Softbank and Nvidia have announced that the ARM acquisition has been terminated.
In September 2020, a definitive agreement was reached that Nvidia would buy ARM for $40 billion. In the end, however, the deal fell through due to resistance from the regulatory authorities of the countries involved.
Apart from that, Google, Microsoft, And Qualcomm also opposed the takeover, which gives Nvidia too much power and could it at some point withhold technologies that other companies use and need.
Both Nvidia and SoftBank Group have been participatory in offering additional information and resolving doubts to the regulatory agencies of the European Union and the United States Federal Trade Commission. However, the authorities have continued with the intention of nullifying the millionaire purchase.
What will happen now? To begin with, SoftBank, owner of ARM, will receive $1250 million for the breakdown of the operation, a “compensation” that was agreed between the two companies and that was presented as that signal that one makes when booking the purchase of a house.
There is also a change of direction in ARM, and its current CEO, Simon Segars, will leave the position to be replaced by Rene Haas, who had worked at Nvidia and was now the head of the ARM intellectual property group.
SoftBank’s strategy now is to try to pursue a public offering of shares instead of acquisition. That IPO could take place in the next 12 months.
