The news caught the analyst community by surprise, as many had believed, given Symantec's woes, that a deal was in the best interest of the company. "With Symantec in the midst of coming off a sudden CEO departure, soft results/guidance, and a myriad of company specific/secular headwinds now is the right time to finally consider a sale of the business after what has been an arduous 14 years of 'one step forward, two steps back' history since the doomed Veritas acquisition in 2005," Wedbush said in a note last week. Adding to expectations of an imminent deal, both companies announced last week that talks were at an "advanced stage," with Bloomberg, citing sources, reporting a deal was expected to be announced as early as Tuesday. Broadcom was expected to realize up to $1.5 billion in cost savings by merging Symantec with CA, which it acquired in July last year, Wedbush added.