Components & Peripherals News
8 Things To Know About The $6.9B Nvidia-Mellanox Acquisition
Dylan Martin
Mellanox Put Itself On Market Following Spat With Activist Investor
Mellanox reportedly put itself up for sale last fall after the company reached a settlement with activist investment firm Starboard Value that resulted in the appointment of three new board members.
The settlement, which was announced last June, came after Starboard threatened to oust all sitting directors. The activist investor had acquired a more than 10 percent stake in Mellanox in November 2017 and urged the company to explore a sale and improve its margins. Starboard said at the time that Mellanox had rebuffed a deal to be acquired by chipmaker Marvell Technology Group.
After the company put itself on the market, multiple firms lined up as potential bidders. Data center chip specialist Xilinx first emerged last November with a reported $5.5 billion bid. Microsoft was then reported to have hired Goldman Sachs to negotiate an offer last December. Then in January, it was reported that Intel was offering up to $6 billion to buy Mellanox.
