On-demand music service pioneer Rhapsody is acquiring Napster, the company announced Monday. The deal is just the latest example of how the rapid ascent of Spotify — which GigaOM called “the new Napster” back in 2009 — is shaking up the on-demand music space in a big way. Read more »
Autonomy’s impending acquisition by Hewlett-Packard is nearly done. The controversial $10.3 billion deal was cleared by regulators in the U.S. and Australia on Thursday, according to reports. Autonomy shareholders still have until Monday morning 10:00 a.m. U.K time to weigh in. Read more »
With the stock market in flux, do tech startups stand a chance when it comes to luring investors? To find out, we polled GigaOM readers on what’s hot, what’s not, which sectors might favor buyouts versus IPOs and how it all will change in the near ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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 »
Exclusive: Group Commerce, a New York City-based company that sells a software platform to let publishers host their own daily deal applications, has acquired geo-location startup Socialight. The Socialight team and technology will be put toward fleshing out Group Commerce’s mobile strategy, said CEO Jonty Kelt. Read more »
Hewlett-Packard plans to spend some $10.25 billion to acquire Autonomy, the United Kingdom–based software and services company. HP’s balance sheet currently has $13 billion in cash. Why is the company making such a big bet? According to HP’s CEO, Leo Apotheker, it’s now or never. Read more »
Evernote, the notetaking software program aimed at helping users “remember everything,” has acquired image-sharing app Skitch. The full version of Skitch previously cost $19.99 in the Mac store, but will be free and soon available on “every desktop and mobile platform under the sun.” Read more »
Hewlett-Packard searching for a new role for itself in the post PC world is looking to sell its PC hardware business, according to Bloomberg. The company is also looking to buy enterprise search giant, Autonomy for $10 billion. Read more »
Google rocked the mobile world on Monday, August 15, with the news that it will buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, marking a 63-percent premium for the handset manufacturer. It’s a move that ushers Google into the exclusive club of companies that control both the hardware and software elements of their smartphone offerings, and it will enable Google to design handsets that are more closely integrated with Android. However, the deal doesn’t come without its risks, and it remains to be seen just how it will affect other handset makers, competition from Microsoft and the crucial patent issues currently surrounding Google. Companies mentioned in this report include Apple, Research In Motion and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Google wants to “supercharge” Android with its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, but what exactly does that mean? Some think we’ll see Google try to provide a hardware/software platform combo to rival Apple, but there are a few big reasons why that won’t happen anytime soon. Read more »
The mobile world is witnessing an amazing feeding frenzy of patent litigation. Among other cases, Apple is hoping to slow the momentum of Google’s Android by pursuing infringement claims against HTC, Motorola and Samsung; Skyhook and Google are locked in a “location battle royale” regarding positioning ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The Federal Communications Commission said it would combine the review of AT&T’s purchase of spectrum from Qualcomm with the agency’s review of Ma Bell’s $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile. Is the FCC worried about consolidating so much spectrum into the hands of one company? Read more »
Facebook has acquired Push Pop Press, a San Francisco-based digital publishing platform startup in a move likely aimed at building out its forthcoming iPad app and strengthening its HTML5 development team. Read more »
Windstream, a Little Rock, Ark.-based phone and broadband company says it is buying PAETEC Holding Company of Fairport, N.Y. for $2.3 billion. On closing this deal, Windstream will have a bigger national footprint with a bigger fiber network to service the luractive business customers. Read more »
European startups have a long history of trying to break the American market — a move that works for some but not all. Now the CEO of print-on-demand website Photobox says that Europe’s entrepreneurs should learn from history if they want to build strong companies. Read more »
The FinTech Innovation Lab, an accelerator program for financial tech startups, graduated its first class on Friday. This first batch of companies is bringing some impressive ideas to bear on data, analytics and payments and showing there’s room for new approaches in the financial sector. Read more »
When Google discontinued support for QR codes in its Places product earlier this year, many saw it as an early death knell for the barcode scanning technology. But Google’s latest acquisition is evidence that the company may not be completely abandoning QR technology just yet. Read more »
Twitter announced Tuesday it has acquired BackType, an analytics platform aimed at helping companies and brands gauge their social media impact. The possible rationale for the deal is BackType’s Storm real-time big data processing platform that could help Twitter offer well-defined analytics. Read more »
Zynga has shown a notable uptick in acquisitions in recent months. But although much has been made of the volume and frequency of Zynga’s M&A activity, the S-1 Zynga filed Friday for its planned IPO revealed exactly how savvy it has been in making those deals. Read more »
It’s not quite the $150,000 offered to Y Combinator companies, but DreamIt Ventures, a Philadelphia-based accelerator program, is dangling some cash of its own to its startups in an attempt to keep them nearby and ensure that it stays competitive. Read more »
In Silicon Valley, happy days are indeed here again: Investors are feeling generous, the IPO market is percolating, and the tech industry’s biggest players have worked up a very healthy appetite for mergers and acquisitions. Read more »
Bunchball, the social gaming software company, has raised $6.5 million in a new funding round. The San Jose, Calif.-based startup has recently received “knocks on the door” from potential acquirers, but opted to raise money instead to bet on growing more, CEO Jim Scullion told me. Read more »
At the IEEE Technology Time Machine Symposium last week I listened to the world’s leading academics, engineers, executives, and government officials project what the world will look like in 2020. The future brings technology together for everything from enhancing the human experience to improving environmental sustainability. Read more »
Google’s acquisition of social analytics technology startup PostRank indicates the company is also looking beyond its own walls to get its social efforts off the ground. Scouting for fresh talent externally is a smart move for Google, an aging player in an increasingly cutthroat industry. Read more »
Groupon’s hotly-awaited initial stock offering will either stand as a beacon of hope to technology and Internet stocks of all kinds, or as a giant warning sign indicating a huge bubble of irrational exuberance. The company’s prospectus contains plenty of evidence for both sides. Read more »
Just months after raising $950 million, Groupon has filed for an IPO as it looks to stay ahead of a gaggle of competitors in the daily deal market. The company faces challenges in its high user acquisition cost and expansion into local and mobile. Read more »
Gamification startup Badgeville expects to book $10 million in sales for 2011, its first year in business, according to CEO Kris Duggan. He claims that being the new kid on the gamification block is an asset. “We’ve built this over last year with modern approaches.” Read more »
Kayak kicked off 2011 with major sales growth in the run-up to its planned IPO, according to a regulatory filing. The travel search company made $52.6 million in the first three months of 2011, representing a 43.4 percent increase over the same period in 2010 Read more »
This morning, as algae oil maker Solazyme made its debut on the Nasdaq, the company’s co-founders and investors are popping the champagne corks on pricing shares at the high end at $18 per share. Who made good in Solazyme’s debut? Hint: The Roda Group, co-founders and Braemar. Read more »
The global economy continues to face uncertainty, but despite this, many technology companies have cash on hand and are opting to spend it on mergers and acquisitions. Here we examine some likely strategies from five different companies: IBM, Oracle, HP, Cisco and Hewlett-Packard. Read more »
Twitter officially confirmed its long-rumored acquisition of TweetDeck on Wednesday morning. Twitter/TweetDeck rumors have been flying around for weeks now, so lots of folks have had time to form opinions about the tie-up. Here are some of the more interesting takes on the situation. Read more »
We’re hearing that Cisco is shutting down Eos, a social publishing platform aimed at media and entertainment companies, as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts. While Eos was by all accounts a cool service, shuttering it is a smart move from a strategic perspective. Read more »
After overseeing 75 acquisitions in 7 years at Cisco in the 1990s, then-CSO Mike Volpi helped the company become a role model for tech M&A and an acquisition-as-growth strategy. In this second post of a two-part series, he reveals four more strategies for smart acquisitions. Read more »
After overseeing 75 acquisitions in seven years at Cisco in the 1990s, then-CSO Mike Volpi helped the company become a role model for tech M&A and an acquisition-as-growth strategy. In this two-part series, he reveals six ways companies can make sure their acquisitions create value. Read more »
Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Skype is the largest the company has ever made, and it’s raised many questions in the process. This research note examines Skype’s overall value and where it fits strategically into the world of Microsoft. From Office 365 and Bing to Xbox Kinect and Windows Phone, there are numerous ways in which Microsoft can leverage the functionality of its newest addition — and numerous risks it could incur in the process. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Cisco, Panasonic and Google. For a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
LinkedIn made its NYSE debut Thursday morning with a bang, with an IPO that made $352.8 million for the company. The question now is: What will LinkedIn buy with its new cash? Here’s a short list of startups that could make it onto LinkedIn’s shopping list. Read more »
Recent reports have Microsoft set to enter talks to acquire Nokia’s mobile business outright for a price tag that could be in the range of $30 billion. It’as a risky move, but here’s why a takeover of the world’s largest handset maker could pay off. Read more »
Landis+Gyr is on the auction block, and big smart grid suitors like General Electric, Toshiba and Honeywell ABB are rumored to be interested in paying $2 billlion-plus for the smart meter giant. Strategic buyers could find value by integrating into their own lines of business. Read more »
Nuance announced Wednesday that it has already signed on 2,500 devs to its Mobile Developer Program in its first 90 days. Dozens of voice-enabled apps have already been created through the program. Nuance announced this milestone amid rumors of ongoing strategic partnership talks with Apple. Read more »
AVOS, the new startup run by YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, could be targeting the consumer and brand research market with its acquisition of Tap11. Such a move would pit the startup against tech industry stalwarts like Google and Salesforce. Read more »
