Top 5 tech M&A announcements so far in 2019

The technology sector is fast evolving with new start-ups offering innovative services popping up on a regular basis. While acquisitions have helped some smaller firms benefit from the resources of a bigger parent, some tech giants have been using this strategy to diversify the portfolio and to keep competition at bay.

Here are the top M&A announcements this year that are closely watched by the street.

5. Hewlett Packard Enterprise/ Cray

In a strategic move that could bring fresh vitality to its operations, information technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) last month announced the acquisition of supercomputer maker Cray for about $1.30 billion.

The buyout marks HPE’s formal entry into the supercomputer business. It is expected to help the company boost its federal business and serve its customers in the education sector better, with additional offerings. The deal is tentatively scheduled to close early next year.

4. Google/ Looker

Alphabet’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google has long been stuck in the third position in the cloud infrastructure market, trailing Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. Last week, Google announced the acquisition of data analytics startup Looker for 2.6 billion to help the company outdo its rivals. The acquisition could be viewed as Thomas Kurian’s first breakthrough move as the CEO of Google Cloud.

The acquisition of Looker is expected to be complete later this year.  

READ: 10 biggest US mergers & acquisitions announced so far in 2019

3. Uber/ Careem

In March, Uber (NYSE: UBER) had announced that it was buying Middle-East based competitor Careem for $3.1 billion. The deal would help Uber get heightened presence in Middle-Eastern countries, as well as markets such as Pakistan, Egypt and Morocco. Under the terms of the deal, Careem will operate under its own brand name in its areas of operations.

This transaction is expected to close in early 2020.  

2. Nvidia/ Mellanox

Leading chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) said in March that it was going ahead with the planned acquisition of Israeli supplier of computer networking products Mellanox Technologies (NASDAQ: MLNX) for $6.9 billion. Together, NVIDIA’s computing platform and Mellanox’s products interconnect power over 250 of the world’s TOP500 supercomputers.

The acquisition is expected to give Nvidia a much-needed fillip in the Data Center business, which is the second biggest market platform for the company after Gaming. The unit also accounts for a third of the company’s total revenue.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of this year.

1. Salesforce/ Tableau

After losing LinkedIn to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in 2016, Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) recently made another bold attempt to diversify its offering beyond the CRM platform by announcing the acquisition of data visualization company Tableau Software (NYSE: DATA).

Headquartered in Seattle, Tableau boasts of many big names among its clients including Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). The all-stock deal was valued at around $15.7 billion.

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