Bloomberg notes this would be Broadcom's second big bet in software, following last year's $18 billion acquisition of CA Technologies. Analysts speculate Broadcom's goal here is to further expand into the more profitable software business. Symantec sells over $4 billion in products a year but has been losing marketshare and will likely need aggressive cost cutting.
“Symantec would make a perfect fit for the Broadcom portfolio,” Harsh Kumar, an analyst at Piper Jaffray wrote in a note to investors. He said the situation is similar to Broadcom’s CA acquisition, “which ultimately turned out to be extremely successful under the Broadcom umbrella.”Negotiations are still busy and the deal may be finalized later this month.