Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Juniper Networks reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice today that clears the path for HPE's $14 billion acquisition of the networking equipment maker, resolving a months-long antitrust battle that threatened to derail one of the tech industry's largest deals.
The agreement, filed in federal court in California and subject to judicial approval, ends the DOJ's lawsuit challenging the all-cash transaction and allows the companies to proceed with a merger that would reshape the enterprise networking market.
Under the settlement, HPE must divest its global Instant On wireless networking business and provide competitors with limited access to Juniper's advanced Mist AIOps technology, according to court filings12. The terms are designed to address the DOJ's concerns about market concentration while preserving the deal's value.
"Our agreement with the DOJ paves the way to close HPE's acquisition of Juniper Networks and preserves the intended benefits of this deal for our customers and shareholders, while creating greater competition in the global networking market," HPE CEO Antonio Neri said in a statement3.
The settlement avoids a trial that was scheduled to begin July 92.
The Justice Department sued to block the acquisition in January, arguing it would reduce competition and lead to only two companies—Cisco Systems and HPE—controlling more than 70 percent of the U.S. market for networking equipment1. The agency contended the merger "would eliminate fierce head-to-head competition between the companies, raise prices, reduce innovation, and diminish choice" for American businesses2.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi warned at the time that "vital industries in our country—including American hospitals and small businesses—rely on wireless networks to complete their missions"3.
Both companies disputed the DOJ's market analysis. Juniper CEO Rami Rahim called the agency's position "wrong," telling SDxCentral the DOJ took "a very narrow view of the transaction in the wireless LAN space"4.
The acquisition, first announced in January 2024 at $40 per share, is central to HPE's strategy to compete with Cisco in the rapidly growing market for AI-optimized networking infrastructure12. The combined company aims to offer what Neri called "a modern network architecture alternative that can best support the demands of AI workloads"3.
Juniper's Rahim described the settlement as "an exciting step forward in delivering on a critical customer need—a complete portfolio of modern, secure networking solutions"4.
