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Walmart joins Microsoft’s bid to buy TikTok
Walmart says it’s joining forces with Microsoft in an attempt to buy TikTok US.
Comcast tops Fox's bid for UK pay-TV giant Sky
An interesting wrinkle in Disney's deal to acquire most of Fox is that Fox is also in the middle of a deal to buy Sky -- a major telecom company and pay-TV service in the UK. Now Comcast (which includes NBCUniversal) has jumped in the middle of that deal with an offer that values Sky at $31 billion -- that's more than Fox's offer to buy out the 61 percent it doesn't already own, which values the company at about $23.2 billion (£18.5 billion). Fox already has an agreement in place, but that's under review from regulators. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said his company's offer of £12.50 in cash for each share it buys in Sky is "a significant premium to the 21CF price currently recommended," and that "We would like to own the whole of Sky and we will be looking to acquire over 50% of the Sky shares." Previously rumored to have an interest in acquiring Fox, Comcast is now in a position to complicate Disney's pending arrangement, which would see Disney take ownership of Sky -- assuming everything goes through as planned. If Comcast successfully bids for Sky, then it could give NBCUniversal a better position in the UK.
Apple and Amazon want a stake in Toshiba's memory business
Apple and Amazon are joining a Foxconn bid to purchase Japanese chip giant Toshiba's NAND manufacturing division, according to Nikkei. The deal could make it easier for the companies, particularly Apple, to access all-important flash memory more cheaply for iPhones and Kindles. Foxconn has at least five other bidding rivals, including two backed by the Japanese government, which is reportedly loathe to let Toshiba's chips fall into foreign hands.
Charter makes a $61 billion bid for Time Warner Cable, could be the first of many
After months of trying to negotiate a deal behind the scenes, Charter Communications is publishing details of its offer to buy Time Warner Cable (which split from Time Warner years ago). Despite a bid that including debt is enough to nab 20 or so Nests, TWC's board responded to the offer by calling it "grossly inadequate." Charter CEO Tom Rutledge is telling anyone who will listen that he can run the company better than its current leadership, and is encouraging shareholders to join him in this viewpoint by making this offer (apparently Charter's third in the last year) public. For customers the upside isn't so clear, as according to J.D. Power Charter is next-to-last in customer satisfaction, staying ahead of only Time Warner Cable -- ouch. Bloomberg mentions that a reason this deal may happen is because billionaire John Malone is backing Charter, and he believes that by joining the companies he can negotiate better deals with the Hollywood studios that provide their content. Another possibility mentioned by Gigaom, is that control over a larger swath of area and customers could help push bandwidth caps and tiered internet pricing. Others like Comcast have also been rumored to be interested in a deal for at least part of Time Warner Cable, but the Charter/TWC combination would make for the country's third-largest provider behind Comcast and DirecTV. This afternoon Charter put on a conference call (slides are available here for EBITDA fans to drool over) to explain its side of the argument, and Time Warner replied it "would not let Charter steal this company." The biggest takeaway here is that these same economics affect others in the industry, so there could be more consolidation of cable/internet giants to come.
Qualcomm could join BlackBerry founders in bid for beleaguered phone maker
As if the rumor mill wasn't crowded enough, The Wall Street Journal reports that mobile chipmaker Qualcomm could be joining RIM founders Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin in a bid to buy BlackBerry. Speculation of Qualcomm's involvement would be part of a bigger deal between RIM's founders and Cerberus Capital Management LP, that comes just days before the deadline for bids, set for Monday. The ever-informative sources close to the matter point out that even should the group create a partnership, they may not make a bid. Interest in the company has been attributed to every one from former Apple CEO John Sculley, to tech giants like Google, Intel and Samsung. However, the only real bid known to be on the table thus far is the $4.7 billion offer Fairfax Financial put forth in late September. Qualcomm's massive presence in the mobile space makes for an interesting twist, but we should know more on Monday when BlackBerry's board will consider whatever offers it actually receives.
Apples to BlackBerrys: John Sculley reportedly considering bid for failing phone maker
For anyone who has followed Apple's history, John Sculley is a familiar figure. He was the CEO who famously ousted Steve Jobs from the company he co-founded in 1985; he championed the ill-fated Newton; and he eventually left Apple as its profits turned to losses in 1993. Yesterday afternoon, The Globe and Mail published a report that has the potential to change that legacy. According to the piece by Steven Chase and Iain Marlow, the man who fired Steve Jobs is considering a bid for BlackBerry.
BlackBerry co-founders considering bid for all or part of the company
There were a number of reports last month that RIM/BlackBerry co-founder Mike Lazaridis was at least thinking about putting in a bid of his own for the company, and an SEC filing published today has now shed some more light on the matter. While an actual bid remains anything but a sure thing, the filing does confirm that Lazaridis has agreed to partner with fellow co-founder Douglas Fregin on any potential deal, which could be for "all or a portion of the assets or equity interests" of the company, according to the document. The goal of any bid, as outlined in the filing, would be "stabilizing and ultimately reinventing the company based on a plan developed by them." The filing also confirms that that the pair have enlisted the help of Goldman Sachs and Centerview Partners as they explore their options, which they say includes "a potential acquisition of all the outstanding shares of the issuer that they do not currently own, either by themselves or with other interested investors." This news follows the only formal bid for the company that's on the table, a proposed $4.7 billion deal from Fairfax Financial, which many have grown skeptical of despite a so-called letter of intent agreement that was signed by BlackBerry.
Reuters: Media exec Peter Chernin bid $500 million for Hulu
Since the sun came up today it must mean that Hulu is up for sale, again. The latest extension to the sale rumors for the video streaming site is one from Reuters citing anonymous sources that indicates Peter Chernin, a former News Corp exec and Hulu board member has submitted a $500 million bid. There's no word on how big a stake he'd be interested in taking, but that's significantly lower than the reported $1.9 - $4 billion bids received from Dish and Google when the site was up for sale back in 2011. Of course, any sale price may vary on whether or not the acquisition come content included, but either way, we'd expect a few more possibilites to pop up before something (or nothing, like last time) happens. Of course, Peter Chernin was one of the folks pushing for a shorter theater to home release window and more TV on the Xbox, both of which have come to fruition in one form or another -- maybe he can make a deal happen.
Bloomberg: Apple and Google teaming up on $500 million-plus bid for Kodak patents
After Kodak's auction to offload 1,100 of its digital imaging patents was green-lit this summer, it looked like Apple and Google were ready to do battle for the goods. Now, however, Bloomberg cites a pair of sources who claim that the two titans have ended their face-off and are combining their efforts in a $500 million-plus bid for the patents. All three parties are staying quiet for now, but the move would certainly not be out of form for technology giants when it comes to lucrative, and potentially volatile, patents. Helping Kodak recover from bankruptcy with more cash in its coffers is nice enough, but avoiding a courtroom feud on digital photos is what sweetens the pot all around. [Image credit: Viktor Nagornyy, Flickr]
FCC to dole out up to $300 million to help carriers expand service in rural areas
It seems like almost every day that we receive a press release announcing Verizon or AT&T is planning to expand its LTE coverage to three, five, eleven new markets. But in some remote pockets of the country, you'd be lucky to latch onto even a solid 3G signal. In a bid to make sure those folks in the boonies get their due, the Federal Communications Commission is establishing a fund to encourage carriers to roll out 3G and 4G service in sparser areas. All told, the agency plans to award up to $300 million to mobile operators, with funds going to the providers offering the lowest rates. The winners will be decided in a sealed, single-round auction, which opens June 27th and is set to close July 11th. As a condition for receiving the funds, carriers must agree to cover at least 75 percent of the road miles within a given census tract. While it's unclear at this early stage which mobile players will take the bait, the FCC's already signaled which parts of the country will be first in line for upgraded service -- namely, Rocky Mountain states like Utah and Idaho, along with Maine, Appalachia and upstate New York.
Huawei blocked from first responder network contract, US cites 'national security concerns'
The inability to win US government approval isn't exactly an unfamiliar issue for Huawei, which by now must be conditioned not to expect a nod from major US telecom companies. But now, The Daily Beast reports that the U.S. Commerce Department has made it very clear that the Chinese company won't have a role in building the country's new dedicated first responder wireless network. A spokesman wasn't shy about the reason, either, explaining that Huawei "will not be taking part in the building of America's interoperable wireless emergency network for first responders due to U.S. government national security concerns." And what about those national security concerns? Well, Huawei president Ren Zhengfei's former role as a People's Liberation Army technologist may have something to do with it, considering it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect that he still has some fairly close ties to Chinese government officials. We haven't heard a peep from the feds regarding Huawei's invitation for US officials to investigate the company earlier this year, but it's safe to assume that the investigation either didn't go very well, or more likely that it hasn't happened at all. We imagine that whole corporate espionage debacle probably didn't help the company, either.
Google outbid itself by 33 percent in Motorola Mobility acquisition, SEC filing reveals
Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility is already starting to lose that new car smell, but a fresh batch of financial details has now emerged, providing deeper insight into how the deal actually went down. According to an SEC filing that Motorola Mobility released yesterday, Google made an initial offer of $30 per share on August 1st, but soon raised that bid to $37 per share on August 9th, after Moto and its advisers asked for $43.50. On that same day, Google again raised its offer to $40 per share, even though Motorola wasn't accepting bids from other firms, for fear that a public auction would jeopardize its sale. This 33 percent increase ultimately added some $3 billion to the pot, bringing the final price tag to $12.5 billion. A Mountain View spokeswoman declined to comment on the negotiations, though its aggressive bidding suggests that the search giant desperately wanted the deal to go through. The documents also reveal that patent-related issues were at the forefront of discussions from the very beginning, when Google's Senior Vice President Andy Rubin met with Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha to talk about their mutual concerns, way back in July. According to the Wall Street Journal, these talks eventually convinced Jha that his company would be better off under Google's stewardship, amid fears that Moto could get swallowed by the stormy seas of patent litigation -- anxieties that the exec made all too apparent just four days before the merger was announced. You can dig through the full SEC filing at the source link below.
Google bids pi for Nortel's wireless patent stash, brings comedy to places you never thought possible
Enabling surfers to play Pac-Man instead of actually initiating the search they showed up to complete? Taking a stroll through an episode of Burn Notice? Throwing internet on a magical Indian bus? All relatively normal things from one Google, Inc., but it seems that Larry Page's deadpan demeanor is actually covering up quite the character. During the outfit's recent attempt to outbid the likes of Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, RIM and Sony for a sliver of Nortel's coveted wireless patent portfolio, Reuters is reporting that Google's plays were... less than conventional. Reportedly, the company bid $1,902,160,540 and $2,614,972,128, better known by mathematicians as Brun's constant and Meissel-Mertens constant, respectively. Funnier still, Google decided to offer $3.14159 billion (you know, pi) when the bidding reached $3 billion. One of the unnamed sources summed up the bizarreness quite well: "Google was bidding with numbers that were not even numbers. It became clear that they were bidding with the distance between the earth and the sun. One was the sum of a famous mathematical constant, and then when it got to $3 billion, they bid pi. Either they were supremely confident or they were bored." Or, perhaps they're just supremely awesome?
Google bids $900 million for Nortel patent portfolio, will use it as shield against patent trolls (update)
Google and Nortel have agreed on the princely sum of $900 million to start off a "stalking horse" auction -- wherein outside parties are still free to outdo Google's bid -- for the acquisition of Nortel's rather vast patent portfolio. The sale comes as part of the latter company's bankruptcy selloff and involves some 6,000 patents and patent applications, which encompass both wired and wireless communications, semiconductors, data networking, voice, and the internet -- going so far as to even touch on web search and social networking. The thing is, Google's not really enamored with these tidbits of intellectual property to the tune of nearly a billion dollars. No sir, a rather bitter blog post from the company this morning makes it quite clear that Google's acting in order to bolster its own intellectual property library and to "create a disincentive for others to sue." Both Android and Chrome get obliquely mentioned in Google's announcement as benefiting from the move, which should be completed by June of this year pending other bids and regulatory approvals. Update: Microsoft has noted that it has "a worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to all of Nortel's patents that covers all Microsoft products and services, resulting from the patent cross-license signed with Nortel in 2006." That license will also transfer with the sale of the patent rights. All that means is that Microsoft cannot be sued for infringing on that bundle of rights as it is already licensed to use them. That means Microsoft is extremely unlikely to participate in this auction -- other than, of course, as a means to prevent others from obtaining the same rights.
Blockbuster going up for sale, hoping to live up to its name
Don't think of this as the end of the road for Blockbuster, think of it as a new beginning. After filing for Bankruptcy back in September, big blue and yellow has been working to get its affairs in order -- and trying desperately to fend off both Netflix and Redbox with offerings like Blockbuster on Demand and Blockbuster Express. Things apparently haven't gone entirely to plan. The next stop is For Salesville, with bids for the company starting at $290 million. CEO Jim Keys put a positive spin on the news, saying that this will "allow for the consolidation of ownership of the company to those with a clear and focused vision for Blockbuster's future." It might also finally let that guy take a vacation -- a potentially very long one.
Seagate reportedly turned down takeover bid from Western Digital
File this one under industry-changing mergers that never were -- Bloomberg is reporting that Seagate rejected a takeover bid from rival Western Digital in October, which would have created a hard drive company to dwarf all others. According to "two people with knowledge of the matter," Western Digital was willing to offer as much as ten to fifty percent more than a competing takeover proposal from TPG Capital, which had already put more than $7.5 billion on the table for Seagate. As you might expect, however, the sheer size of the merger was apparently largely responsible for its refusal. Not only would it have created a huge amount of product overlap and likely led to numerous management departures, but it would have almost certainly faced some pretty significant antitrust obstacles. Of course, neither company is actually commenting on the matter itself and, for the time being at least, it looks like Seagate is content with going it alone.
US Senators uneasy over possible Huawei equipment deal for Sprint
Chinese telecom giant Huawei already has a pretty big (and growing) presence in North America, having previously signed deals with regional carriers like Leap (better known by its Cricket brand) and MetroPCS -- but apparently, a bid to supply one of the Big Four with equipment is hitting a little too close to home for some legislators. A group of eight US Senators has filed a letter with the Treasury Department expressing concern over Huawei's alleged ties with everything from Saddam Hussein's Iraq to present-day Iran to China's own People's Liberation Army, saying that such a company "should not be able to do business" in the country. Of course, similar concerns ended up dooming Huawei's attempted buyout of 3Com not long ago -- and considering the political climate in US-China relations, this is the kind of lukewarm response Huawei and other major Chinese firms might need to keep dealing with as they try to grow their Western presence.
Huawei bids high, loses hard on two major US assets
Huawei has been kicking for well over two decades, and while a great deal of its business revolves around the enterprise, the company still has a presence in the consumer arena (most recently with its S7 tablet). But for whatever reason, it's having one bear of a time breaking into the US acquisition game. According to a pair of people sourced by Bloomberg, Huawei wasn't selected as the winning bidder of two large US assets in recent months despite having offers of "at least $100 million more in each case." Ouch. As the story goes, the sellers (2Wire and Motorola) "doubted Huawei's ability to win US government approval," possibly because of the founder's prior role as an official of the People Liberation's Army. It's also not the first time that Hauwei has been deterred in the US; the outfit dropped a bid in 2008 for 3Com after America began "investigating whether a deal would give China access to anti-hacking technology used by the Defense Department." 'Course, given the existing legal trouble between Huawei and Motorola right now, we're not sure a +$200 million bid would've sealed the deal on its recently hawked wireless equipment unit. Hit the source link if you're down for a serious read. Mystery, drama, deceit -- it's all there.
Japan proposes holographic 3D broadcasts for 2022 World Cup
While we're limited to merely 3DTV depictions of the 2010 World Cup, Japan is letting its freak flag fly in a proposal to host the 2022 matches with a concept envisioning matches captured by 200 HD cameras, then projected as fully 3D images onto real fields in other countries. Just in case technology hasn't advanced that far in the next decade plus, there's also the possibility of positioning mics underneath the playing surface to catch every sound, with all of this powered by solar panels plus the kinetic energy created by a stadium full of fans. Even committee director of technology Jun Murai admits the proposal "smacks of science fiction" but seriously, this is Japan we're talking about -- if the beautiful game is still being played by non-augmented human beings and not a squad of robots we'll be surprised. Either way, someone should put Wolf Blitzer and Will.I.Am on standby just in case.
The ins and outs of the Shroud Loot System
Both Blessing of Kings and Unbearably HoT have posts up talking about the Shroud Loot System, a looting system designed to serve as an alternative to the standard DKP setups. The main point of SLS is that unlike DKP, it rewards points not just for downing content, but for just attending content, so that the focus is more on attendance and participation rather than progress (which, you'd assume, would eventually come if people are constantly showing up). Instead of kills, points are awarded at the beginning and the end of raids (no matter how much progress is made), and then when an item drops, players can bid points either by "Shrouding," spending half of their DKP (whoever spends the most gets the item), or by bidding a low fixed cost (and then they roll off for the item, with whoever wins paying the low fixed cost). BoK has a great example of how it works: either you spend half your points (if you have the most overall DKP, you're guaranteed to win) or you take your chances against a dice roll.
