Getty Images Broadcom moved its headquarters back to San Jose, Calif., earlier this year.Broadcom Inc.’s surprise $18.9 billion deal to buy software company CA Inc. makes little sense on the surface, but signals a new direction for the tech conglomerate, possibly turning itself into a private-equity player. Late Wednesday, Broadcom AVGO, -11.52% confirmed it would buy CACA, +18.19% , which derives just over 50% of its revenue from mainframe software, for $18.9 billion in cash, or $44.50 a share. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, and shares of Broadcom tumbled 6% in after-hours trading. CA, however, jumped 16% to $43.29 after hours.. The move is a new direction into software for Hock Tan, Broadcom’s chief executive, whose hostile effort to buy Qualcomm Inc. QCOM, -1.83%QCOM, -1.83% for $110 billion was nixed by the Trump administration earlier this year on national-security grounds. Broadcom at the time was based in Singapore, but it has since based itself back in San Jose, Calif., and the core of its original business was semiconductors.via