Posted 07/14/09 at 08:59:36 AM by Paul Lilly

If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em, and most would agree that Netflix has grown too large (and too strategic) to beat. So who wants to buy them? If you believe the latest rumor, Amazon wants to buy the online DVD rental service, news of which has sent Netflix stock soaring to the highest it's been in 11 weeks.

"There's heavy call buying and the stock is up on renewed takeover talk, with Amazon being mentioned specifically," said Fred Ruffy, the senior options strategist at WhatsTrading.com. "It's pretty typical of speculative buying."

While Netflix and Amazon both compete in the Internet video business, not everyone is convinced a takeover makes much sense. Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, points out that Amazon has distribution centers all across the U.S., meaning the company would have to collect sales tax in those states. Should that happen, subscribers would likely end up footing the bill.

As expected, both Amazon and Netflix said they don't comment on rumors or speculation.

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Posted 04/17/09 at 10:31:11 AM by Paul Lilly

In what amounts to a virtual corporate staring contest, only less exciting, both Sun Microsystems and IBM appear unwilling to blink first and wants the other to make the first move towards an acquisition. For Sun's part, the company is now saying it would be willing to resume takeover talks with IBM, provided IBM makes a stronger show of commitment to seal the deal.

IBM had previously offered close to $7 billion to acquire Sun, but Sun, skittish that IBM would change its mind in the face of an antitrust review or other barriers, as well as feeling that the amount was too low, rejected the bid and said it would no longer negotiate with IBM exclusively.

Since the talks broke down, Sun's shares have fallen, causing the company to lose about 28 percent of its value. IBM's shares have fallen too, but to a much lesser extent.

Both Sun and IBM refused to comment on what progress, if any, is being made.

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Posted 01/05/09 at 07:03:12 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Fujitsu will have to wait longer to get rid of its blighted hard disk drive business as talks between the Japanese company and Western Digital failed to bear any results. Kuniaki Nozoe, Fujitsu’s President, stated in the most unequivocal fashion possible that the deal is off. According to him, the talks fell off after Western Digital refused to accede to Fujitsu’s demands.

Fujitsu was keen on selling its Japanese plants and the ones abroad as a bundle. It even insisted upon most of the people employed in its hard drive business retaining their jobs. According to a Japanese newspaper, the asking price was $550 million.

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Posted 10/10/08 at 04:20:45 PM by Alex Castle

 

Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberry, is in a bad way. The recent economic crisis has seen their stock fall from $148 to $60 in just 4 months, Reuters reports, leaving the company on shaky footing.

At the same time, Microsoft is looking to strengthen its presence in the handheld market, an arena recently invaded by two of the Redmond giant’s key rivals: Apple and Google. There have been rumors of Microsoft’s interest in RIM for years, but  the Blackberry maker’s present financial situation has renewed and reinvigorated talk of a Microsoft takeover.

Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams has said “RIM is a massive strategic fit [for Microsoft]. I’m fairly certain they have a standing offer to buy them at $50.”  

It’s unknown how strongly the co-CEOs of RIM would oppose such a deal. If they resisted strongly, it’s considered unlikely that Microsoft would attempt a hostile takeover.

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Posted 10/10/08 at 11:34:40 AM by Paul Lilly

We can already hear the moans and groans, but nevertheless, a Yahoo investor has proposed a new deal today to sell the search company to Microsoft for $22 a share. That figure represents a 74 percent premium on the company's current stock price.

The proposal calls for Microsoft to "unload Yahoo's Asian assets and non-search businesses, extract $3 billion worth of cost savings, and receive $2.8 billion of tax benefits," Reuters reports. All tallied up, the deal would have Microsoft paying $10.3 billion for Yahoo's search business.

Mithras Capital, the investment fund who came up with the proposal, owns a 14 percent stake in Yahoo (1.9 million shares) and said in a press release that if approved, Microsoft would be buying Yahoo's search business for $2 billion less than what it offered in July.

Whether or not anything comes out of this remains to be seen, but it's worth noting that Yahoo today fell into the $12 per share range for the first time.

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Posted 09/15/08 at 05:49:45 PM by Paul Lilly

It doesn't matter that you rarely, if ever, saw Scrappy-Doo get into a fight, because you always knew that given the chance, he'd be ready to throw down no matter who the opponent was. Apparently that same spunkiness doesn't translate into the tech industry. How many times did we hear about Microsoft promising a hostile takeover of Yahoo its demands weren't met? Skip ahead a few months and Microsoft is still Microsoft, while Yahoo is still Yahoo.

Now it's Electronic Arts who is backing down in its hostile takeover bid, who earlier this year took it unsolicited $2 billion bid public for rival game maker Take-Two Interactive, best known for the Grand Theft Auto series. EA tried unsuccessfully to buy Take-Two back in February for $26 per share, and after the offer was refused, EA tried its hand at strong-arming Take-Two with threats of a hostile bid, only to extend the deadline multiple times.

The hostile bid official ended in August, and now one month later, so too has EA's interest in the company. Perhaps Spore is doing better than the Amazon customer reviews would indicate?

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