HPE to buy Juniper Networks for $14bn
Juniper's stock jumped 22% on the news
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is in advanced talks to buy networking heavyweight Juniper Networks in a deal that could be valued at about $13 billion, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal Monday evening.
The WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the deal between the two companies could be announced as early as this week if talks don't fall apart.
A spokesperson for HPE said the company's policy is to not comment on market rumours or speculation.
Juniper Networks, which had a market cap of $9.64 billion as of Monday compared with HPE's $23 billion, did not respond to request for comment on the reported deal.
California-based Juniper Networks, whose strength has historically been with the service provider segment, has more recently seen its enterprise networking business outpace its dominant service provider segment thanks to the company's transformation around software and injecting artificial intelligence into more places in the network.
The company today is leading with its AI-powered Juniper Mist platform, which competes against Cisco Meraki and HPE Aruba's Edge Services Platform (ESP).
HPE has been on a tear in recent years, becoming a wired and wireless networking juggernaut. The company in 2015 bought wireless specialist Aruba Networks, now HPE Aruba Networking, for $3 billion, which put the firm on a better path to compete with Cisco Systems.
Juniper Networks in October revealed that it was conducting a round of layoffs worldwide and carrying out a $59 million restructuring plan as the company realigns around its "long-term growth opportunities."
Juniper's stock jumped about 22% to $36.98 in after-hours trading on Monday evening. HPE's stock was down about 7.67% to $16.36.
Update: On Wednesday, HPE formally announced an agreement to acquire Juniper Networks for approximately $14 billion in an all-cash transaction. This values Juniper at 32% over its share price at the time of the announcement.
"HPE's acquisition of Juniper represents an important inflection point in the industry and will change the dynamics in the networking market and provide customers and partners with a new alternative that meets their toughest demands," said HPE president and CEO Antonio Neri.
The original story first appeared in CRN.
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