The largest software acquisition ever: IBM to buy RedHat for $34B

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The largest software acquisition ever: IBM to buy RedHat for $34B

At a price typically reserved for semiconductor companies, telecoms, and pharmaceutical giants, IBM announced today it would pay a record $34 billion in cash and debt to acquire enterprise open source provider Red Hat. Ecclipsing Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, this is the biggest software acquisition in history. It’s not the biggest tech acquisition ever, though, as that title belongs to Dell’s $67 billion buyout of data storage business EMC.

You can learn about what IBM is buying Red Hat to become a hybrid cloud company in TechCrunch editor Ingrid Lunden’s deep dive here:

IBM to buy Red Hat for $34B in cash and debt, taking a bigger leap into hybrid cloud

So how does the IBM-Red Hat deal (if it closes), stack up against the other largest acquisitions of all time?

Top Tech Acquistions

  1. $67 billion – Personal computer company Dell buys EMC data storage
  2. $37 billion – Semiconductor company Avago Technologies semiconductors buys and renames as semiconductor giant Broadcom
  3. $34 billion (pending) – IBM computers buys open source software provier Red Hat
  4. $31.4 billion – Japense conglomerate SoftBank acquires semiconductor company ARM Holdings
  5. $26.2 billion – Software company Microsoft buys professional social network Linkedin in 2016

Top Software Acqusitions

  1. $34 billion (pending) – IBM computers buys open source software provier Red Hat in 2018
  2. $26.2 billion – Software company Microsoft buys professional social network Linkedin in 2016
  3. $22 billion – Social network Facebook buys messaging app WhatsApp in 2014
  4. $13.5 billion – Security software maker Symantec buys storage management software maker Veritas in 2004 ($18 billion adjusted for inflation)
  5.  $11 billion – Database company Oracle buys human resources software company PeopleSoft in 2004 ($14.7 billion adjusted for inflation)

Top Acquistions Ever

  1. $202 billion – British telecom Vodafone buys German telecom Mannesmann in 2000 ($296 billion adjusted for inflation)
  2. $165 billion – ISP AOL buys media conglomerate Time Warner in 200 ($241 billion adjusted for inflation)
  3. $111.8 billion – Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer buys pharmaceutical company Warner Lambert in 1999 ($164 billion adjusted for inflation)
  4. $130 billion – Telecom Verizon Communications buys Vodafone and Bell Atlantic’s Verizon Wireless in 2013
  5. $130 billion – Dow Chemical buys chemical company DuPont in 2015


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