services in 120 cities in North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia (from Morocco to Pakistan). The two companies described the transaction as the largest ever for the technology industry in the Greater Middle East.
8, Google’s $ 2.6 billion acquisition of Looker
In June of this year, Google announced that it would spend $ 2.6 billion to acquire Looker, a data analysis service, which also became the fourth largest merger and acquisition transaction in Google history. Looker offers tools that enable enterprise customers to analyze data stored on cloud computing platforms, a service that competes with Amazon and Microsoft products. butThe transaction faces an antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice.
9, Google’s $ 2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit
![2019 Top Ten Technology Mergers and Acquisitions: IBM Acquires Red Hat Tops, Aricola Ranks 10th]()
On November 1, Fitbit, a US manufacturer of fitness tracking equipment, said that Google would pay a price of $ 7.35 (about $ 2.1 billion) per share and that it would all be paid in cash. The deal indicates that Google is actively expanding its hardware product lineup. Its products include smartphones, tablets, laptops and smart speakers. It is reported that Facebook had also intended to buy, but the price it offered to Fitbit was only about half of what Google eventually paid.
10. Alibaba acquires NetEase Koala for $ 2 billion
![2019 Top Ten Technology Mergers and Acquisitions: IBM acquires Red Hat tops, and Ali Koala ranks 10th]()
On September 6, NetEase (Nasdaq: NTES) and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) announced a strategic cooperation, and Alibaba Group acquired Koala, a cross-border e-commerce platform owned by NetEase. The total value of the transaction is about US $ 2 billion, including 1.7 billion cash and approximately 14.3 million newly issued Alibaba common shares, the latter equivalent to approximately 1.8 million American Depositary Shares valued at approximately US $ 300 million. Of the $ 1.7 billion in cash, a portion will be used to repay Netease’s loan to Koala and the cashing of options. In the prospectus of Alibaba’s listing in Hong Kong in November, it was shown that Ali’s acquisition of Koala actually cost 12.958 billion yuan (about 1.825 billion US dollars), accounting for 100% of the shares.
In August, Broadcom announced that it would acquire the corporate security business of anti-virus software vendor Symantec for $ 10.7 billion in cash. Through this M & A transaction, Broadcom intends to expand its software business. Broadcom said the transaction with Symantec is expected to be completed in the first fiscal quarter of fiscal 2020 and will require approval from US, EU and Japanese regulators. In June, Infineon announced that it will acquire US chip maker Cypress Semiconductor for 9 billion euros (approximately $ 10.1 billion). This price is equivalent to the acquisition of $ 23.85 per share, which is 46% higher than Cypress’s volume-weighted average price from April 15 to May 28. In March, Nvidia agreed to acquire chipmaker Mellanox for $ 6.9 billion in order to gain Mellanox’s expertise and help it continue to expand the growing data center chip market. Mellanox makes chips that speed the exchange of information between computer servers. This is Nvidia’s largest acquisition ever. On November 30, AOL payment service PayPal agreed to acquire coupon startup Honey Science for $ 4 billion, which is PayPal’s largest acquisition to date. Founded in 2012, Honey aims to help consumers save money on online shopping. Honey has a set of preferential services, including price tracking tools and points reward mechanism. PayPal said that Honey has about 17 million active users per month and was valued at $ 700 million last year. In March, Uber announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Careem, its Middle East rival, for $ 3.1 billion. Founded in 2012, Careem, based in Dubai, has more than 30 million registered users and operates taxi services in 120 cities in North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia (from Morocco to Pakistan). The two companies described the transaction as the largest ever for the technology industry in the Greater Middle East. In June of this year, Google announced that it would spend $ 2.6 billion to acquire Looker, a data analysis service, which also became the fourth largest merger and acquisition transaction in Google history. Looker offers tools that enable enterprise customers to analyze data stored on cloud computing platforms, a service that competes with Amazon and Microsoft products. butThe transaction faces an antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice.