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Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

bloomberg.com

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Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#91

Post by busterarm »

hedora wrote: post #80
wtallis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The situation has historically been the exact opposite for WiFi drivers, where Broadcom is the obstinate closed-source vendor and Qualcomm-Atheros is the most open-source friendly vendor in that market.

Atheros and Intel are by far the best WiFi options for Linux. However, Atheros lean heavily on a giant closed baseband processor blob that does most of the heavy lifting. I’m not sure how true this is of the Intel chipsets.

iwlwifi (and iwn on the BSD side) have always non-free.

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#92

Post by Amygaz »

aargh_aargh wrote: post #71
jdoliner wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sincerely hope that this was Trump's reasoning for the ban. He was so sick and tired of having to muddle through Broadcom's undocumented garbage that he just got fed up and decided to spike their acquisition.

I choose to believe this is the latest battle in Trump's fight against undocumented foreigners.

Documented or undocumented, it doesn't matter, as long as they are foreigner, even if they are born in the US, they should be on the oder side of the wall

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#93

Post by ananthraghavan »

mevile wrote: post #78

Is there a free market argument in favor of the take over? Seems like almost nobody wanted this. How did the market go wrong here?

The takeover going through is the logical conclusion of free markets - a monopoly is very profitable for shareholders. All signs pointed to the market wanting this deal to go through, there was a Bloomberg article a couple weeks ago saying that half the votes counted indicated that all of Broadcom's candidates for the board would win.

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#94

Post by tootie »

jopsen wrote: post #10
Analemma_ wrote: post #5

This is the right decision, but is it normal for M&As to be blocked by executive order rather than by a DOJ decision, or is this a Trump thing?

> Trump acted on a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Seems legit. I know we all love to bash Trump, but he might not be entirely evil. Sometimes he's not treated fairly, that said it's all well deserved that's for sure :)

As everyone here is saying the merger would create too much concentration and not enough competition, but that's not the justification that the White House put forward. They said national security which seems far-fetched.

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#95

Post by fiveFeet »

This whole episode showed how important Qualcom is for United States national security. It still looks like a potential acquisition target with a price tag set by Broadcom. If Intel acquires Broadcom (thus making it an American company) then it may go after Qualcom. Otherwise, Intel or someone with deep pockets may also try to acquire Qualcom directly.

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#96

Post by protomyth »

ajdlinux wrote: post #30
mobilefriendly wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

U.S. freight rail is completely privatized and it is the finest system anywhere. "our freight rail is the envy of the world, carrying over 40% of our intercity cargo. Trains carry much less of Europe’s freight, which is why trucks clog Europe’s highways. And America’s rail-shipping rates are the world’s lowest, reducing the cost of doing business in the U.S.; they’ve fallen 45% in real dollars since the industry was…

Good freight rail and good passenger rail seem to be more or less mutually exclusive. Japan has one of the lowest rates of freight rail usage in the world, and yet the Shinkansen and the extensive urban metros and suburban railways with their absurdly high schedule reliability are basically an element of national identity...

Japan used smaller gauge track for passenger. Combined with the need to keep freight from interfering with high speed trains (the opposite of the American situation) probably makes the case for your argument. Good passenger rail and priority screws cargo where good cargo screws passengers. Unless you can build two separate systems, optimization’s are not compatible.

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#98

Post by protomyth »

maxharris wrote: post #21
chapill wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's rather odd watching the same group that wants Net Neutrality and municipal broadband disagree with you. Trump's nationalized 5G idea is brilliant in that it consolidates all efforts, but also serves to protect freedom. Under the privatized approach we use now, wireless ISPs spy on us, and sell the data to the government. That's constitutional and legal, because the government didn't do the spying. Under a nation…

No, and we have the most extensive highway system in the world. That extensive highway system has destroyed communities, alienated us from one another. It destroyed passenger rail (air travel took the high-end of the market, to be sure, but what business does the government have in using taxpayer money to destroy an entire industry?) If you were a person of color in the 1950s, highways likely destroyed the places you…

Highways didn’t destroy passenger rail. Cargo destroyed passenger rail in the US. Higher profit, much fewer customers, B2B instead of B2C, long term contracts, and a much lower cost. There is no business advantage to passengers over cargo.

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#99

Post by googlryas »

BenSahar wrote: post #72
googlryas wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because you and your social group continually assert in any marginally relevant forum that Trump is "completely devoid of ethics" and a "completely evil man"(to take two choice quotes from this thread) doesn't make it true - no matter how much you wish for it.

Just to be clear, we're talking about the same guy that settled a fraud case for $25M right as he was taking office and said that the judge on the case couldn't be fair because he's of Mexican decent.

Do we really need to be clear, or are you just trying to make a poor point about a legal strategy that was used by his lawyers?

Also, I wasn't aware that a settlement was an admission of guilt. Why are you treating it as such? Does no innocent person ever settle?

Re: Trump Issues Order to Block Broadcom’s Takeover of Qualcomm

#100

Post by googlryas »

mcphage wrote: post #73
googlryas wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many problems with this post. First, you're assuming that Trump had sex with Stormy Daniels. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but it is very difficult to differentiate between 'please go away with your bullshit because it is distracting' agreement, and a 'here is some money so you don't talk' agreement. If you have special insight into this matter that has not been reported on, please do share it. Second, you're saying…

> First, you're assuming that Trump had sex with Stormy Daniels. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but it is very difficult to differentiate between 'please go away with your bullshit because it is distracting' agreement, and a 'here is some money so you don't talk' agreement. If you have special insight into this matter that has not been reported on, please do share it. Are you this naïve in every facet of your life, o…

Please try to make a point in this discussion instead of contentless ad hominems, and I'll respond to it. It may be hard, but I'll be here for you when you finally make it.
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