---
title: "Cirrus Logic confirms it bid for Synaptics and walked away; onsemi is paying $123 a share in cash"
description: "The iPhone audio-chip supplier's 8-K confirms it made the proposals that pushed onsemi from a $7 billion stock deal to $123 a share in cash, and that it has stopped pursuing one. Its last bid on the public record was $102.50."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Deals"
published: 2026-10-13T23:23:02.969Z
modified: 2026-10-13T23:23:02.969Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/cirrus-logic-confirms-it-bid-for-synaptics-and-walked-away-onsemi-is-paying-123-a-share-in-cash
language: en
keywords: "Semiconductors, M&A, Synaptics, Cirrus Logic, Onsemi"
---

# Cirrus Logic confirms it bid for Synaptics and walked away; onsemi is paying $123 a share in cash

> The iPhone audio-chip supplier's 8-K confirms it made the proposals that pushed onsemi from a $7 billion stock deal to $123 a share in cash, and that it has stopped pursuing one. Its last bid on the public record was $102.50.

[Cirrus Logic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/cirrus-logic) ended the guessing game on October 13. [A Form 8-K signed by Chief Financial Officer Jeff Woolard](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/772406/000077240626000047/0000772406-26-000047-index.htm) confirms the company "made acquisition proposals" for [Synaptics](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/synaptics), the San Jose touch and edge-AI chipmaker, that it is the "Party A" in the Synaptics and [onsemi](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/onsemi) merger filings, and that it is "not currently pursuing a transaction," while declining to adopt those filings' descriptions of its proposals as accurate. [1]

For onsemi shareholders, what Party A offered is the market test of the $123-a-share cash price their company is paying partly with borrowed money. [6][7] For Cirrus shareholders, the record shows a company built on audio chips for [Apple](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/apple)'s iPhone that bid for growth beyond it, lost the auction, and now says it is done. [1][2]

## The buyer that started the auction

Bloomberg named Cirrus as the bidder on October 10; the company declined to comment, and Tuesday's 8-K is the answer. [2][10] The filings describe a courtship months older than the leak.

Party A's chief executive first raised an acquisition with Rahul Patel, Synaptics' president and chief executive, on February 12, 2026. [3] It offered $95 a share on March 13, 35% cash, against a $73.87 close, then $102.50 on April 1, 45% cash. [3] The special committee countered at $120 on April 20; by May 11, Synaptics traded at $126.55, up 74% since April 1, and Party A's financial adviser called that rise "significant" while committing to nothing. [3]

## Synaptics chose onsemi's stock instead

[Synaptics signed with onsemi, the Arizona power-chip maker, on June 25](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/817720/000114036126026434/ef20076748_ex99-1.htm) instead: all stock, 1.350 onsemi shares per Synaptics share, an enterprise value of about $7 billion. [4] On August 4, the S-4's most recent pricing date, that paper was worth $109.05 a Synaptics share. [3]

## September's number is still a secret

On September 2 Party A returned with an unsolicited, non-binding proposal, then revised it into [what Synaptics' board called a "Superior Proposal."](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/817720/000114036126038301/ef20083029_8k.htm) [5] [onsemi answered on October 1 with $123 a share in cash](https://theinference.org/article/onsemi-pays-123-a-share-in-cash-to-keep-synaptics-away-from-a-nameless-rival), about $5.7 billion against the stock deal's $7 billion, backed by a $2.45 billion senior secured term loan from [Morgan Stanley](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/morgan-stanley). [7][6] The board unanimously judged the rival offer no longer superior and signed. [5]

No filing discloses the September price; Bloomberg reported a mix of cash and shares. [2] Until it surfaces, onsemi's shareholders cannot set their $123 against [the one rival figure the board judged superior](https://theinference.org/article/synaptics-board-ruled-a-secret-rival-s-bid-superior-onsemi-answered-with-123-in-cash).

*Chart: **Cirrus opened the bidding at $95; onsemi closed it at $123 cash** Six bars showing per-share values for Synaptics from March to October 2026, rising from a $73.87 close to the final $123 cash price.*

*Dollars per Synaptics share at each dated step: a reported close, two written proposals, the board's counter, the implied value of the June stock consideration, and the final cash price. Sources: onsemi Form S-4 (August 21, 2026); Synaptics 8-K (October 1, 2026). [3][5]*

## Who mispriced whom

Cirrus spent eight months setting the price of Synaptics, and its last written offer sat $20.50 below what onsemi paid. [3] The visible record favors onsemi's discipline: $123 in cash cleared the board's own $120 April ask, and the deal adds to onsemi's earnings per share at closing, by the company's account. [7] The cost is leverage: $2.45 billion of secured debt beside the cash. [6]

A cash bid was out of Cirrus's reach: it [held $810.7 million of cash against $130.5 million of debt at the end of June](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000772406). [8] Its market value, about $5.4 billion, sat a little above Synaptics' $4.8 billion, so its written offers were 35% and then 45% cash, the rest in Cirrus stock. [2][3]

*Chart: **Cirrus's cash climbed to $810.7 million, about a sixth of Synaptics' $4.8 billion value** Column chart of Cirrus Logic's cash and total debt across eight quarters, from the quarter ended September 2024 to the quarter ended June 2026, with cash rising from about $446 million to $811 million while total debt drifts down to about $130 million.*

*Cash and total debt at each quarter's end, in millions of US dollars, from Cirrus Logic's SEC filings; fiscal periods ended September 2024 through June 2026. Synaptics' market value stood near $4.8 billion when the bidding ended, so even a doubled cash pile could not have carried an all-cash offer. Source: Cirrus Logic, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 13 October 2026. [11]*

## The proxy will finish the story

Synaptics owes the SEC [a preliminary proxy](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000817720&type=PRE+14A&dateb=&owner=include&count=10) within 10 days of the amended agreement; none had appeared by October 13. [6][9] Its background pages will carry the September terms, the missing step in the ladder. [5] On the S-4's arithmetic, $102.50 was about 3.9 times next-twelve-month revenue; $123 works out to roughly 4.7 times. [3] The vote follows, with closing expected by mid-2027; until then, $123 is judged against a price no filing shows. [7]

## Takeaway

Cirrus Logic's 8-K confirms it proposed $95, then $102.50, for Synaptics and is now out; onsemi's $123 cash cleared the board's $120 ask, funded with $2.45 billion of secured debt, and the September bid that forced it stays secret until the proxy.

## Sources

1. [Cirrus Logic Form 8-K, Item 7.01, filed with the SEC, 13 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/772406/000077240626000047/0000772406-26-000047-index.htm)
2. [The Next Web, "Cirrus Logic made rival bid for Synaptics, Bloomberg reports," 10 October 2026](https://thenextweb.com/news/cirrus-logic-synaptics-bid-onsemi)
3. [ON Semiconductor Form S-4 (proxy statement/prospectus, Background of the Merger), filed 21 August 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1097864/000114036126033970/ny20076897x1_s4.htm)
4. [onsemi and Synaptics press release, "onsemi to Acquire Synaptics," 25 June 2026, Exhibit 99.1 to Synaptics Form 8-K](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/817720/000114036126026434/ef20076748_ex99-1.htm)
5. [Synaptics Form 8-K, Items 1.01 and 7.01, 1 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/817720/000114036126038301/ef20083029_8k.htm)
6. [ON Semiconductor Form 8-K, Items 1.01 and 8.01, 1 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1097864/000114036126038294/ef20083030_8k.htm)
7. [onsemi and Synaptics joint press release, "onsemi and Synaptics Announce Revised Merger Agreement," 1 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/onsemi-synaptics-announce-revised-merger-203400670.html)
8. [Cirrus Logic, quarterly cash and debt figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 13 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000772406)
9. [SEC EDGAR filing index, Synaptics Incorporated, preliminary proxy statements, retrieved 13 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000817720&type=PRE+14A&dateb=&owner=include&count=10)
10. [Seeking Alpha via MSN, "Cirrus Logic confirms it made bids for Synaptics," 13 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/cirrus-logic-confirms-it-made-bids-for-synaptics/ar-AA2eaigD)
11. [Cirrus Logic, quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 13 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000772406)


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Cirrus Logic confirms it bid for Synaptics and walked away; onsemi is paying $123 a share in cash — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/cirrus-logic-confirms-it-bid-for-synaptics-and-walked-away-onsemi-is-paying-123-a-share-in-cash