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Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Raytheon to acquire BBN Technologies
By Mass High Tech staff
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Waltham defense giant Raytheon Co. has announced a plan to buy Cambridge-based BBN Technologies in a deal expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Under the agreement, BBN Technologies will operate under Raytheon Network Centric Systems (NCS).
According to a release from Raytheon officials, the acquisition of BBN will not impact Raytheon’s earnings or revenue until 2010.
Privately held BBN Technologies develops technology in the fields of networking, speech and language, sensor systems, cybersecurity and information technology. The 60-year-old company is widely known for developing ARPANET, part of the forerunner network to the Internet. BBN employs 700 workers in Cambridge, Middletown, R.I., and five U.S. facilities outside New England.
The companies did not reveal whether the acquisition would lead to any personnel changes. As of this morning, no BBN officials nor Raytheon officials were available for comment.
David Fialkow, managing director at General Catalyst, which partnered with Accel Partners to buy BBN in 2004 from Verizon, said, “This was an excellent result for BBN’s employees and the investors and it was a real privilege to be associated with BBN. It’s a real national treasure. It’s a phenomenal business.” Fialkow, however, declined to comment on the future of BBN in Cambridge, referring those questions to Raytheon. He said General Catalyst and BBN management’s effort to bring to market more products have been successful, citing the company’s Boomerang shot detection device and spin-off Everyzing Inc.
Waltham-based Raytheon, with 72,000 employees, reported a 2008 net income of $1.7 billion on revenue of $23.2 billion.
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