Cisco made $20 billion-plus takeover offer for Splunk -WSJ – Reuters

A man passes under a Cisco logo at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 25, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

Feb 11 (Reuters) – Network gear maker Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) has made a takeover offer worth more than $20 billion for software maker Splunk Inc (SPLK.O), the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The offer was made recently and the companies are not in active talks, the newspaper said, citing some of the sources.

Cisco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Splunk said it does not comment on rumors or speculation.

In November last year, San Francisco-based Splunk announced Doug Merritt has stepped down as its chief executive officer (CEO) and that the company’s chair, Graham Smith, would be the interim CEO.

Founded in 2003, the software solutions provider has a market capitalisation of $18.2 billion, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.

Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu and Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, Richard Chang and Sandra Maler

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