Softbank's Sale of ARM To Nvidia Collapses, ARM To IPO

According to Reuters, SoftBank's sale of ARM to U.S. chipmaker Nvidia has collapsed. Instead, SoftBank is planning to proceed with an initial public offering (IPO) with ARM CEO Simon Segars expected to resign, handing the job to president Rene Haas. From the report: The deal, announced in 2020, had faced several regulatory hurdles. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued to block it in December, arguing that competition in the nascent markets for chips in self-driving cars and a new category of networking chips could be hurt if Nvidia carried out the purchase. The buyout is also under the scrutiny of British and EU regulators amid concerns that it could push up prices and reduce choice and innovation.

The sale would have marked an early exit from Arm for Softbank, which acquired it for $32 billion. Chief Executive Masayoshi Son has lauded the potential of Arm, but is slashing his stakes in major assets to raise cash. The Financial Times was the first to report that Softbank's Arm-Nvidia deal had collapsed. The Japanese investment giant would receive a break-up fee of up to $1.25 billion, FT quoted one of the people as saying.

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