CARY – SAS is not for sale, says CEO and majority owner Jim Goodnight and talks with Broadcom have broken off, according to a report.
“I can confirm that Dr. Goodnight sent a message to all employees in which he said ‘We are not up for sale.’ SAS remains focused on furthering innovation to serve our customers,” SAS spokesperson Shannon Heath said late Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal says acquisiton talks between SAS and Broadcom have ended, noting that SAS owners Goodnight and John Sall had changed their minds.
The newspaper cited unnamed sources.
The Journal first reported on Monday that Broadcom was in negotiations with SAS to buy the privately held company for as much as $20 billion.
SAS had declined comment beyond saying it would not talk about rumors before Heath’s email.
Meanwhile, several Wall Street analysts said that a SAS-Broadcom deal could make sense.
“Broadcom, a semiconductor powerhouse built largely through acquisitions, has been on the hunt for a deal to beef up its presence in the corporate-software market. Its chief executive, Hock Tan, said earlier this year the company would look at buybacks and possibly debt repayment, if it didn’t make an acquisition by the end of the fiscal year,” The Journal reported.”That typically ends in late October or early November.”
SAS is owned entirely by Goodnight and Sall. The company has been profitable for more than 40 years, it says.
