Qualcomm says that for $160 billion, it will agree to a purchase by Broadcom

The last time we checked in on the soap opera that is Broadcom's acquisition attempt of Qualcomm, the latter had just raised its bid for auto chip maker NXP by 16% to $44 billion. That made Broadcom a little ticked off, to say the least. So the wireless and telecom chip provider decided to cut its offer for Qualcomm by 4% to $117 billion, or $79 a share from the previous $82 a share bid.

But all of this financial maneuvering is covering up what is really going on here. On March 6th, Qualcomm stockholders vote for the company's Board of Directors. There are 11 seats on the board, and Broadcom ...