Samsung drops $6 billion hostile bid for Sandisk
A year ago, South Korean disk drive and flash memory chip maker Samsung gave up on months of negotiations to buy rival SanDisk, and made an unsolicited, hostile bid for the company valued at just short of six billion dollars. Observers suggested motives ranging from simple bargain-hunting in an economic downturn, to an attempt to create a flash memory company large enough to swat back Apple’s notoriously tough demands on price and exclusivity for the… Continue Reading
SanDisk launches memory card to expand usage of carrier services
Cell phone carriers need all the help they can get, given the pressure on profits in the tough economy. And they’re about to get some help from a surprising partner.
SanDisk is launching a new flash memory chip card today that will make it easy for cell phone carriers to add new services to existing phones or to direct users more easily to services the carriers want to push. It’s announcing the new card at the… Continue Reading
Flash memory chip makers grab their share of bad news
The bad times are taking a toll among the makers of flash memory chips. SanDisk reported today that it lost a whopping $1.86 billion in the fourth quarter, while Spansion said that its chief executive, Bertrand Cambou, is resigning today.
Milpitas, Calif.-based SanDisk said revenue for the quarter was $863.9 million, down from $1.25 billion a year ago. The loss of $8.25 a share included a $1.91 billion one-time charge. That includes $1.02 billion in a… Continue Reading
The deeper the downturn, the better the inspirational speakers
One positive outcome of the downturn is that the motivational speakers at the annual industry trade dinners are getting better.
The Global Semiconductor Alliance’s dinner tonight is a case in point. The chip industry is having a tough time. The market capitalization for the top 20 public chip companies is now less than the cash they have. Chip stocks are down 45 percent compared to a year ago.
It only makes sense that they dug deep to… Continue Reading
Roundup: Moore’s Law extended, AT&T pays Apple $900M, Bill Gates’ new venture and more
Here’s the latest action:
Moore’s Law gets a life extension — Researchers at McGill University claim to have discovered a new state of matter, a “quasi-three-dimensional system,” that may extend the famous trend of tech companies being able to pack twice as many transistors onto computer chips every two years.
AT&T income up; company surprised by iPhone payments — AT&T has lifted its net income 5.5 percent over the same reporting quarter last year, but its stock price dropped…. Continue Reading
Updated: SanDisk may escape Samsung hostile takeover through a deal with Toshiba
Looks like SanDisk has figured out a way to avoid Samsung’s hostile takeover offer. Toshiba and SanDisk said today that Toshiba will pay $1 billion to gain a larger stake in their joint venture in flash memory chip manufacturing.
Under the deal, Milpitas, Calif.-based SanDisk has agreed to sell 30 percent of the manufacturing capacity of the joint venture to Toshiba, reducing SanDisk’s own capital spending costs. The venture currently operates two chip factories. The extra… Continue Reading
The Down Jones: Dow crashes below 10,000 — Nasdaq doing even worse
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has not closed below 10,000 since 2004. Today it might. Well below. As of a little past 9 AM PST, the Dow is down just over 470 points to 9,854.59. The market is seeing a continuation of the bloodbath it saw last week when the Dow fell nearly 1,000 points.
The Nasdaq is once again doing even worse percentage-wise. It’s down well over 100 points today, off over five and a… Continue Reading
Roundup: IT budgets dying on the vine, Chrysler’s electric cars, a cure for the bees, and more
Datamonitor points to IT budget freeze — Major sector analyst Datamonitor says that half of IT organizations around the globe will cap spending levels next year.
Chrysler to roll out electric cars — Car maker Chrysler will unveil a line of electric cars to its dealers next week, according to the Wall Street Journal. The large car company has not previously shown off any electric vehicles.
Bee well — Remember when some researchers were blaming mobile phone signals for colony… Continue Reading
SanDisk and record companies launch slotMusic, or albums on flash cards
SanDisk and the record companies are launching a new music format today dubbed slotMusic. The company hopes music companies will publish entire albums on SanDisk flash memory cards that are smaller than a postage stamp and are expected to replace the music CD.
In an age of downloadable music, the new slotMusic format for distributing MP3 songs is a long shot. But it has heavy-duty support. SanDisk has been trying out the idea for a number… Continue Reading
Samsung makes a hostile $5.8 billion offer for SanDisk
If I got a $5.8 billion acquisition offer, I’d take it. But some people think that’s small beans. Samsung Electronics said today it was going public with a hostile bid for SanDisk after four months of talks failed to result in an agreement.
Samsung said in a letter that it has offered $26 a share in cash for SanDisk. That’s a 96 percent premium over the price of SanDisk shares on Sept. 4, a day before… Continue Reading
Roundup: Texas Instruments lowers overall cell phone forecast, but women drive smart phone sales
Texas Instruments says cell phone sales weakening: TI said that sales of chips for wireless handsets were “unseasonably weak,” causing the bellwether company for the cell phone economy to lower its second-quarter earnings outlook. The Dallas-based chip maker said that it expects revenue to be $3.17 billion to $3.28 billion, compared with the previous estimate of $3.08 billion to $3.32 billion. It’s interesting that TI is seeing the slowdown in advance of one of the biggest… Continue Reading
Roundup: Search-within-search causes angst, secretive Modu raises $100M, Sun tries optical photonics & more
Here’s the latest action:
Google’s search-within-search bugs some publishers — Apparently some folks such as the Washington Post aren’t looking too kindly on a feature Google added earlier this month, which lets people search within publications like the Post directly from Google. The feature lets you search for a publication on Google, for instance the Post or other sites like Wikipedia, The New York Times, and Wal-Mart, and then gives you a secondary search bar to search… Continue Reading