MergersAndAcquisitions
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Comcast's merger with Time Warner Cable goes in front of the Senate on March 26th
by02.25.2014
The final word on Comcast's merger with Time Warner Cable may be in the hands of the FCC and Justice Department, but that's not stopping other governmental bodies from weighing in. On March 26th, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to examine the deal's effects on the average consumer -- specifically focusing on its impact on market competition and TV and internet pricing. "The merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable touches on important policy questions bout how Americans access these valuable services," Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy wrote in a statement. "It also presents a critical moment to discuss net neutrality principals that have allowed the internet to remain an open marketplace for ideas." Although the hearing probably won't affect the merger directly, it's possible the discussion could lead to legislative changes further down the road.
Google sells Motorola Home cable and internet box business to Arris for $2.35 billion
Ever since Google announced it would acquire Motorola Mobility last year there have been questions about what it would do with the company's large internet and TV set-top box business, and now that question has been answered: it's selling Motorola Home to Arris for $2.35 billion in cash and stock. Another maker of cable boxes and modems, Arris says the acquisition will both increase its product offering, and increase its patent portfolio thanks to a license to "a wide array" of Motorola Mobility patents. The transaction has been approved by the boards of both companies, and they expect the deal to close in Q2 2013. The potential of slipping Android / Google TV into the cable box business through the back door was a tantalizing, but unfortunately probably not a dream shared by the operators that are Motorola's customers. Naturally, Google will be hanging onto the mobile device business and related patent library that spurred the $12.5 billion acquisition in the first place, but will own about 15.7 percent of Arris. We'll be hopping on a conference call to find out any more details in a moment, check out the press release after the break. Now, who holds the rights to that Motorola home automation tablet? Update: Listening to the call, Arris explains one of its reasons for the move is that until now, two (unnamed) customers comprised half of its business, but afterwards, five customers will make up half of its business. Also important is an included "low" cap that limits Arris' liability in the case of IP damages from lawsuits like the one currently ongoing with TiVo.
Microsoft to acquire Perceptive Pixel, pair up with 82-inch touchscreen manufacturer
Microsoft has already expressed its fondness for Perceptive Pixel's gigantic capacitive touchscreens, which became apparent during a live demo at the company's Windows 8 presentation at Mobile World Congress earlier this year, but now that friendship has become a bit more official. During Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference keynote in Toronto this morning, Steve Ballmer announced that Perceptive Pixel would be coming in-house, with Microsoft acquiring the display maker. The move seems to be in line with the company's recent shift to hardware manufacturing, beginning with last month's Surface introduction and its reinforced commitment to the recently renamed PixelSense smart table solution -- MS has just seized an opportunity to get a bit more hands-on. Full (limited) details are in the press release after the break.
Micron scoops up Elpida Memory, 50-percent production boost for $2.5 billion
There's no question that Micron has shifted its focus away from PCs in favor of producing components, shipping everything from SSDs to CMOS sensors in recent years, but the semiconductor manufacturer just took a $2.5 billion step even closer to bridging its gap between other companies in the same market, including Samsung, the chip producer's top competitor. Under the deal, Elpida Memory, which is headquartered in Tokyo, will fall within the Idaho-based conglomerate's growing umbrella, netting Micron a 50-percent boost in production capability. That increase did come at great expense, however -- the transaction included $750 million in cash and $1.75 billion in future installments (1,750 easy payments of one million dollars?), which are set to continue through 2019. The acquisition was also paired with a 24-percent stake in Rexchip Electronics for an additional $334 million, which will complement Elpida's investment, yielding a total 89-percent stake for Micron. While the amount does seem quite significant, investors appear to be on board, with Micron's stock ($MU) currently up more than 4 percent since this morning. Both deals will reportedly close within the next year.
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.
Lenovo buying Medion for up to $907 million, expects to double its German PC market share
It looks like you can expect to see a lot more of Lenovo in Deutschland. The company is buying German consumer electronics maker Medion -- a deal worth up to €629.4 million ($907 million), according to The Wall Street Journal. That makes it the company's biggest acquisition since it bought IBM's PC business back in 2004. Lenovo's end game: to boost its market share in Germany, which happens to be Europe's largest PC market. All told, it hopes to own 14 percent of the PC category there -- roughly double what it commands now -- and expects its share of the Western European computer market to hit 7.5 percent. Lenovo's announcement comes at a time when it seems to have some strong upward momentum -- just last week, the company reported that its fourth-quarter profit more than tripled year over year (much to Wall Street's surprise) and that it generated $21 billion in revenue thanks to growth in every product line and every region where it does business. PR chock full 'o numbers after the break.
Nearly half a million customers left T-Mobile in Q1 2011
Not even promises of a new Sidekick can keep T-Mobile from hemorrhaging customers, it seems, as the company reported significant losses in its Q1 statement for 2011. According to official Q1 financials, 471,000 contract customers either failed to re-up, or outright canceled their contracts. Stacked against a shortcoming growth of just 372,000 prepaid customers (including MVNO customers for sub-carriers), T-Mobile suffered a net loss of 99,000 users, a 29-percent increase in losses over the same period for the previous year. Ouch. The firm chalked its loss to increased "competitive pressures," which lends credence to AT&T's insistence that Sprint and Verizon are such fierce opponents that it has to acquire T-Mobile for the magenta-tinted carrier to stay in the game. You can judge the profits and pitfalls for yourself -- just hit the source link for the full financials.
FCC opens floor for public comment on AT&T / T-Mobile deal
Since the world's engineers haven't yet come up with a way to read minds over the internet (or at all, last we checked), we're not sure what you think about the proposed marriage of T-Mobile to AT&T. We're pretty sure you do have an opinion of some sort, though, and if you want it to be heard, now's the opportunity to let the Federal Communications Commission read your thoughtful, reasoned take on how a GSM monopoly in the United States might or might not work. (Speak now or forever hold your peace, in other words.) To comment, simply visit the source links below, where the FCC has some handy forms -- one for short comments, one for long comments (where you have to attach a PDF document) and one with the magic number of the related proceeding, which is 11-65. Let 'em know just how you'll be impacted if the deal goes through, for better or for worse. [Thanks, Jeff]
AT&T tells FCC just how important T-Mobile is, in 381-page redacted document
AT&T has many strategies for trying to convince the US government to let it buy T-Mobile, but the one it emphasized was this -- it would attempt to make remaining carriers Verizon, Sprint and even a handful of rural entities look like "intense competition." Well, it seems that tack hasn't quite had the impact that the board of directors was hoping for, because it just delivered a gigantic new document to the FCC, which portrays itself as the victim of its own success. AT&T says it had to deliver 8,000 times percent more mobile data in 2010 than it did three years prior -- over 10 petabytes per month these days -- and foresees that it will deliver that same amount of data "in just the first five to seven weeks of 2015." Meanwhile, T-Mobile is the knight in shining magenta armor to save AT&T from those "severe capacity constraints," but since AT&T can't let regulators think that T-Mobile's departure from the arena will result in less competition, Ma Bell simultaneously bashes its prospective conquest for having a "diminished market role" in the telecom industry and "no clear path to deploy LTE" -- even as it says that acquiring T-Mobile would result in the means to spread speedy Long Term Evolution across 97.3 percent of the general population. In case you're keeping track, that's up from the 95 percent the company last prognosticated. The seeming contradictions here are certainly amusing, but we have to admit the promised giant LTE network tempts us quite a bit. But is it worth building a GSM monopoly to do it? Envision the repercussions for yourself -- both good and ill -- by studying the following links. Update: Fixed a few math errors -- AT&T processed over 10 petabytes per month (not year) in 2010, and that was 8,000 percent (not times) the amount of mobile data it carried in 2007. For comparison's sake, the entirety of YouTube was said to have streamed 31 petabytes per month in 2008, and Hulu did 17 petabytes per month over the same time period, according to a Cisco study.
Sprint critiques proposed AT&T / T-Mobile deal, says buyout would 'dramatically alter' telecom industry
This afternoon, AT&T and T-Mobile dedicated a twenty-eight page PDF to convincing regulators that their $39 billion aquisition wouldn't violate antitrust law, using images like the one above. Well, as you can imagine, Sprint had something to say about that, and you can read it immediately below. The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile USA, if approved by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), would alter dramatically the structure of the communications industry. AT&T and Verizon are already by far the largest wireless providers. A combined AT&T and T-Mobile would be almost three times the size of Sprint, the third largest wireless competitor. If approved, the merger would result in a wireless industry dominated overwhelmingly by two vertically-integrated companies that control almost 80% of the US wireless post-paid market, as well as the availability and price of key inputs such as backhaul and access needed by other wireless companies to compete. The DOJ and the FCC must decide if this transaction is in the best interest of consumers and the US economy overall, and determine if innovation and robust competition would be impacted adversely and by this dramatic change in the structure of the industry.Last week, rumors flew that Sprint, not AT&T, would be the one to join T-Mobile and create a vast wireless network, and while we haven't heard any proof of that so far, it probably wouldn't be terribly happy to settle for "number 1 spectrum position" if the tables were indeed turned.
FCC approves Comcast's purchase of NBC (Update: Justice Department too, it's done)
No huge surprise here, but the FCC just approved Comcast's purchase of NBC Universal by a 4-1 vote. Details of the ruling aren't out yet, but FCC chairman Julius Genachowski had been pushing for strong regulations forbidding Comcast from cutting itself sweetheart deals on NBC content or prioritizing its own video traffic on its pipes, so we'd assume that's part of the agreement here. The only nay vote was from Commissioner Michael Copps, who said the deal "opens the door to the cable-ization of the open Internet." Ouch. We'll let you know when we find out exactly what the FCC's actual conditions are -- and keep in mind this deal won't be wrapped until the Justice Department weighs in, which is expected to happen next week. Can we say it? Oh, we're going to say it: stay tuned! Update: That was fast, as Comcast/NBCU announced it's received permission from the Justice Department as well. Check out the triumphant press release after the break or scour the official site for more details on what conditions may have applied. There will also be a conference call at 4 p.m. so let us know what else you may be interested in finding out before then. So far details include a promise of a "focused mechanism for online video providers to obtain access to certain NBC Universal content," and that the newly formed entity will retain its economic stake in Hulu, while giving up its voting and board representation rights.
Sony buys back Toshiba's Cell plant for 50 billion yen, makes a killing and plans a CMOS fab
Looks like Toshiba's Cell processor ambitions didn't quite pan out -- Japanese news sources are reporting that the company's selling its Nagasaki manufacturing plant back to Sony for 50 billion yen, or roughly $597 million in US money. Considering that Toshiba originally purchased the semiconductor facility for 100 90 billion yen (then $835 million) back in 2008, it seems like Sony's making out like a bandit here -- and it may have just found the perfect place to build more CMOS chips for its high-end camera lineup, too. Sony reportedly told the Nikkei Business Daily that it may repurpose the facility to produce HD image sensors for cameras and smartphones. What will happen to the chip that launched 40 million PS3s and a graphics co-processor or two? With any luck, we'll find out at CES 2011 quite soon.
The Tattered Notebook: What EverQuest II deserves this Frostfell
Santa Glug is prepping his bags and getting ready to deliver the goods this Frostfell! While some of us, mainly Gnomes, will end up with a sack of coal to place in our homes, most of us have been well-deserving of the treats we're sure to receive. EverQuest II has had an extremely eventful year, and despite a few bumps in the road here and there, it's a game that deserves some festive holiday gifts this Frostfell. Read more to see what I'd like Santa Glug to deliver to EverQuest II this season.
HTC decides against bidding for Palm, kills our buzz
Don't tell us we didn't try. In spite of all our pleading for HTC to acquire the troubled Palm, Inc. and produce a sparkling union of awesome, Reuters is this morning reporting that the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer has decided against the idea. According to an internal source, there "just weren't enough synergies to take the deal forward." Then again, this conclusion was reached after HTC reviewed Palm's numbers, so maybe that's just a nice way of saying that Palm's financials are worse than we might think. We're also told that now only Lenovo remains as a serious contender out of Asia, following the stalling of talks between Huawei and Rubinstein's crew. Such a deal would make plenty of sense given Lenovo's cash reserves and mobile aspirations, but it'd be nowhere near as exciting for our geeky imaginations. [Thanks, ninellec]
