Biggest Tech Acquisition Deals Of All Time

Salesforce’s acquisition of Slack was big news in the tech industry. The sheer size of the takeover has been the talk of the town because of the nature of the takeover, the forecasted growth of the brands in their industry, and the opportunities it can open for them.

However, even if the deal was huge news, it wasn’t the biggest takeover deal in tech. Yes, $27.7 billion is a huge number, but there have been bigger tech acquisition deals in the world, and we’re going to discuss them in our blog.

1. Dell – EMC

In October 2015, Dell bought EMC for $67b, in what’s known as the largest tech deal to-date. The two companies made Dell and EMC the world’s largest privately-controlled, integrated technology company. The merger was a huge risk, especially on the part of Dell and both the companies had to face tremendous issues, with the biggest skeptics being VMware, one of the corporate giants in charge of EMC. In the end, though, the deal came through and Dell and EMC are now working together under Dell’s name.

2. Nvidia – ARM

In September 2020, Nvidia and SoftBank Group Corp. announced a $40B deal that will result in Nvidia acquiring ARM. The transaction is expected to bring together Nvidia’s leading Al platform to collaborate with ARM’s vast ecosystem, ending up creating a premiere computing company for the age of A.I. SoftBank had previously acquired ARM back in 2016. The details of this are shared further down the list.

3. Avago – Broadcom

In May 2015, it was announced that Avago would acquire Broadcom for $37b, after which the combined company will have a diversified communications platform in the semiconductor industry, with combined revenue of $15b.

4. AMD – Xilinx

AMD and Xilinx announced entering a combined agreement, in October 2020, in which AMD would acquire Xilinx at a transaction valued at $35b. The combination is expected to create a high-performance computing company, expanding the breadth of AMD’s product portfolio and customer set across markets where Xilinx is an established leader.

5. IBM – RedHat

In July 2019, IBM and RedHat announced the acquisition of RedHat by IBM for $34b. The deal was said to pair RedHat’s open hybrid cloud technologies with IBM’s innovation and expertise in the industry. This would open a next-generation hybrid cloud platform in the world of tech.

6. SoftBank – ARM

In July 2016, SoftBank surprised the tech world by buying ARM for $31.4b, being called the biggest purchase by a European tech company. ARM is known for designing chips and licensing them to companies like Apple and Samsung. SoftBank was expected to use this ARM deal to bolster its own projects. In October 2020, it was announced that Nvidia will buy ARM from SoftBank.

7. Salesforce – Slack

Recently, on Tuesday 1st December 2020, Salesforce announced its acquirement of Slack for $27b, as demand for tools that allow people to work remotely increases. Once the transaction is completed, it will end Slack’s run as an independent company. Salesforce reports that it plans to use Slack’s communication software in every aspect of its cloud software offerings.

8. HP – Compaq

In 2002, HP acquired Compaq for $25b. The deal was said to be a unanimous decision by board members of both companies. The merger was said to make HP the number 1 IT company in the world. The combination was said to make both companies capable of earning more together than they did individually.

9. Microsoft – LinkedIn

In June 2016, the Microsoft and LinkedIn corporations announced a deal in which Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2b. The deal was unanimously approved by board members of both companies. The officials reported that this buyout will be utilized to empower people and organizations on the planet by collaborating the business solutions offered by LinkedIn with Microsoft.

These were the biggest tech acquisitions that have happened to-date. With the increased developments happening in the technological world, and after studying the above-given list, it’s obvious that tech companies are constantly looking for other tools and software to collaborate with. Companies like Adobe, Atlassian, and others have also expressed their interest in buying tools such as Workfront, Mindville, Asana, Dropbox, etc as collaborative tools.