Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) is likely poised to acquire Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) data center business for $3.5 billion, according to Cowen & CO. Neither Equinix nor Verizon confirmed the report.Updated December 6, 2016: Equinix confirms Verizon Data Center acquisition for $3.6 billion.Verizon has been trying to sell the data centers for at least $2.5 billion in an auction process since early 2016 or perhaps even late 2015. During a July 2016 earnings call, the telco giant said it would likely have clarity on the pending sale process by October 2016.Verizon, like many telcos, once hoped to be a cloud services giant that competes alongside Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and other public clouds. But telco corporate cultures -- based on highly regulated legacy industries -- couldn't keep pace with public cloud providers. Rival CenturyLink also is attempting to sell its cloud data centers.
Mergers and Acquisitions, CSPs, Enterprise, Mergers and Acquisitions
Equinix Acquiring Verizon Cloud Data Centers for $3.5B?

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