RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – Networking giant Cisco, which maintains a huge campus and employs thousands in RTP, could be making its largest acquisition ever.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) has made a “takeover offer” of more than $20 billion for Splunk, a software maker.
Such a deal would be the largest ever for Cisco, which spent some $7 billion to buy Scientific Atlanta in 2005.
Under UNC-CH graduate Chuck Robbins, who replaced longtime CEO John Chambers in 2015 and became Cisco chair in 2017, Cisco has reorganized to become more software and services focused as part of an aggressive acquisition strategy.
Splunk is based in San Francisco. “Splunk’s extensible data platform powers unified security, full-stack observability and limitless custom applications,” the company says.
However, a deal might not happen.
“The offer was made recently and the companies aren’t currently in active talks, some of the people said,” The Journal reported Friday night.
Cisco stock recently hit a 21-year-high of more than $61 a share in December, The Business Journals report.
Cisco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Splunk said it does not comment on rumors or speculation, CNN reported.
In November last year, San Francisco-based Splunk announced Doug Merritt had stepped down as its chief executive officer and the company’s chair, Graham Smith, would be the interim CEO.
Splunk shares soared 14% in extended trading after the news broke, according to CNBC.
