Question i asked Gemini.

Yes.Illumina formally attempted to acquire Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) in an all-cash transaction valued at $1.2 billion.   ITS CURRENT VALUATION IS 790M

Key Timeline & Details

1. The Announcement (November 2018):Illumina agreed to buy PacBio for $8.00 per share—a 71% premium to PacBio's stock price at the time. The goal was to combine Illumina's dominant short-read DNA sequencing technology with PacBio's long-read sequencing capabilities.   

2. Regulatory Pushback (2019):

   • UK's CMA:The Competition and Markets Authority concluded provisionally that the deal would create a near-monopoly in the UK sequencing market and harm competition.

   • US FTC:In December 2019, the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint to block the acquisition, alleging that Illumina was buying a key potential rival to protect its monopoly in next-generation sequencing.

3. Termination (January 2020):Due to strict opposition from regulatory bodies in both the US and UK, Illumina and PacBio officially abandoned the merger agreement on January 2, 2020. Illumina paid PacBio a $98 million termination fee to walk away from the deal.