SoftBank confirms NVIDIA’s $40 billion deal to buy Arm has been canceled

NVIDIA will not purchase Arm. The news was confirmed by SoftBank (PDF), the owners of Arm, in a statement. Initially, NVIDIA agreed to acquire Arm for $40 billion, but both companies have decided to terminate the deal as it ran into significant pushback from multiple regulatory bodies. The Financial Times first reported the deal falling through.

“Nvidia and [SoftBank Group] have agreed to terminate the agreement on February 8, 2022, because of significant regulatory challenges preventing the consummation of the transaction, despite good faith efforts by the parties,” said SoftBank in a statement.

SoftBank has already begun preparations to publicly list Arm within the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2022. This was anticipated by many experts and politicians. Several members of Parliament in the UK called for SoftBank to list Arm on the London Stock Exchange rather than in New York. SoftBank’s statement does not specify where it plans to publicly list Arm. Before being purchased by SoftBank, Arm was listed on the London Stock Exchange.

While the deal ultimately did not go through, SoftBank will make some money out of the saga. “In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the deposit of $1.25 billion (¥143.8 billion) received by [SoftBank Group Capital] at the time of signing is non-refundable and therefore such amount will be recognized as profit in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022.”

NVIDIA purchasing Arm would have been one of the largest deals of its kind. The acquisition met pushback from the FTC in the U.S., the UK government, and the European Union. Several tech giants, including Microsoft, also spoke out against the deal. The primary concern was that NVIDIA would limit access to Arm’s technology and control the microchip market.

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