Red Hat shareholders held a meeting overnight in which they approved by an overwhelming margin the company's proposed acquisition by IBM.
In a show of support for the US$34 billion blockbuster deal, the 8k filing with the United States' Securities and Exchange Commission records only a miniscule percentage of represented shares voting against approval. More than 80 percent of the company's outstanding common stock was represented in the vote.
IBM is buying the open-source software developer in a bid to become a market leader for hybrid cloud systems.
The two companies announced the deal in November of last year. The agreement stipulated IBM would acquire all issued and outstanding common shares of Red Hat for US$190.00 per share—a significant premium above the US$116.68 price at which Red Hat was trading at the time.
