Home Innovation Juniper HPE Confident in Juniper Acqui...

HPE Confident in Juniper Acquisition, Faces DOJ Court Challenge

Juniper

Business Honor
02 April, 2025

HPE CEO confident in acquisition despite DOJ antitrust challenge; trial set for July 9.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is certain it will win its case when it appears in court with the U.S. Department of Justice this summer on its proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks.

In an interview with Seeking Alpha, Antonio Neri, the CEO of HPE, expressed excitement about the acquisition and described it as revolutionary for shareholders and customers alike. HPE announced intentions to pay $14 billion to acquire Juniper in January 2024. It is anticipated that HPE's networking business would double. Up until late January of this year, the acquisition appeared to be on track because everyone but the United States had approved the agreement.

HPE shares have dropped around 25% since the DOJ antitrust complaint was filed in late January. On July 9, the bench trial is scheduled to start. HPE argues that the acquisition is pro-competitive, particularly when it comes to operating in overseas markets, notwithstanding the DOJ's anticompetitive opinion. Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas are all affected by HPE.

Neri emphasized that networking is the core foundation, stating that without connectivity, integrating models and analytics becomes impossible. He pointed out that networking has not kept pace with other IT areas over the last two years; thus, HPE's acquisition of Juniper is essential to providing a full stack. HPE has several business divisions, including intelligent edge, hybrid cloud, servers, and HPE Aruba Networking.

Neri stated that if the judge rules against them, they will proceed, as the chances of winning an appeal are slim. However, he expressed confidence, noting that the opinions are in their favor. The agreement was authorized last summer by the European Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom in August 2024. The Commission looked into how the proposed deal would affect the supply of wireless access points, Ethernet campus switches, data center switches, and wireless local area network equipment on the European and worldwide markets.