Broadcom makes $764 million bid for Emulex

After an earlier snub, Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) today made an unsolicited offer to buy Emulex Corp. (ELX) for $764 million, or $9.25 a share, in a bid that represents a 40 percent premium over Emulex's closing price of $6.61 yesterday.

Broadcom disclosed its offer after sending a letter to Emulex's board of directors. The company said it was making its proposal public because Emulex refused to continue negotiations that broke off in December.

Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom produces semiconductors used in an array of communications products, including wireless phones, cable set-top boxes, and wired communications networks. Thirty-year-old Emulex, based in Costa Mesa, Calif., makes technology used in computer data centers.

Emulex later adopted a "poison pill" plan to thrwart a potential takeover and said in January it was not for sale, Broadcom noted. The bid was first revealed in a preliminary report by the Wall Street Journal early this morning.

In a separate release, meanwhile, Irvine, Calif.-based Broadcom reported a first-quarter loss of $91.9 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with net income of $74.3 million, or 14 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier.Revenue dropped 24.2% to $853.4 million.

Yet the maker of semiconductors for wireless phones and other communications equipment said orders improved near the end of the quarter, signaling a sequential increase in revenue in the current second quarter.