Broadcom Inc. agreed to buy cloud-computing company VMware Inc. for about $61 billion, sealing one of the largest technology deals in history and advancing the chipmaker’s quest to become a force in corporate software.
VMware shareholders can choose to receive either $142.50 in cash or 0.2520 shares of Broadcom stock for each VMware share, according to a statement on Thursday. The offer represents about a 44% premium to VMware’s closing price on May 20, the last trading day before Bloomberg News reported the takeover talks.