Google’s Motorola bid set for approval, but it won’t be the end of patent wars
Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility will likely be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice next week, sources tell Bloomberg, but don’t expect Google to backtrack on Motorola’s contentious patent litigation tactics.
Purchasing Motorola will grant Google over 17,000 mobile patents in addition to the phone maker’s handset assets. Many had expected Google, which has historically argued against the trend of patent litigation from the likes of Apple and Microsoft, to use its … Continue Reading
Twitter acquires Summify, as if tweets aren’t summed up enough
Twitter is grabbing more talent, this time out of Vancouver. Summify, a social news aggregator, will shutter its technology and be absorbed by the social network starting today.
“Cristian Strat and Mircea Pasoi have created a product that curates the best and most important stories in your Twitter timeline and Facebook newsfeed,” a Twitter spokesperson told VentureBeat in an e-mail. “Cristian and Mircea and their team of three engineers will join our Growth team and … Continue Reading
DeanBeat: Game companies went on a $2.8B buying spree in 2011
The social and mobile games gold rush inspired lots of investments in 2011, as venture capitalists tried to find the next Zynga. But the year was also a big one for acquisitions, particularly as big companies such as Electronic Arts tried to outmaneuver the social game giant via acquisitions.
In 2011, 77 game companies were acquired for at least $2.827 billion, according to research by VentureBeat and other sources. We didn’t count the numbers for … Continue Reading
Microsoft and Nokia considered a joint bid for ailing RIM
Amazon wasn’t the only company interested in snapping up BlackBerry maker Research in Motion.
Microsoft and Nokia, now close partners thanks to Nokia’s adoption of Windows Phone 7, also considered a joint bid for RIM, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s not clear if the discussions were anything more than a pipe dream, as the WSJ notes executives from all three companies often get together to discuss other partnerships.
With both Microsoft and Nokia struggling … Continue Reading
SuccessFactors just can’t stop acquiring, even while it’s being acquired
Even while the big fish is swallowing it, the medium fish is still gobbling up an even smaller fish.
Just four days after the news broke that German enterprise software giant SAP is buying SuccessFactors, SuccessFactors has a little acquisition of its own to announce: It’s buying Jobs2Web for $110 million in cash.
Jobs2Web is a site that helps companies manage their online recruiting and hiring processes. It was founded in 2003 and is based … Continue Reading
U.S. government green-lights Google’s $400M acquisition of Admeld
The U.S. Department of Justice today put its stamp of approval on Google’s acquisition of Admeld, an online ad startup.
The $400 million deal was under some scrutiny to determine whether or not it posed antitrust issues.
However, as the DOJ’s Antitrust Division has found nothing objectionable in the deal, the acquisition will go through as planned.
“After a thorough review of the evidence, the division concluded that the transaction is not likely to substantially … Continue Reading
New York Times is eyeing new tech companies to acquire
The New York Times Company is looking around for new acquisition targets. Any businesses the company buys will be its first acquisitions in more than three years.
In a Bloomberg interview, the company’s CEO, Janet Robinson, said The New York Times Co. is particularly looking toward technology companies as it prepares for these acquisition deals.
As the parent company for a large group of print newspapers — and as a company still feeling its way … Continue Reading
FCC report blasts T-Mobile merger, AT&T cries about it
The Federal Communications Commission last night released a damning 157-page report (PDF) against AT&T’s proposed $39 billion T-Mobile takeover, which concludes that the merger would ultimately hurt US consumers and the wireless market.
AT&T, not surprisingly, is none too pleased. The company objected to the release of the report, calling it merely a “draft” that doesn’t have any legal standing, reports Politico. AT&T also took issue with the fact that it didn’t get to see … Continue Reading
Signaling acquisition talks, Microsoft pens NDA with Yahoo
Microsoft has signed a nondisclosure agreement with Yahoo so it can take a closer look at its books, a signal the software giant might be getting serious about acquiring Yahoo.
We heard back in early October that Microsoft was eyeing Yahoo for a possible acquisition. At that time, signals were clearly mixed about the possible deal. On one hand, Yahoo would give Microsoft a highly trafficked web portal that would help it compete with content … Continue Reading
HTC reconsidering S3 purchase after it loses patent suit against Apple
This isn’t a good week for S3 Graphics. After S3 had its patent dispute against Apple dismissed by the U.S. International Trade Commission earlier this week, the company’s suitor HTC is now having second thoughts about its union.
HTC said that it will “reevaluate” the $300 million S3 purchase, Bloomberg reports — a move that makes clear what the Taiwanese phone maker’s main interest in the company was, and shows just how quickly fortunes can … Continue Reading
FCC Chairman Genachowski seeks hearing on AT&T/T-Mobile merger
Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski has requested a trial-like hearing for the proposed AT&T and T-Mobile merger after deciding that the deal would hurt consumers.
The FCC’s hearing would be yet another roadblock to the beleaguered telecom merger. On top of the Department of Justice seeking to block the deal, the attorneys general of seven states took legal steps to stop the merger back in mid-September. AT&T rival Sprint has also filed its own … Continue Reading
Microsoft acquires video search startup VideoSurf for $70M
Microsoft has acquired video search startup VideoSurf for an undisclosed amount, reports Israeli business news site Globes.
A handful of publications have indicated that Microsoft paid an estimated $70 million for the company, according to a report from TechCrunch Europe.
VideoSurf specializes in video search technology that scans several video related sites for results, such as DailyMotion, YouTube, Metacafe, Hulu and others. The site’s results focus on specific episodes of web shows, notable individuals and … Continue Reading
Meg Whitman: HP getting into research, out of big acquisition deals, and “reducing drama”
Meg Whitman said Hewlett-Packard wants to grow more organically in the future.
“If we get out of the big M&A business, we have to invest in R&D,” the chief executive of HP said Monday on her first analyst conference call.
HP is still digesting its $10 billion acquisition of Autonomy, a commercial software company, which was heavily criticized because it commanded so much of HP’s market value in exchange for a gain of about a … Continue Reading
Guardian Media to sell PaidContent.org for up to $20M
Guardian Media Group, which is best known for publishing British newspaper The Guardian, wants to sell its ContentNext group of publications, reports AllThingsD.
The sale would comprise all the publications within ContentNext Media umbrella, which includes PaidContent.org (as well as a U.K. spin-off), MocoNews.net and India-based ContentSutra.com.
Guardian Media is reportedly seeking $15 million to $20 million for the group of publications and affiliated conferences, according to AllThingsD’s report, which cites people familiar with the … Continue Reading
Citigroup may close deal to sell EMI for $4.1B today
Citigroup is close to finalizing a deal to sell off major music company EMI Group for an astounding $4.1 billion dollars, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cites anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The sale will be split into two separate parts. Citigroup is in talks with Universal Music Group to sell EMI’s recorded-music division for $1.9 billion, while its publishing division will go to Sony Music for $2.2 billion, according to … Continue Reading
Best Buy acquires full control of Best Buy Mobile for $1.3B
Electronics retail store Best Buy has closed a deal to acquire full ownership of the American portion of Best Buy Mobile from Carphone Warehouse Group for $1.3 billion, the company announced today.
The deal will give Best Buy full control of the mobile business, which expanded rapidly in the last few years along with the rise of consumer smartphones. The deal also ends a profit-sharing agreement with Carphone Warehouse that Best Buy made in 2008 … Continue Reading
Best Buy branches out with cloud, IT services with $167M mindSHIFT acquisition
Best Buy has agreed to acquire IT and cloud services provider mindSHIFT for $167 million to help extend its business further beyond retail, the company announced today.
This is an important move for Best Buy because the company is slowly becoming Amazon’s showroom floor instead of being a place people purchase electronics. mindSHIFT will give Best Buy a much better opportunity to help small and mid-sized companies with IT, cloud and enterprise services and will … Continue Reading
Adobe acquires video ad platform Auditude for $120M (updated)
Adobe has acquired video advertising platform Auditude, the companies announced today. [Update: While financial terms of the deal were not publicly disclosed, Adobe is said to have paid close to $120 million (mostly in cash) for the startup, according to sources familiar with the matter.]
Auditude allows its clients to manage and monetize advertising around premium video content. Its service lets publishers and media companies create high-quality advertising experiences across multiple platforms and … Continue Reading
Cisco acquires BNI Video for $99M
Network giant Cisco has acquired video optimization software company BNI Video for $99 million in cash, the company announced today.
BNI Video helps Internet service providers manage their video services, including entitlement, billing and quality control. As VentureBeat previously reported, BNI Video offered a good solution for older cable providers unable to keep up with the growing trend of TV moving online.
Cisco said it plans to integrate BNI Video’s technology with its Videoscape service, … Continue Reading
Microsoft said to be eyeing Yahoo — but don’t hold your breath
The latest big name interested in buying Yahoo may be Microsoft, according to a Reuters report from last night.
Sources tell Reuters that one camp in Microsoft is excited about the deal because it would give them a strong web portal and destroy AOL as a competitor. But another Microsoft group (lets call them the “realists”) say that the company shouldn’t be spending billions on a property without much growth potential.
No matter how much … Continue Reading
