Broadcom Ends Talks to Buy Analytics Software Firm SAS

(Bloomberg) -- Broadcom Inc.’s discussions to purchase analytics software company SAS Institute Inc. have ended without a deal, according to a person familiar with the matter.

An acquisition would have valued Cary, North Carolina-based SAS at $15 billion to $20 billion, said the person, who asked to not be identified because the discussions were private. The talks collapsed after they became public on Monday, the person said.

Representatives of Broadcom and SAS couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The end of the negotiations was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

The purchase of SAS would have extended Broadcom Chief Executive Officer Hock Tan’s expansion into software. Tan, who has made multiple deals to transform his company into one of the world’s biggest semiconductor makers by market value, surprised investors in 2018 with the acquisition of CA Technologies for $19 billion, then added Symantec Corp.’s enterprise security business for $10.7 billion in 2019.

Software generated 27% of Broadcom’s revenue in its most recent quarter. Acquisitions, which were initially disliked by investors, have lessened the company’s dependence on the chip market for sales.

SAS, founded in 1976 by Chief Executive Officer Jim Goodnight and Executive Vice President John Sall, sells business analytics and management software. Goodnight, who was a statistics professor at North Carolina State University when SAS began, is the company’s largest shareholder and one of the 50 wealthiest people in the U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Prior to the pandemic, SAS had been profitable for 44 years. The company provides analytic platforms that are used by more than 83,000 businesses, governments and universities.

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