By Will Feuer

Shares of cloud services provider VMware Inc. rose almost 20% in premarket trading following news reports that semiconductor maker Broadcom Inc. is in advanced talks to buy VMware.

The technology companies are discussing a cash-and-stock deal that could come soon if the talks don't fall apart, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg earlier reported on the talks. The Financial Times reported that a deal could be worth more than $50 billion.

VMware has a strong position in the market for "hybrid" cloud, where large companies mix public cloud services like those of Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. with their own private networks.

Broadcom, a semiconductor powerhouse built largely through acquisitions, has been on the hunt for a deal to beef up its presence in the corporate-software market. It came close to buying the closely held software company SAS Institute Inc. last year before SAS's founders had a change of heart.

Shares of VMware rose 19% to $114 in premarket trading Monday. The stock is down more than 17% so far this year.

Broadcom stock fell more than 4% to $518.93 a share premarket. The stock is down more than 18% so far this year.

Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2022 06:43 ET (10:43 GMT)

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