US chipmaker Qualcomm Inc rejected a suggestion by the White House that its collapsed US$44 billion acquisition of Dutch peer NXP Semiconductors NV could be revived, saying the deal had been terminated, as the deadline had expired.
Qualcomm, the world’s biggest maker of smartphone chips, in July walked away from the mammoth deal to buy NXP after failing to secure Chinese regulatory approval, becoming a high-profile casualty of the US-China trade dispute.
After high-stakes talks on Saturday between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Argentina, the White House said that China was “open to approving the previously unapproved” deal for Qualcomm to acquire NXP “should it again be presented.”
However, Qualcomm said there was no prospect for the acquisition to be revived.
“While we were grateful to learn of President Trump and President Xi’s comments about Qualcomm’s previously proposed acquisition of NXP, the deadline for that transaction has expired, which terminated the contemplated deal,” a Qualcomm representative said via e-mail. “Qualcomm considers the matter closed.”
Chinese regulators did not have immediate comment.
Qualcomm paid NXP a US$2 billion fee to terminate the deal and embarked on a US$30 billion stock repurchase plan to appease shareholders miffed by the deal falling through.
It has spent more than US$20 billion in share buybacks in the past 12 months.
NXP has also announced its own US$5 billion share buyback program.
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