EU antitrust pile-on overshadows Google’s Groupon 30 Nov 2010 The European Commission is examining whether Google is using its dominance in search to unfairly extend its reach into related areas the way Microsoft once did. The probe is auspiciously timed: Google is contemplating a near$6 bln bid to enter the ecoupon business.
EMC itself may be vulnerable to storage M&A wave 15 Nov 2010 The tech group is paying $2.25 bln, or more than 11 times estimated 2010 revenue, to keep Isilon out of the hands of rivals. Yet strip out EMC s holding in highflier VMware and the aggressor actually looks undervalued relative to its peers.
Cisco’s sprawl brings it to a crawl 11 Nov 2010 The networking giant shocked Wall Street with its tepid revenue forecast sending shares plunging in late trading. This looks like an abrupt overreaction. But fears that Cisco has become too sprawling for its own good are well founded.
Larry Ellison’s anti-HP rant turns weirdly sloppy 27 Oct 2010 Oracle's boss is known for his acerbic tongue. Yet his latest grammaticallychallenged latenight missive daring HP's new CEO to show up in court looks downright bizarre. Perhaps the prospect of tougher competition with HP is getting under Ellison's skin.
Seagate buyers should beware the iPad 15 Oct 2010 The disk drive maker may look a natural LBO candidate. It has been one before, and its $7.1 billion enterprise value is cheap at less than four times estimated EBITDA. Yet past may not be prologue. Fastgrowing tablet devices could easily swipe more of Seagate s future value.
NXP’s market thud doesn’t bode well for rival IPO 6 Aug 2010 The chip company's private equity backers had reasons to take a haircut in their float of the debtladen chip company. But choppy markets made it worse than expected. The investor reception may put a kink in other potential megafloats especially that of rival Freescale.
Antennagate galvanizes Apple PR machine 16 Jul 2010 Steve Jobs showed the likes of BP and Goldman how spindoctoring works. Of course the comparison is unfair: the iPhone 4 problem is minor and easy to address. Still, the rumor mill was getting out of hand, and the usually aloof Apple has made a decent fist of a response.
iPhone’s flaw is less about antenna, more about PR 13 Jul 2010 Steve Jobs newest handset seems to have a minor glitch with its antenna band. No big deal. The problem is Apple s tendency toward secrecy and denial which has turned a potentially routine product glitch into a fullblown investor concern wiping out $5 bln of value.
IBM machine grinds on with Sterling purchase 24 May 2010 Big Blue has a long tradition of morphing to survive technological shift. Its latest acquisition, Sterling Commerce for $1.4 bln, continues its push into higher margin software and online businesses. It s classic IBM not particularly flashy, but sensibly methodical.
SAP takes on tech giants with $5.8 bln buy 13 May 2010 The software company has a history of being careful with acquisitions. Its agreement to purchase U.S. based Sybase is the equivalent of rolling its tanks onto Oracle's lawn. Moreover, it may irritate ertswhile allies IBM and Microsoft. Tech consolidation is forcing SAP's hand.
Google saves face with half-way retreat 23 Mar 2010 In shutting its China portal, the search engine chose morals over profits. But it will keep a toehold, rerouting searches to Hong Kong and keeping on staff. Retaining an option on China looks sensible if Google can withstand bad press, brain drain, and loss of market share.
Infineon revolt is welcome development for Germany 29 Jan 2010 The German chipmaker beat forecasts in Q1. But that will do nothing to quell a shareholder rebellion over the proposed appointment of an insider as chairman. Such open revolt is rare in Germany. It is a sign that shareholder engagement there is gradually improving.
Apple’s iSlate overflows with expectations 5 Jan 2010 Investors are certainly expecting a lot from the company's new tablet gadget. They have slapped a iSlate premium of some $25 bln on the company. It's hard to doubt Steve Jobs, but there are some big assumptions underlying these hopes.
Obama tightens antitrust screws with Intel suit 16 Dec 2009 Intel s behavior in the chip market has seemed an obvious target for monopoly watchdogs. Yet an antiregulatory bent and the difficulty in remedying tech abuses kept them out of the fray. FTC's Intel suit suggests growing confidence among authorities and more actions to come.
Intel pays small price to maintain chip dominance 12 Nov 2009 It's paying rival AMD $1.25bn and agreeing to soften some of its aggressive marketing ways. Abusive practices or not, the winnertakeall nature of tech generates monopolies that regulators and smaller rivals find difficult to tame.
Tech giants no longer respect business borders 11 Nov 2009 HP s $2.7bn purchase of 3Com puts it squarely into Cisco s realm. But Cisco s already gunning after HP in servers. As OracleSun, DellPerot and other deals suggest the traditional frontiers in technology no longer apply. The battlefield is wide open.
China’s wannabe Nasdaq works better on paper 30 Oct 2009 A new market for growth stocks should in theory promote innovation and help move China s capital from where it s hoarded to where it s needed. But in practice, Chinext has opened as a chaotic hive of overvaluation. It looks a step too far, too soon.
Cisco keeps the acquisition machine humming 13 Oct 2009 The US networking giant s $2.9bn purchase of Starent Networks is the second of this size in October alone. And more deals are in the works. There s one problem this strategy hasn t paid off for shareholders over the past decade.
Cisco’s restraint on $3bn deal hard to sustain 1 Oct 2009 The US networking giant s acquisition of the Norwegian Tandberg is its largest ever overseas. It s a sensible use of cash given the promise Cisco sees for video conferencing. But the bigger Cisco gets, the more discipline it will need to avoid overreach on future deals.
Dell pays through nose in search for direction 21 Sep 2009 The US computer maker is acquiring Perot Systems for $3.9bn, a whopping 68% premium. It's a muffled echo of rival HP s purchase of EDS. Add in the high price and it seems like a bet that doing more IT services can somehow end Dell's floundering. That's wishful thinking.