by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
After six months of negotiation, Samsung has withdrawn its bid to acquire SanDisk at $26 a share. Samsung CEO Yoon Woon Lee expressed his “disappointment” and cited multiple reasons why the deal wouldn’t work–including a surprise announcement by SanDisk of a quarter-billion dollar operating loss. SanDisk, for its part, replied that it never got a reply to a letter rejecting Samsung’s bid as too low at $26 a share. All sound familiar?
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Microchip (MCHP) and ON Semiconductor (ONNN) made a joint unsolicited bid to acquire Atmel (ATML) today for $5 a share in cash. The deal values Atmel at $2.3 billion.
In a letter to Atmel yesterday–which was released today by Microchip and ON Semi–the two companies says they were “deeply disappointed” that Atmel’s board “appears unwilling to consider a transaction at this time, under any circumstances.”
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
GPS chipmaker SiRF Technology Holdings (SIRF) is taking a bath following another rough quarter.
For Q2, revenue totaled $63.1 million, which was actually above the consensus of $62.1 million. But the company posted a non-GAAP loss of 19 cents a share, worse than the 13-cent loss the Street had expected.
Is something going on with Extreme Networks (EXTR)?
The networking hardware company’s shares today have jumped 18 cents, or 5.9%, to $3.25; volume totals 2.56 million shares, about triple the daily average.
Yahoo dispelled concerns that Q1 will be a disaster and released details of its last, best hope to stave off a Microsoft acquisition: its own growth plan.
The plan calls for revenue and cash flow acceleration in 2009 and 2010 (after a retrenchment in 2008). It also provides support for Yahoo’s argument that it’s worth at least $40 a share.
We think the plan is more of a “best case” scenario than a “most likely” case, but at least we now have concrete assumptions on which to evaluate Yahoo’s evaluation of itself.
Or is the Google CEO crazy like a fox? He certainly has been talking some crazy smack lately about Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Yahoo, as in [his] recent exchange in Portfolio, in which he suggests that a Microsoft/Yahoo combo might “break the Internet.”
Troubled video site Revver was bought by Brad Greenspan’s LiveUniverse last night for a price “many multiples more” than the $500,000 to $1.5 million reported recently, according to a source close to the deal. Our source would not disclose the selling price, but said “I wouldn’t say anyone got rich, but everybody was happy.” Revver had raised $12.7 million from Comcast, Turner, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Richards and William Randolph Hearst III. The Revver team will continue working under the new ownership.
by Peter Kafka, Managing Editor, Silicon Alley Insider
We hear from two sources that News Corp. and Yahoo are still discussing a possible transaction, designed to create an alternative to a Microsoft takeover. (Or at least the appearance of one). News Corp. [owner of Dow Jones, which owns this site--Ed.] declined to comment, and we don’t have details. We do not believe News Corp. is considering an outright acquisition of Yahoo. News Corp. has repeatedly said it’s not interested in buying Yahoo, and it’s hard to see how the company could afford to compete with Microsoft’s resources.
Microsoft’s shareholders are unhappy about the Yahoo offer–and they’re expressing their displeasure by voting with their feet. As they do, they’re driving the price of Microsoft’s stock down, which, in turn, is driving the value of Microsoft’s Yahoo bid down. As explained here, it’s now only worth about $29.50 per share.
While pundits yap away about how Yahoo is fresh acquisition meat, we find it hard to believe. The company is pretty pricey, with a market cap of roughly $33.5 billion, and the number of businesses that could actually swing it is minuscule.
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