Some buyouts are welcomed by the target; others come with a soundtrack of gnashing teeth and shaking fists, along with the occasional call to "get those darn kids off my lawn."
Atheros Communications (Nasdaq: ATHR) is shacking up with Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) amid an awful racket from special-interest groups filing lawsuits. But as it turns out, the average shareholder doesn't seem concerned at all: Atheros' delayed shareholder vote on the merger passed by an overwhelming majority.
How overwhelming? How about 99.6% of the 54.7 million Atheros shares that were represented at the meeting were in favor. The result becomes less impressive if you assume that every abstained vote was meant as a tacit "no," because the total "yes" votes was a modest 74.6% of all outstanding shares.
To put that approval rating into perspective, consider the 97% "yea" share -- representing 79% of shares outstanding -- when Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) considered an arguably lifesaving merger with CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL). The turnout for Atheros was a hair weaker, but the aggregate results very comparable. Continental Airlines also saw similar turnout and approval rates when voting on forming the United Continental Holdings (Nasdaq: UAL) beast.
In other words, this was a maudlin, plain-vanilla approval of a deal that really shouldn't be very controversial. Atheros' share price is now hovering within a few percent of the final $45-per-share merger bid, and we're only waiting for a few regulatory nods before closing the deal.
Qualcomm is gaining a strong portfolio of networking technologies that it didn't already dominate, and will sell more complete solutions to its future customers -- possibly with Atheros-derived Wi-Fi and Qualcomm CDMA functions all on a single chip. Smaller, better, and more integrated are terrific checkboxes to tick these days. That holds true for the Atheros side of the equation as well, along with the wider market reach afforded by Qualcomm's rich customer list and much larger sales and marketing operations.
Shareholder lawsuits notwithstanding, this is a win-win situation, and the final vote underscores that fact.
Adding Atheros to your Foolish watchlist today might be an exercise in futility (though it's also perfectly harmless!), but throw in future parent Qualcomm instead, and you won't miss a beat.
