NBC Will Control The Weather
I saw this story tonight, and I honestly don’t know how this will work out for the viewer. Are they going to keep the focus of the network on reporting the weather, or will we be seeing runs of Twister and The Perfect Storm from time to time?
NBC Universal and private equity firms Bain Capital and Blackstone Group said on Sunday they agreed to buy The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications.
Terms of the widely expected deal were not disclosed, but sources familiar with the transaction said the price tag was just under $3.5 billion.
I just hope they don’t lose their focus, because I’m not sure a Law Order: Special Weather Unit would work either.
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Can You Hear Them Now?
Oh great. Does this mean they will have yet another battle in NASCAR about the Alltel logo becoming the Verizon logo? We’ve barely begun to recover from the last fiasco (Cingular changing to AT&T).
Vodafone Group PLC confirmed Thursday that Verizon Wireless is in advanced talks about acquiring U.S. carrier Alltel Communications LLC.
News reports have suggested the possible deal would value Alltel, the fifth-largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers, at $27 billion.
Vodafone holds a 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless, which is controlled by Verizon Communications.
I can just hear the fights that this will spark. Oy.
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The Best Part Of Waking Up
When companies merge, or one product segment is acquired by another, they sometimes don’t make sense. This one, however, seems to make sense.
J.M. Smucker Co (SJM.N) will acquire Folgers, the largest U.S. coffee business, from Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) for stock valued at $2.95 billion, the companies said on Wednesday.
The deal will give P&G shareholders a 53.5 percent stake in Smucker, known for its namesake jellies and jams and which also makes Jif peanut butter and Crisco shortening, brands it acquired from P&G in 2002.
Just imagine the new line of flavored coffees that will be coming our way. Ha! I’m just not sure America is ready for Boysenberry Lattes though.
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A Sweet Deal
Have you ever opened a bag of M&M’s and then set a n open pack of spearmint gum next to it? If you leave it there for a few hours, your chocolate will begin to taste minty. Don’t believe me? Try it.
M&M’s candy maker Mars Inc has teamed up with billionaire Warren Buffett to buy No. 1 chewing gum manufacturer Wm Wrigley Jr Co (WWY.N) for $23 billion, creating the world’s largest confectionery company.
The deal, announced on Monday, will give Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) a stake of more than 10 percent in Wrigley, which will become a separate Mars subsidiary. Buffett’s other food holdings include a stake in Kraft Foods Inc (KFT.N).
I find it fascinating that Wrigley is worth $23 billion.
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Microsoft Says Yahoo Isn’t So Valuable
How much is your company really worth when the company trying to take it over decides to lower their bid?
Microsoft Corp is evaluating its bid for Yahoo Inc because the Internet company may have lost value since Microsoft made its offer, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The news, first reported by Reuters, sent Yahoo shares down more than 5 percent in extended trade.
After weeks of silence, recent comments from various sources to journalists suggest the software maker is hardening its stance and pushing Yahoo for action.
Ain’t it funny how everyone thinks the acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft will ruin Yahoo, yet just a couple months ago everyone said Yahoo was worthless anyway?
I wouldn’t pay money for Yahoo. Then again, I wouldn’t pay money for a lot of things.
Also posted at The Alligator Pit
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Sphere: Related ContentJPMorgan Chase Ups Their Bid. Was Anyone Competing?
So… I guess the whole JPMorgan Chase buying Bear Stearns for just $236 million was just a test.
JPMorgan Chase & Co on Monday raised its takeover offer for Bear Stearns Cos to about five times its original bid and struck a deal to buy nearly 40 percent of the bank, all but locking up the controversial acquisition.
Under the revised deal, JPMorgan will buy 95 million newly issued Bear Stearns shares, and Bear’s board agreed to vote in favor of the offer. With those shares, JPMorgan would own 39.5 percent of Bear Stearns and have secured the backing of Bear Chairman James Cayne, owner of a 3 percent stake in Bear.
“It looks like JPMorgan has this deal sewn up right now,” said John Augustine, chief investment strategist with Fifth Third Investment Advisors.
From the sound of things, I think they had it “all sewn up” last week, but someone must have come in and complained about something that would have soured the whole deal. Why else would they come back and decide to offer 5 times their original amount?
I think even Howie Mandel would say that, compared to a year ago (at $170.23 per share), $10 per share is still a very good deal.
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The Silence Of The Bear
Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment firm in the United States, was in danger of collapsing. The government stepped in to prevent a total collapse and to ensure the orderly function of the financial markets.
JPMorgan Chase was permitted to acquire Bear Stearns for $2 per share, or $236 million, which was less than 90% of the company’s value on Friday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday defended government moves to rescue Bear Stearns Cos Inc (BSC.N) from bankruptcy, saying it was important to ensure the orderly function of financial markets.
Speaking to reporters following a White House meeting between President George W. Bush and his economic advisers, Paulson said those worried about the government rescue creating a “moral hazard” should keep in mind that Bear Stearns (BSC.N) shareholders face considerable losses with the sale of the investment firm to JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) for $2 a share.
There’s something amiss when the fifth largest investment firm in our nation is only worth $236 million, yet just last month, the Yahoo board of directors refused to entertain Microsoft’s $44.6 billion offer.
That puts the value of Bear Stearns at 1/2 of 1 percent of the value of Yahoo (based on the amount of Microsoft’s offer). Yet, if they were allowed to collapse the demise of the investment firm would have had a ripple effect on thousands of businesses across the nation and it would have destroyed much of our economy.
That’s an awful lot of power for one investment firm, if you ask me, and now JPMorgan Chase, already the third largest banking institution in the United States, wields more of that power.
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Did Sun OverSpend On MySQL?
I have mixed feelings about this acquisition. First of all, I have to ask the same question the journalist asks. Was it really worth it? $1 billion?!? Wow. If I was in charge of Sun Microsystems I could probably think of a number of things worth more to my company than MySQL.
Sun Microsystems’ purchase of MySQL for $1 billion is not only the largest open-source deal yet, it’s almost bigger than all previous open-source deals combined, including RedHat’s $326 million buy of JBoss, Citrix’s $500 million purchase of XenSource and Yahoo’s $350 million acquisition of Zimbra.
But the deal raises a number of questions for Sun. Was that $1 billion well spent? What will Sun do with its new database? And will the purchase improve its standing in the enterprise?
While it will take several years to see the ultimate value of the acquisition, Sun may well have overpaid, Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT, said in a telephone interview. “To paraphrase Sen. Edward Dirkson, a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you’re talking real money,” he quipped.
Don’t get me wrong, I love MySQL, and use it on a daily basis, so as long as they don’t muck with it too much I will be happy. But I can’t help but wonder what their true motive is. I know they are trying to expand into more of a software market, and this acquisition is definitely going to take time to prove it was really worth it.
Save Us BofA, You’re Our Only Hope
Countrywide is the nation’s largest mortgage lender. Countrywide is going bankrupt. Countrywide’s only hope, is Bank of America. If BofA doesn’t step in, Countrywide is toast.
A buyout of hobbled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial likely would be approved by regulators, analysts say, because otherwise the company could file for bankruptcy, injecting further uncertainty into the home-loan market.
Bank of America Corp. is in talks to acquire Countrywide, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported Thursday online, citing unidentified people familiar with the deal. The transaction would put the country’s largest mortgage lender, which has experienced a surge in home-loan defaults and has seen its share price plummet, in the hands of the largest U.S. bank by market capitalization.
The question is, will they be allowed to acquire Countrywide? Current law prevents any bank from increasing their market share to more than 10 percent of total U.S. deposits. So the government has a choice. They can let Countrywide go belly-up, which would not be good for anyone involved because of the turmoil it would cause in the market, or they can allow BofA to break federal law and exceed that limit.
Federal law bars banks from making acquisitions that would increase a bank’s market share to 10 percent of U.S. deposits, and Bank of America is nearing that point at 9.88 percent. However, experts disagreed about whether deposits held by Countrywide’s federally regulated thrift, Countrywide Bank, would count toward that limit.
I don’t think they should be allowed to break the law. The law is there for a reason, and I see no point in changing the law to allow for this. Sure, the market would be thrust into turmoil, but once we cross the line of allowing financial institutions to arbitrarily break the law, where do we stop?
AT&T To Acquire EchoStar?
As a DISH subscriber, I am not too sure I am happy with this news.
AT&T Inc (T.N) is trying to put together a bid for EchoStar Communications Corp (DISH.O) before the end of the year, whetted by the satellite operator’s recent stock dip, according to Barron’s financial newspaper.
Shares of the second-largest U.S. satellite television operator fell 24 percent in one month, Barron’s said in its November 19 edition, which may make reaching an agreement on a share purchase price easier.
In the past, AT&T has supposedly offered $65 a share and EchoStar has demanded $75 a share, Barron’s said.
At Friday close, EchoStar’s stock was at $39.83 on the Nasdaq, up 32 cents on the day.
Citing a person familiar with the company, Barron’s said AT&T would like to get a deal done quickly because it wants an agreement in place before the next presidential election, when any victory for the Democrats, antitrust experts believe, would probably mean increased scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions.
In the past, I never had a good experience with AT&T. I wonder if the new AT&T is better? If not, I may find myself checking out DirecTV in a year or so.
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