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Beats buyout of MOG worth $14 million, splits company not-so-neatly into two
More official details are emerging from Beats Electronics' acquisition of MOG, and they paint a considerably messier picture of the deal than we saw just a day ago. HTC (which has a big stake in Beats) has confirmed that the move into streaming music was worth $14 million -- not a whole lot considering that MOG had raised $33 million through its entire independent lifetime. The low price might come as the result of Beats being very surgical with its deal. The Jimmy Iovine- and Dr. Dre-founded outfit is taking control of the core audio service as a separately-managed company, while the ad and music blog components are mostly left untouched. MOG's loss of independence is coming on a very ignominious note as a result, but it could be good news for subscribers anxious about the service's future as well as HTC phone owners wondering just where Sense UI's Beats integration might go next.
Amazon reportedly acquires UpNext, 3D map wars begin in earnest (update: value might vary)
We might as well call 2012 the year of the 3D map. We've seen both Apple and Google show their cards, but GigaOM now hears that Amazon has jumped in by acquiring newcomer UpNext. The details are scant, but the approximately $2.5 million deal would give Amazon the startup's 3D, Android-native maps of 50 US cities, complete with navigation and extra information about notable buildings. The online reseller hasn't confirmed whether or not the acquisition is happening, which leaves it very much in rumor territory for now. That said, it's not hard to imagine Amazon taking that leap. The Kindle Fire is cut out of the official Android ecosystem and won't get built-in 3D maps without effort on its creator's part -- a buyout would certainly put that mapping on the fast track. Update: As reader James points out, the value of the deal is likely to be higher: unless the $500,000 investment let the investors control all of the company and the sale price wasn't higher, talk of a fivefold return on investment could represent considerably more than $2.5 million. Without any official response from Amazon, though, it's probable that the acquisition was small enough that it didn't have to publicly report the details.
Sony invests in cloud-streaming with purchase of Gaikai
The gaming cloud company Gaikai, which partnered with Warner Bros. Interactive last March to stream an hour of gameplay in two different AAA games and more recently was in the news for partnering with En Masse to offer an instant streaming version of TERA's demo, was just acquired by Sony for the sum of $380 million. What does this mean for the company with numerous games across different platforms? Sony Computer Entertainment President Andrew House explains that the company "will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices." For more insight into the realm of cloud-streaming MMOs, check out Massively's look at Gaikai and browser-based gaming.
Olympus reportedly in final talks for Sony investment
If the recent chapter in Olympus' history was a photo, it'd be a blurry thumb covering the subject's head. But, if reports from Nikkei are correct, it looks like the next one might be a happy family portrait. As suggested earlier this year, Sony is reportedly close to agreeing on a 50 billion yen (about $620 million) investment in the scandalized firm. This would likely give the Japanese electronics giant a 10 percent stake in Olympus, making it the largest single shareholder. This isn't the first time we've seen the troubled camera and optics brand associated with other electronics firms, and with Olympus telling Reuters that "This is not something that we have announced" we'll just have to wait and see exactly how this next frame develops.
Vodafone gets green light to buy Cable & Wireless, goes on a high-fiber diet
Vodafone has succeeded in its attempt to buy Cable & Wireless in a bid to become the UK's second largest telecoms company. The £1.04 billion ($1.6 billion) purchase had been at risk thanks to a C&W shareholder rebellion, but will will now go ahead barring regulatory approval. Big Red will take control of undersea cables that connect global telephone lines, a booming business division and a national fiber-optic network, which it'll use to boost its mobile data service -- sad news for anyone hoping the company would offer triple-play services on all that shiny fiber.
Motorola Solutions buys Psion for $200 million
Psion has mostly slipped out of the public eye, but that's about to change -- Motorola Solutions just bought the company for $200 million in cash to bolster its work with industrial companies. The deal will mostly focus on improving Motorola Solutions' toughened-up handhelds and in-car terminals. Not always exciting out of devices like the ET1, but it ends Psion's 32-year history as an independent company and a legacy that includes some of the very first PDAs, like the Psion Organizer. We won't miss the fight over the "netbook" name, mind you. Regardless of how you feel, you'll have until fall to wax nostalgic, as that's when the two sides expect the deal to close and the Psion name gets subsumed into that of another mobile pioneer.
So, Tesco buys Peter Gabriel's WE7 music service for $16.7 million
British Supermarket behemoth Tesco has snapped up WE7, a streaming music service co-founded by Peter Gabriel that offers personalized radio stations to users, for £10.8 million ($16.7 million). The UK's biggest supermarket has purchased 91 percent of the company, with the remaining stake set to be transferred over shortly. It looks like the chain will use WE7's infrastructure and resources as the spine for a beefier music service as British supermarkets look to diversify into the entertainment market following its purchase of Blinkbox last year.
Cher Wang: HTC will grab as many patents as it can
HTC co-founder and chair Cher Wang has said that her company plans to register and buy a host of patents in order to maintain parity with its competition. Speaking at the firm's 15th anniversary party, she said that despite being unable to use S3 Graphics' patents in ongoing litigation, the company will register and purchase patents in a variety of "different fields." It looks like we can expect to see a lot more filings at the USPTO in the future, and perhaps a few more buyouts along the way. [Image Credit: WSJ / Zuma Press]
HTC decides to buy S3 after all, keeps it on ice for future patent wars
HTC was exhibiting more than a bit of buyer's remorse after its acquisition of S3 Graphics went off the rails: it had used the $300 million deal to scoop up a company with a victory over Apple in a patent dispute at the ITC, only to see that decision reversed and its dreams crumble. S3 will be glad to know that HTC wants the shotgun wedding to last. The One X creator's general counsel, Grace Lei, is now promising that the buyout will wrap up at some point in the near future after "cautious assessment" of its worth. The union won't help HTC fend off escalating Apple assaults, but the 270 patents may make other companies think twice before starting a feud -- oh, and give HTC some graphics technology to improve its products.
Google set to gobble up Meebo, plans to expand the social platform to new heights
An interesting twist in the world of social media came today with confirmation that Google has entered into an agreement to purchase Meebo, a company known for its eponymous Meebo Bar. Primarily a platform that's intended to drive consumer engagement with brands via a social medium, Meebo also provides advertisers a less-intrusive way to reach their target audiences. Meebo announced the acquisition on its blog, and hints that its team will work with Google to grow and improve the platform. It's unclear whether Google intends to integrate the Meebo Bar into its own online properties, or whether the Mountain View giant simply views it as a method to increase its advertising reach. Regardless, it seems a bit of a no-brainer that Google+ will soon find a new home in the Meebo Bar. While the final purchase price remains a bit of a mystery, AllThingsD sources peg the deal in the neighborhood of $100 million. Not a bad way to start a Monday. Update: TechCrunch has confirmed the purchase price to be "around $100 million," with most of the team to work on Google+. Unfortunately, it seems that not everyone will be making the jump, with layoffs aimed at "sales and marketing."
Samsung buys Nanoradio, hints at very low-power WiFi in your next Galaxy
Samsung hasn't had a lot of need for hardware acquisitions as of late, so it's a bit of a surprise that the company has snapped up chipset manufacturer Nanoradio. Neither side has outlined the terms of the deal or the exact plans. Nanoradio is best-known for "ultra low power" WiFi in phones and other mobile devices, however, so we'd venture that Samsung is looking to improve the performance of its own wireless-laden smartphones and tablets. Don't be surprised, then, if your next Galaxy S or Galaxy Tab is a little gentler on the battery while you're on the local coffee house hotspot.
Deutsche Telekom chief says T-Mobile USA merger still an option, sweeps full sale off the table
T-Mobile's USA proposed union with AT&T might have gone down in flames, but that isn't precluding the boss of parent company Deutsche Telekom, René Obermann, from exploring tie-ups in the future. He's now telling investors that the company won't "exclude any option" for its US carrier, up to and including mergers with others. Before you worry that your One S might lose its luster through an outside takeover, though, the CEO has said it's "unlikely" that DT will sell T-Mobile outright. There aren't any coded messages about possible merger targets, either, even if rumors of a MetroPCS deal have percolated elsewhere. Most of the present focus is simply on reworking and trimming the company to get it running at full efficiency in the face of some very stiff competition; Carly can keep wearing that T-Mobile magenta for awhile yet.
Qualcomm hires former AMD CTO, makes 'em pay for dropping mobile
Qualcomm is hiring AMD's former CTO Eric Demers to help the company produce a blockbuster mobile graphics chip. It needs the silicon for its big push for smartphone dominance (and tablets running Windows RT) in the face of strong competition from Imagination Technologies' Series 6 PowerVR and NVIDIA's Tegra 3. Demers' first job will be to merge Qualcomm's in-house Adreno team with ATI's Imageon mobile graphics chip team, which AMD flogged off for $65 million back in 2009 -- a move Sunnyvale is probably regretting now that it too is trying to get its hardware into mobile devices, unless it included a do-over clause in the sales contract.
China clears Google acquisition of Motorola, eliminates last barrier to Googorola bliss (update)
The final significant roadblock to Google's buyout of Motorola has been cleared, as Chinese regulators have just given their rubber stamp. Their approval follows a few months after the simultaneous American and European clearances, and virtually all that's left now is to formally close the deal and start integrating the two mobile giants. It might still come too late for the combined entity to present a united front at Google I/O, but at least they won't have any awkward glances at each other across the room. We're just trying to decide on whether or not Googorola is the best pet name for the loving, $12.5 billion-dollar Android union. Update: Google has since told the AP that the deal will likely wrap up early next week, so Motorola should be part of the family well in advance of Google I/O. Also, Google has to keep Android freely usable by anyone for at least five years, although no one was expecting that to change anytime soon.
NTT DoCoMo hopes to expand content game with Buongiorno buyout
Japanese mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, is making a play at the Italian firm Buongiorno, a mobile content provider that boasts two billion customers across 57 countries. The €224 million offer must still be approved by Italian regulators, and would reflect a purchase price of €2 per share for the entirety of Buongiorno's outstanding stock. For its part, NTT DoCoMo hopes the buyout will help bolster its reach outside the home country of Japan, although the purchase is a bit of a gamble just the same. As it stands, Buongiorno's annual operating profit hovers in the neighborhood of €7 million, which means DoCoMo may be in for a bit of a wait before this deal bears fruit. You'll find the nitty gritty details in the PR after the break. [Raining money photo via Shutterstock]
Facebook snaps up mobile photo sharing firm Lightbox, decides Instagram isn't enough
We get the impression that Facebook is on a big mobile photo sharing kick: just weeks after it bought Instagram for a cool billion, the social network has just hired the staff behind Lightbox. The two-man team of Nilesh Patel and Thai Tran is bringing its mostly Android- and HTML5-focused knowledge over to Facebook, where it's hoping to reach many, many more people. You'll have to wait awhile to see what the Lightbox team brings to Facebook's ever more mobile platform, but you'll also want to hurry if you want to keep anything hosted on Lightbox: the service shuts down on June 15th. As a consolation for the shutdown, the startup's code is being posted to GitHub so that the fruits of its efforts live on in open-sourced form.
Samsung snaps up mSpot, teases a boost to media cloud efforts
Talk of a Samsung cloud service might not have panned out at the Galaxy S III event, but that doesn't mean the Korean electronics giant isn't interested in the space. Samsung has just acquired mSpot, best known for its cloud music storage and its earlier movie streaming tie-ins with carriers. The exact intentions aren't exactly clear -- Samsung is only promising that mSpot's technology will represent a "key integrated offering" on new mobile hardware. Still, the deal suggests that the Music Hub and Media Hub may get that much more cloud-savvy in the future. When asked for comment, Dropbox coyly stated: "It's cool. Being single is the new black."
Nexon bids for EA takeover, everyone says it's very unlikely
You know Nexon, right? The South Korean MMO company that made Maple Story and ... uh ... Everplanet ... and stuff? Anyway, Nexon is a pretty big deal on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Such a big deal, in fact, that it's looking at buying out some of its rivals, apparently including EA. MK Business News (a South Korean newspaper) reports that Nexon's Japanese headquarters spoke with EA about a potential acquisition recently.What came of those talks, however, is unclear. For its part, EA isn't offering any news. "We don't comment on rumors and speculation," is all reps told us, which you'll notice isn't a denial of said talks taking place.But could such a deal even take place? Experts don't seem to think so. "My takeaway is that this deal cannot happen," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told GI International. "There are few, if any synergies, and no reason to believe that Nexon could run EA's assets more efficiently. Nexon shareholders would own a completely different company than what they bought in the December IPO," he added, referring to Nexon's late 2011 public stock offering.So for now, while the talk of an EA takeover is always scintillating to discuss, it's very likely not happening (at least via Nexon) anytime soon.
Google sells SketchUp to Trimble Navigation for undisclosed sum
While we're probably more accustomed to Google buying assets than selling them 'round here, every now and again the search giant does shed some skin. El Goog's 3D modeling platform, SketchUp, is to be sold to Trimble Navigation for an undisclosed sum reports Reuters. Trimble says it's hoping to use the acquisition to enhance its office-to-field platform. The two firms will also work together to develop SketchUp's online repository of 3D models for designers to use, share and contribute to. SketchUp's blog reassures users that the free version won't change under the move. The deal should get the final nod in Q2 this year.
Vodafone looking to buy Cable & Wireless, just can't resist that fibre-optic infrastructure
UK mobile giant Vodafone is planning to buy up commercial network provider Cable & Wireless for just over £1 billion ($1.7 billion). If successful, it'll gain a national fibre-optic broadband network (separate to BT and Virgin Media's), a large portfolio of business customers and a backbone venture that connects 150 countries with undersea cables. The latter will probably be sold off so that Vodafone can concentrate on winning more enterprise customers from its rivals while also easing the burden on its own network. It's also worth pointing out that C&W previously offered retail broadband and cable services, but any notion of Vodafone using this acquisition to offer the same would be pure guesswork.
