Red Hat gave Google and other buyers a chance to bid before IBM's $34 billion offer, sources say
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/29/red-hat-gave-google-and-other-buyers-a-chance-before-finding-ibm.html
Red Hat probably won't get an offer higher than the $190-per-share price from IBM, because rival suitors have already had a chance to bid, according to people familiar with the matter.
Red Hat announced Sunday it had reached an agreement to sell itself to IBM for about $34 billion. As the open-source software developer negotiated with IBM, it also spoke with "all of the logical buyers" including Google, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private.