Now that Apple has showed it plans to spend some of its massive $100 billion cash holdings, some argue it should acquire Twitter as a way of bulking up its social features. But just because it could buy Twitter, does that mean it should? Read more »
Ericsson having successfully bagged BelAir Networks, Ruckus Wireless now has a big target painted on its flank. As Ericsson’s competitors look to integrate Wi-Fi much more deeply into their mobile network portfolios, buying Ruckus would be the easiest way for them get there. Read more »
Virtustream, a fast-growing enteprise cloud provider, is buying cloud-computing pioneer Enomaly for an undisclosed amount. Enomaly, which launched in 2003, sells one of the first private-cloud management products, Elastic Computing Platform, and in the last year launched an infrastructure resource exchange called SpotCloud. Read more »
The Justice Department has sent a clear signal to AT&T that it doesn’t like its tactics as the operator tries to buy T-Mobile. The DOJ is seeking a halt all court proceedings until AT&T resubmits its FCC merger application, potentially putting the deal in limbo. Read more »
IBM plans to acquire retail data analytics company DemandTec in an all-cash deal valued at $440 million, continuing Big Blue’s buys in big data businesses. DemandTec has two especially compelling elements for IBM: It adds to its big data expertise, and it’s vertically focused. Read more »
The FCC has accepted AT&T’s request to withdraw its T-Mobile merger petition, allowing it to resubmit its application if it can overcome the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit. But the FCC didn’t let AT&T get off without releasing its report condemning the merger for all to see. Read more »
AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile seems all but dead. If the deal falls through mobile operators stand to gain or lose depending on which of side of the battle lines the stand. The biggest losers, however, aren’t necessarily AT&T and T-Mobile. Read more »
Verizon dodged a bullet on Tuesday when the FCC denounced AT&T-Mo. No conditional approval means no new regulations to haunt Verizon’s own consolidation plans in the future. Now Verizon needs its archival AT&T to throw in the towel before it can do any more damage. Read more »
Facebook has acquired friend.ly, a startup that makes a Facebook app for asking and answering questions with your friends. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Friend.ly was founded in 2010 and has reportedly raised $5 million in venture capital to date. Read more »
So, that personal computer business that HP doesn’t want anymore? The one with the largest market share in the world? Samsung isn’t interested either. The company attempted to put an end to rumors it was considering taking over HP’s laptop and desktop unit on its blog. Read more »
Skype announced that it is acquiring GroupMe, just a year after the group-messaging startup officially launched to the public. While Skype has been focused on adding video calling to its mobile applications, the GroupMe buy gives it expertise in the text-based group-messaging field. Read more »
Google has snapped up The Dealmap, an aggregator of nearby shopping deals, in an acquisition that furthers its Google Offers ambitions. The purchase, whose price was not disclosed, shows that Google is proceeding even without its unsuccessful $6 billion bid for Groupon last year. Read more »
Citrix Systems has bought hot private-cloud startup Cloud.com, a move that immediately makes Citrix a leader in the quest to help companies build on-premise Infrastructure-as-a-Service clouds à la Amazon EC2. Cloud.com brings an impressive list of customers that includes Bechtel, GoDaddy and Zynga. Read more »
Platform-as-a-Service startup DotCloud is acquiring fellow startup DuoStack in an attempt to gird itself for a fight that’s likely to leave some casualties in the years to come. DotCloud and DuoStack are making a smart move to ensure their mutual survival while combining their innovative capabilities. Read more »
German software vendor Software AG has bought Java-performance expert Terracotta with the goal of creating a cloud application platform to rival those from Software AG competitors such as Oracle, VMware and IBM. Terracotta has built a portfolio of open-source products over the past several years. Read more »
If one thing was expected from Microsoft paying $8.5 billion for Skype, it was the criticism of the deal. I spoke with Steve Ballmer and Tony Bates about the deal and what comes next. Here are my notes from that conversation. Read more »
Greentech investment trends in the first quarter of 2011 either signal a record-setting expansion for the industry in 2011, or retrenchment in the face of economic and political headwinds — depending on how you look at the numbers. Read more »
Overlooked in the buzz following a Reuters report that acquisition talks between HP and enterprise software vendor Tibco have fizzled out is the possibility that the loss represents a setback in HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s grand cloud computing vision, as well as HP’s big data strategy. Read more »
While Kit Digital has spent the last few years on a shopping spree with seemingly no signs of slowing down, the acquisition of ioko may be the final piece it needs to go after big, Tier 1 service providers and media companies offering online video services. Read more »
In acquiring Israeli mobile app developer Snaptu, Facebook gained three things: a strong feature phone development platform, a presence in the white-hot Israeli startup scene and a team who’s development philosophy mirrors Facebook’s own. Read more »
Rackspace is moving up the cloud stack by acquiring Cloudkick, a startup that provides server management and monitoring as a service. Rackspace already has a partnership with CA-owned Nimsoft, so I suspect the purchase was spurred by a desire to compete with Amazon Web Services. Read more »
Compellent announced today that it is in talks with Dell about a possible acquisition. Compellent would be a nice score for Dell. After failing to close the deal with 3PAR over the summer, Dell still needs a big acquisition to bolster its storage lineup. Read more »
According to multiple reports, Groupon has walked away from a rumored $6-billion acquisition offer from Google, and is choosing to go it alone, and possibly file for an initial public offering. The two-year-old company is said to have annual revenues of close to $2 billion. Read more »
Apple has acquired Bluetooth headphone maker Wi-Gear. The purchase could result in new Bluetooth headsets for use with iOS devices and Mac computers, but what’s more interesting is what it says about Apple’s acquisition strategy and the future of accessory makers working in its ecosystem. Read more »
Steve Jobs said yesterday that Apple plans to “keep our powder dry” for “one or two” strategic acquisitions in the future. He was referring to the $50 billion in cash assets Apple is currently sitting on. But what fight is he gearing up for? Read more »
The New York Times is reporting that two companies with good reason to fear Apple’s growing influence in the tech industry recently got together to talk business. The hour-long meeting saw Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer meet Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen at Adobe HQ. Read more »
Google has acquired the Israeli video tour start-up Quiksee, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Rumors of the sale first started this weekend, but were confirmed today by a post on the Quiksee site, making this Google’s 28th acquisition since last August. Read more »
Following on from Oracle’s surprise acquisition of Sun, Stephen Jannise did some crystal-ball gazing and came up with a list of companies that could be potential targets for Oracle. He contends that the Sun move shows that Oracle isn’t afraid of doing deals in unexpected areas Read more »
Social gaming powerhouse Zynga has acquired yet another game development shop, this time Cambridge, Mass.-based Conduit Labs, it announced this morning. The deal, which will turn Conduit into Zynga’s Boston studio, was an all-stock transaction, according to Boston.com’s Scott Kirsner. Read more »
GameStop, the world’s largest game retailer with nearly 6,500 stores, is acquiring Kongregate, the free online game aggregator. The move brings GameStop into the casual, mobile and browser gaming world, with the promise it will market Kongregate to its customer base. Read more »
Google today announced it had acquired Metaweb Technologies, the ambitious startup building a database of all the web’s information called Freebase. Metaweb was yet another semantic web startup before its time, but with the help of Google it can potentially make a much bigger impact. Read more »
According to reports from the Quebec City newspaper La Soleil, Apple has recently acquired Poly9, a Canadian online mapping design house. The employees have apparently relocated to Cupertino where they will work on Apple’s mapping team. Read more »
It appears — originally based off a tweet from Robert Scoble, and then confirmed by Business Insider — that Apple has made yet another acquisition: the company who makes the Siri application for iPhone Read more »
Apple has apparently bought Siri, as documented in a FTC file flagged by Robert Scoble. Siri makes a really cool, almost magical tool that could easily be core to the iPhone experience. Read more »
London newspaper the Evening Standard reported a very interesting rumor following Apple’s quarterly financial report Tuesday. According to the British paper, Apple is in talks with ARM Holdings, the U.K. company that designs the chip used in the iPhone, along with a huge percentage of the chips found in mobile devices in general. Read more »
Let’s say it’s 2005 and online video is in its infancy. If you’re a Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, how much would it cost to start up and run a video sharing site with the hopes of flipping it for more than $1.6 billion? […] Read more »
Rovi is looking to expand its ability to help clients create more personalized recommendation systems, and to do so it quietly acquired media recommendation firm MediaUnbound for an undisclosed amount. The purchase, which closed Friday, March 12, could bolster Rovi’s data business by providing recommendation information […] Read more »
Google has gobbled up another small productivity company with today’s purchase of DocVerse, a plug-in to make Microsoft Office software collaborative for a reported $25 million. It’s an obvious shot at Microsoft, given the product was designed for Office, and founders are ex-Microsoft employees. Read more »
On Tuesday afternoon, Elliott Associates, L.P., a hedge fund with a significant position in shares of Novell, placed an unsolicited offer to buy the company for approximately $2 billion. The offer places a high valuation on Novell, and the troubled company must consider it carefully. Read more »
Google today announced it’s acquired the web photo editing tool Picnik. Picnik was self-funded and said to be profitable for more than a year based on premium services. This falls right into line with Google’s recent string of buys of companies started by its former employees. Read more »
