EBay Inc agreed to sell 65% of its Skype Internet-calling unit to an investor group led by Silver Lake for about $2 billion to focus on reviving sales at its main e-commerce site. The buyers will pay $1.9 billion in cash and will also give EBay a $125 million note, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Ebay, which had planned an initial public offering for Skype, will retain 35% of the business.
The sale lessens CEO John Donahoe’s dependence on a unit that he has said doesn’t fit with the rest of EBay’s operations. The company is improving its Internet-retail operations to stem customer defections to Amazon.com Inc. Donahoe’s predecessor bought Skype for about $2.6 billion in 2005 and wrote down its value the following year.
The buyers also include Andreessen Horowitz, a venture-capital firm headed by Internet pioneer Marc Andreessen, and Index Ventures, a firm that invested in Skype before EBay acquired it.
Skype, started in 2002, lets people make calls from their computers to land lines and mobile phones, as well as other computers. It makes money when users call regular phones, set up voice mail and use text-messaging services.
Donahoe said in May that Skype’s value in an IPO could be over $2 billion.
Agencies
Showing posts with label stake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stake. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Does Huawei eye for stake in Alcatel-Lucent?
China's Huawei Technologies said on Friday it had no plans to buy a stake in Alcatel-Lucent, two days after the French-American telecoms equipment maker's stock jumped on market talk a Chinese rival could acquire it.
"Our customer-centric innovation strategy is driving Huawei's growth and that remains our strategy," Ross Gan, global head of corporate communications at Huawei told Reuters. "Huawei has no plans to take a stake in Alcatel-Lucent," he said.
Alcatel-Lucent's shares rose 16 percent on Wednesday on the market chatter and a rating upgrade by Natixis. By 0820 GMT on Friday, the stock had gained 3.1 percent in a broader market .FCHI up 1.3 percent.
A public relations official at Huawei's domestic rival, ZTE Corp, also said she had no information on any upcoming deal. "I think it is just a rumour," she said.
Huawei and ZTE have been expanding their operations aggressively in overseas markets, but those efforts are being driven mostly by organic growth. Analysts said any acquisitions would face stern regulatory scrutiny.
That scrutiny derailed an attempt by Huawei and partner Bain Capital to buy U.S.-based 3Com in 2007.
"Huawei is keen to expand internationally, so I'm not surprised that this has come up, but I would be surprised if it went ahead," said Damien Bailey, a telecoms specialist at law firm Simmons & Simmons.
"There will undoubtedly be consolidation in the telecoms equipment manufacturing sector, and I think there will probably only be three or four left, with Huawei and ZTE being two of those," he said.
Besides the regulatory concerns, any deal for Alcatel-Lucent would mark a major acquisition as the 2006 merger between France's Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent Technologies has a current market value of about $9 billion.
For a related analysis on rival Nokia Siemens Networks
Alcatel-Lucent has been struggling to turn a profit since its 2006 merger, which was supposed to help it cut costs and better compete with Chinese gear makers including Huawei and ZTE. ($ = 6.83 yuan)
Agencies
"Our customer-centric innovation strategy is driving Huawei's growth and that remains our strategy," Ross Gan, global head of corporate communications at Huawei told Reuters. "Huawei has no plans to take a stake in Alcatel-Lucent," he said.
Alcatel-Lucent's shares rose 16 percent on Wednesday on the market chatter and a rating upgrade by Natixis. By 0820 GMT on Friday, the stock had gained 3.1 percent in a broader market .FCHI up 1.3 percent.
A public relations official at Huawei's domestic rival, ZTE Corp, also said she had no information on any upcoming deal. "I think it is just a rumour," she said.
Huawei and ZTE have been expanding their operations aggressively in overseas markets, but those efforts are being driven mostly by organic growth. Analysts said any acquisitions would face stern regulatory scrutiny.
That scrutiny derailed an attempt by Huawei and partner Bain Capital to buy U.S.-based 3Com in 2007.
"Huawei is keen to expand internationally, so I'm not surprised that this has come up, but I would be surprised if it went ahead," said Damien Bailey, a telecoms specialist at law firm Simmons & Simmons.
"There will undoubtedly be consolidation in the telecoms equipment manufacturing sector, and I think there will probably only be three or four left, with Huawei and ZTE being two of those," he said.
Besides the regulatory concerns, any deal for Alcatel-Lucent would mark a major acquisition as the 2006 merger between France's Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent Technologies has a current market value of about $9 billion.
For a related analysis on rival Nokia Siemens Networks
Alcatel-Lucent has been struggling to turn a profit since its 2006 merger, which was supposed to help it cut costs and better compete with Chinese gear makers including Huawei and ZTE. ($ = 6.83 yuan)
Agencies
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Toshiba to take over 100 percent of Panasonic LCD JV
Japan's Toshiba Corp plans to take a 100 per cent stake in its struggling liquid crystal display (LCD) joint venture with Panasonic Corp, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology, currently owned 60 per cent by Toshiba and 40 per cent by Panasonic, is the world's second-largest maker of small and midsized LCD panels used in cell phones, car navigation systems and other devices.
Toshiba has decided to buy Panasonic's 40 per cent stake for several billion yen, the source said, confirming an earlier report in the Nikkei business daily.
No one at Toshiba or Panasonic, formerly named Matsushita Electric Industrial, was immediately available for comment.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been made public.
Hit by falling prices and sluggish demand, Toshiba Matsushita Display is expected to post an operating loss of 30 billion yen on sales of 270 billion yen for the financial year ending this month.
Despite the earnings downturn, Toshiba still views the small and midsize display business as an important business and taking a 100 per cent stake will allow it to accelerate decision-making and restructuring, the source said.
Toshiba is planning to cut costs by 300 billion yen in the next business year from April as it braces for its worst-ever annual loss in the year ending this month.
At the same time the deal should allow Panasonic, the world's top maker of plasma TVs, to focus more of its resources on large displays, though it will still hold 25 per cent in another small and midsized LCD venture majority-owned by Hitachi Ltd.
Toshiba Matsushita Display held 10.3 per cent of the global market for small and midsize LCDs in 2008, second only to Sharp Corp's 20.2 per cent share, the Nikkei said, citing figures from research firm DisplaySearch.
The move will mark the latest realignment of the LCD sector.
Earlier this month NEC Corp said it would close a LCD plant in Japan while Sony Corp and Seiko Epson Corp announced that they were considering an alliance in small-sized LCDs.
After making the venture wholly-owned, Toshiba plans to scale back production of amorphous silicon panels, which have been hit hard by sliding prices, and focus on higher-end polycrystalline silicon panels, the Nikkei said.
Agencies
Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology, currently owned 60 per cent by Toshiba and 40 per cent by Panasonic, is the world's second-largest maker of small and midsized LCD panels used in cell phones, car navigation systems and other devices.
Toshiba has decided to buy Panasonic's 40 per cent stake for several billion yen, the source said, confirming an earlier report in the Nikkei business daily.
No one at Toshiba or Panasonic, formerly named Matsushita Electric Industrial, was immediately available for comment.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been made public.
Hit by falling prices and sluggish demand, Toshiba Matsushita Display is expected to post an operating loss of 30 billion yen on sales of 270 billion yen for the financial year ending this month.
Despite the earnings downturn, Toshiba still views the small and midsize display business as an important business and taking a 100 per cent stake will allow it to accelerate decision-making and restructuring, the source said.
Toshiba is planning to cut costs by 300 billion yen in the next business year from April as it braces for its worst-ever annual loss in the year ending this month.
At the same time the deal should allow Panasonic, the world's top maker of plasma TVs, to focus more of its resources on large displays, though it will still hold 25 per cent in another small and midsized LCD venture majority-owned by Hitachi Ltd.
Toshiba Matsushita Display held 10.3 per cent of the global market for small and midsize LCDs in 2008, second only to Sharp Corp's 20.2 per cent share, the Nikkei said, citing figures from research firm DisplaySearch.
The move will mark the latest realignment of the LCD sector.
Earlier this month NEC Corp said it would close a LCD plant in Japan while Sony Corp and Seiko Epson Corp announced that they were considering an alliance in small-sized LCDs.
After making the venture wholly-owned, Toshiba plans to scale back production of amorphous silicon panels, which have been hit hard by sliding prices, and focus on higher-end polycrystalline silicon panels, the Nikkei said.
Agencies
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