Qualcomm announces its largest acquisition to date

Family-managed technology and communication company Qualcomm announced on 5 January that it plans to acquire Atheros Communications for $3.1 billion in cash.

The deal, made with the intention of expanding Qualcomm's technologies to new business areas, is the company's largest acquisition to date. It would provide Qualcomm with access to growth opportunities beyond its traditional cellular markets.

Paul Jacobs (pictured), second-generation CEO and chairman of Qualcomm said: "It is Qualcomm's strategy to continually integrate additional technologies into mobile devices to make them the primary way that people communicate, compute and access content. This acquisition is a natural extension of that strategy into other types of devices."

The purchase of Atheros, a leader in innovative technologies for wireless connectivity, cost $45 per share and will be finalised during the first half of 2011. Atheros' current president and chief executive Craig H Barratt is expected to join Qualcomm as president of Qualcomm Networking & Connectivity.

Qualcomm was founded by Paul's father, Irwin Jacobs in 1985 and had revenues of $10.99 billion for the fiscal year 2010, up by 6% year-on-year. 

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