Qualcomm Buys Atheros For $45 In Cash (QCOM, ATHR)

QUALCOMM, Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced it was buying Atheros Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHR) for $45 per share in cash.

Rumors of the deal first leaked yesterday when The New York Times DealBook first reported about the deal. Shares of Atheros skyrocketed on the report, then was halted for a few minutes, as it triggered circuit breakers. It was then allowed to trade again yesterday.

"It is Qualcomm's strategy to continually integrate additional technologies into mobile devices to make them the primary way that people communicate, compute and access content. This acquisition is a natural extension of that strategy into other types of devices," said Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Qualcomm. "The combination of Qualcomm and Atheros is intended to accelerate this opportunity by utilizing best-in-class products for communications, computing and consumer electronics to broaden existing customer relationships and expand access to new partners and distribution channels."

"Qualcomm and Atheros have a long history of collaboration and share a culture of technical innovation and execution excellence," Barratt said. "The Atheros team will build upon Qualcomm's strengths and leadership to bolster our customers' ability to deliver innovative and differentiated products in the increasingly connected world."

"With this acquisition and our complementary products, Qualcomm will be in a strong position to take our successful mobile strategy of bringing the best technologies together into a systems solution and apply this to new opportunities," said Steve Mollenkopf, EVP and group president of Qualcomm. "We see this strategy as central to helping our customers capitalize on the ubiquitous connectivity and seamless experiences that are developing across mobile phones, computing and consumer electronics."