Cisco (CSCO, $47.09) Shares Soar Following Luxtera Bid Report
Shares of the American multinational technology conglomerate Cisco Systems Inc. soared ~1.5% on Tuesday, after people familiar with the event confirmed that Cisco initiated talks to purchase optical chip technology company Luxtera Inc.
Although Cisco - the biggest maker of networking equipment - and representatives for Luxtera are yet to confirm this ongoing negotiation, sources have confirmed that Cisco has beaten several rival bids coming from companies like Intel Corp. (INTC) and Broadcom Inc. (AVGO) to reach this advanced stage of negotiation.
According to sources, the transaction has not yet been completed, nor has the final price for the closely held company been determined. But it is highly likely that Luxtera would be valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Luxtera develops silicon photonics technology, which helps in converting information encoded into photons and carried over fiber optic cables directly into semiconductors - significantly speeding the transfer of data.
Adding this technology to its offerings would enable Cisco more capabilities, in terms of the components it uses to build networking machinery along with providing a more fundamental technology to differentiate its products. The additional technology may also help Cisco in rekindling its growth cycle again, which has been struggling amidst an industrywide migration to cheaper machinery that uses open-source software.
