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Bloomberg: Sprint planning a bid for T-Mobile this summer
Those longstanding rumors of Sprint hoping to buy T-Mobile USA may soon come to fruition: Bloomberg sources claim that Sprint has met with six lending banks in preparation for a takeover bid. There aren't any financing deals in place just yet, according to tipsters, but the carrier would make its offer in June or July. SoftBank (Sprint's owner) and Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile's) are reportedly hashing out the details of who would own what after the acquisition, with T-Mobile's John Legere the frontrunner for the CEO spot.
Canadian government blocked potential Lenovo bid for BlackBerry over security concerns
The BlackBerry of today could've been a Chinese-controlled company -- if the Canadian government hadn't put its foot down, that is. A report in The Globe and Mail, citing inside sources, claims the government feared a Lenovo takeover would compromise national security given how connected BlackBerry's business is with the country's communications infrastructure. Though Lenovo was apparently very serious about moving forward with acquisition talks, the government's objections were so strong that BlackBerry never bothered to submit a formal proposal for consideration. That and the fact that BlackBerry also desperately needed a speedy solution to stem its downward spiral; something a pending merger would only exacerbate. No matter now though, as BlackBerry's since abandoned takeover talks in favor of financing and ousting failed CEO Thorsten Heins.
Wavii confirms acquisition by Google, starts to wind down its own service
There was an odd level of uncertainty surrounding Google's reported buyout of Wavii: where Google usually mentions acquisitions in short order, mum's been the word for much of the past week. Thankfully, we won't be left hanging over the weekend -- Wavii has stepped forward to confirm the deal is happening. Neither side has discussed the terms involved, but Wavii chief Adrian Aoun made it clear the acquisition is for the technology first and foremost. Wavii's info summarization service will be shutting down, while the company's expertise in natural language processing should find its way into future Google projects. It's sad to see another independent service absorbed by a much larger company, but we're at least likely to see the fruits of Wavii's labor through some very public channels.
Liberty Global buys Virgin Media for $23.3 billion
Some British cable subscribers will soon have a new master: international telecom giant Liberty Global has just acquired Virgin Media for $23.3 billion in cash and stock. The deal gives Liberty an even larger stake in Europe than it had before and, if you believe the new partners, creates one of the bigger broadband companies on the planet at 47 million homes covered across 14 countries. Liberty also sees Virgin as good at tackling the business and mobile spaces that have been its relative weak points. How this will affect the UK isn't immediately apparent, although Virgin Media will continue to run under its existing name -- that moebius logo isn't going anywhere in the foreseeable future. We'll at least have some room to ponder the consequences when the buyout isn't poised to close until sometime in the second quarter.
Jawbone buys Massive Health and Visere to boost app design for wearables
Jawbone has been making real progress on the software for its tentative steps into wearable technology like the Up bracelet, but it's safe to say there's some room to grow. The company might just feel the same way in the wake of two key acquisitions centered on app interfaces and design. It just bought Massive Health, best known for its crowdsourced food app The Eatery, and Visere, a design house recognized for its work on both hardware and software. While Jawbone hasn't yet outlined its plans beyond scooping up the "best talent" for app development, Massive Health expects to maintain its namesake focus -- it doesn't see much work on Bluetooth audio in its future. However things shake out, it's clear software is about to play a larger role for our ears, wrists and beyond.
FIS acquires mobile banking guru mFoundry for $120 million
You may not be very familiar with mFoundry's name, but you'll probably know its work if you're reading this site: it's part of a deal with MasterCard for NFC-based mobile payments, powers many banking apps and wrote the earliest mobile app code for Starbucks. As such, it's no small deal that payment giant FIS just bought full control of mFoundry for $120 million. FIS isn't shy about its aims and sees mFoundry as the ticket to covering a mobile banking space that's growing quicker than other fields. Not that mFoundry will necessarily feel like a pawn -- its audience potentially grows to the 14,000 banks that FIS has for customers. We'll just need to wait until after the deal closes later in the current quarter to see what the union will bring.
Deutsche Telekom: T-Mobile / MetroPCS merger to be completed by June 2013
Just precisely how the T-Mobile / MetroPCS merger will pan out still seems yet to be decided. What is clear, however, is that majority share-holder, Deutsche Telekom, hope to have the deal done and dusted between April and June next year. CFO for the German giant, Timotheus Hoettges, told Boersenzeitung that we'll have to wait until the second quarter of 2013 before one of the parties will have to start ordering new stationary and corporate polo shirts. In the meantime he was keen to point out that not all current financial arrangements should feel ause for concern, noting shareholders wouldn't have their remuneration policy affected by the merger, thanks to the spiffy financial year it's had.
'Khyber Strike' DLC now available for Ghost Recon
Ubisoft has released the "Khyber Strike" DLC pack for its Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, adding a 10 level cap increase, three new multiplayer maps (Switchback, Palace, and Transit), and a new Guerilla mode map named Village to the proceedings. There's also a brand new multiplayer mode named Takeover, which combines Team Deathmatch and Domination-style modes in a mad grab for points via territory and team kills. You can see a preview of the expansion and its content in the video above. The DLC is available right now for 800 points on the Xbox Live Arcade, or $9.99 on the PlayStation Network.
Dice Holdings buys Slashdot, Freecode and SourceForge for $20 million
Dice Holdings, the unimaginatively named owner of technology jobs site Dice.com has purchased Geeknet's media business for a cool $20 million. The deal hands over control of the world-famous Slashdot, Freecode and SourceForge to the careers company, commencing the careers site's push into tech content. It leaves Geeknet with one remaining property, ThinkGeek, which will now be getting all of that company's attention -- hopefully to produce products that are even more lust inducing than Cave Johnson's portrait.
Google buys Snapseed developer Nik Software, raises the eyebrows of Instagram shutterbugs
Google makes a lot of acquisitions, some of them more important than others. Its latest purchase might skew towards the grander side, as it just bought imaging app developer Nik Software. While the company is known for pro photography apps like Capture NX and its Efex Pro series, the real prize might be Snapseed, Nik's simpler image tool for desktop and iOS users. Both Nik and Google's Senior Engineering VP Vic Gundotra are silent on the exact plans, but it doesn't take much to imagine a parallel between Facebook's buyout of Instagram and what Google is doing here: there's no direct, Google-run equivalent to Instagram's social photo service in Android or for Google+ users, and Nik's technology might bridge the gap. Whether or not Googlegram becomes a reality, the deal is likely to create waves among photographers of all kinds -- including those who've never bought a dedicated camera.
Townsquare Media buys what's left of MOG
Beats' acquisition of MOG ultimately carved the company into two pieces, if not quite evenly: it left both the blog content as well as a music-oriented ad network that's popular, if without nearly as much cachet for the technology crowd as the streaming audio. Entertainment outlet Townsquare Media must have seen a bargain in the making given that it just swept in to buy MOG's remaining parts. The deal, which AllThingsD understands is worth $10 million, will see the MOG name wiped for good as the ad network and sites slip into Townsquare's collection. While anti-climactic, it still marks the formal end to a significant chapter in cloud music -- MOG at one point was going toe-to-toe with the likes of Rdio and Rhapsody, and it now exists only as a memory.
IBM buys Texas Memory Systems to bring on speedy storage
IBM is becoming serious about enterprise-grade computing in more ways than one. It just struck a deal to acquire Texas Memory Systems, best known these days for its extra-quick RamSan SSD cards. As you'd anticipate, that fast yet lean storage is the focus -- IBM wants servers that aren't limited by their drives, or which just use less power than old-fashioned spinning hard disks and tape machines. Neither side is talking about how much the deal is worth, but TMS' product roster should stay on the market even as it's folded into IBM's Smarter Storage initiative. Expect that database at work to suddenly get faster sometime after the acquisition closes later this year.
E Ink acquires SiPix, may dominate e-paper universe
If challenging E Ink's supremacy in the e-paper market was hard before, it just became Sisyphean. The company is acquiring e-paper module maker SiPix through a share buyout worth about NT$1.5 billion ($50.1 million) if all goes smoothly. What goals E Ink has with the merger aren't as apparent, although the company wants to go beyond just supplying the parts for another Kindle Touch or Nook Simple Touch -- the aim is to "diversify into newer applications" even as the company corners those markets it already leads. The deal should close in the fall if regulators sign off on the deal, although we wouldn't be too quick to assume clearance is a sure thing. As NPD DisplaySearch warns, the deal would give E Ink complete control of the electrophoretic display technology that dictates the e-paper field. That doesn't allow for a lot of variety in the space when alternatives like Qualcomm's Mirasol are being scaled back.
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.
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.
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.
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.
