Ericsson denies Cisco takeover speculation

Hans Vestberg

Ericsson has denied holding “any discussions whatsoever” about a merger with, or acquisition by, Cisco, after announcing a business and technology partnership with the firm last week.

In a statement this morning, Ericsson president and CEO, Hans Vestberg, said: “We note that there are rumours in the market regarding an acquisition of Ericsson by Cisco possibly spurred by the recent announcement of a partnership between our two companies.

“The talks leading up to the partnership announcement have been ongoing for a year and there have not been any discussions whatsoever on a merger or an acquisition.”

The comment comes after Swedish financial paper Dagens Industri reported over the weekend that Cisco wants to buy Ericsson, and claimed that the latter would have little opportunity to defend itself against such a bid.

The two companies last week announced a major partnership that will see them collaborate on the future development of networks, in a move they said could deliver incremental revenues of US$1 billion (€900 million) or more for each company by 2018.

The alliance concerns the joint development of products, services and technology spanning enterprise mobility, cloud-delivered IP services and the Internet of Things.