DOJ Requires Keysight Divestitures in Spirent Merger

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has mandated that Keysight Technologies must divest three major business units of Spirent Communications—high-speed ethernet testing, network security testing, and radio frequency channel emulation—before it can proceed with its $1.57 billion acquisition of the British company. The DOJ cited concerns that the combined entity would control up to 85% of the high-speed ethernet testing market and more than half of other critical testing markets, which could harm competition and innovation. The DOJ's proposed settlement requires these Spirent assets, representing about 40% of the company's revenue, to be sold to Viavi Solutions for up to $425 million. Without these divestitures, the DOJ argued the merger would likely lead to higher prices and reduced quality for customers and consumers. The move aims to safeguard competition in high-tech sectors such as cloud computing and telecommunications. Keysight and Spirent have not yet issued statements on the DOJ's decision.