Marvell to buy Lumentum for US$115bn; its shares fell 32% in three sessions

01A fixed ratio, so the offer moves with Marvell

Because the ratio is fixed, what a Lumentum holder is offered rises and falls with Marvell’s share price.³ Marvell fell 13.2% on 29 October, 10.1% on 30 October and 12.7% on 2 November. Lumentum fell 18.6% on 2 November, to US$684.40.⁶

Reuters put the equity value at US$102.54bn, said the US$115bn includes debt, and called the deal “one of the biggest in 2026”; Lumentum’s FAQ for its own staff says the deal is “valued at approximately $100 billion”.⁷⁴ Axel Rudolph of IG Group told Reuters that “investors are right to ask whether Marvell is paying too much”.⁷

02What is being combined, in the companies' own numbers

Marvell brings electrical and optical interconnect chips, network switching and custom processors; Lumentum brings lasers, optical transceivers, optical circuit switches and its own compound-semiconductor fabs, including indium phosphide. Their case is that “the physical limitations of copper-based connectivity” are pushing AI systems to optics that need electrical and optical parts designed together.¹

• Revenue: US$17.7bn a year combined, annualising Marvell’s guided quarter (US$12.6bn) and Lumentum’s latest (US$5.1bn).² Lumentum’s revenue in the quarter to 26 September was US$1,262.6m, up 136.5% on a year earlier.⁵
• Market: US$550bn by 2030, the companies’ own estimate, adding Marvell’s US$400bn to Lumentum’s US$90bn-plus.²
• Savings: “more than $1 billion” of annual run-rate cost savings, “primarily COGS” (the cost of making the products).¹²

03What has to happen, and what it changes for a buyer

The merger agreement, signed on 1 November, needs both companies’ shareholders, the US antitrust waiting period and “certain other required regulatory approvals”. Its outside date is 1 November 2027, extendable in steps to 1 August 2028 while approvals are pending. Marvell would pay US$5.8bn and Lumentum US$2.9bn if either walked away for a better offer or its board changed its recommendation; Marvell would pay US$3.2bn if, with every other condition met, regulators blocked the deal or the outside date passed.³ Matt Murphy stays chief executive; three Lumentum directors, including its CEO Michael Hurlston, join Marvell’s board of seven.¹

Both companies sell components: chips, lasers and modules that go into the switches, transceivers and servers that network-equipment makers and cloud providers build.¹ Until closing, “Lumentum and Marvell remain separate companies and will continue to operate independently”, Lumentum told its staff.⁴