Sony Emerges As Buyer of Ipix Assets
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By Andrew Eder, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.  Feb. 2--Sony Corp. is the buyer of bankrupt Ipix Corp.'s intellectual  assets, a Thursday court filing revealed.
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(InfoWorld) - Strong corporate financials, eager venture capital, a liberal lending environment, and markets in transition continue to inspire buyouts and acquisitions in the IT world with Avaya and Palm beingÂ just two of the high-profile targets this week. The transition to new technology in telecom and the Web in particular opens up opportunities for vendors. Network equipment manufacturerÂ Avaya announced a dealÂ for a $8.2 billion cash buyout by private equity firms TPG Capital and Silver Lake Partners on Monday. "We are starting to see more of this kind of public-firm-going-private. We've seen this with Alltel most recently and cable television companies as well," said telecom analyst Jeff Kagan. Last month, TPG and Goldman Sachs Group's private equity unitÂ bought mobile service company AlltelÂ for $27.5 billion. The Avaya deal will allow it to make a potentially costly transition from legacy TDM products to IP technology without having to worry about the quarter-to-quarter bottom line. The timing of the deal was good. Avaya shares have been doing well lately, so the buyout gives shareholders top dollar. Avaya shares rose $0.31 to close at $17.02 Tuesday. "Avaya obtained an impressive value for shareholders," said Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt. Private equity firmÂ Elevation Partners' acquisition of 25 percent of PalmÂ also caused investors to cheer. Palm rose $1.48 to close at $17.57 Monday. Palm gets a $325 million investment and also several industry leaders: Jon Rubinstein, former senior vice president of hardware engineering and head of the iPod division at Apple, as well as Apple's former CFO, Fred Anderson. It is widely hoped that Rubinstein will be able to spark new ideas at Palm, which is suffering from competition against device makers Research In Motion and Nokia. Palm last week announced the Foleo, pitched as a mobile device "companion" product, but IT investors are waiting for more of a breakthrough device for the company's aging product line. In other acquisition news,Â Flextronics International said Monday it will acquire SolectronÂ for $3.6 billion. Flextronics said the deal will streamline product development and supply chain management and create an electronics manufacturing giant with more than $30 billion in annual revenue. But Flextronics slipped $0.16 to close at $11.54 on the news. Traders sometimes dump shares of acquiring companies when deals are suspected to have a negative impact on financials. Investment firm Hilliard Lyons downgraded its rating on Flextronics from "buy" to "underperform." Meanwhile, telecom-equipment maker UTStarcom dropped $0.80 to $6.51 after announcing Monday that it had done a strategic review and decided not to seek a buyout or merger. Though new technology may bring more opportunities, it may take a while before new products and services generate significant revenue for vendors. Almost halfway through the year, moderate growth is still anticipated for global IT in 2007 and recent surveys suggest that corporate spending may be even softer than had been expected. AÂ survey from ChangeWave Research released last week, for example, reported that the percentage of companies planning to increase their spending has fallen to its lowest point in the last four years. In this environment, where capital is available but market growth is slow, IT is bound to see buyouts and acquisitions continue.
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Sony Corp. and a group of investors said they&#39;ve agreed in principle to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., the movie studio controlled by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, for $12 a share, or about $2.
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The Sony Corporation today agreed to buy the Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and its valuable film library after rival Time Warner withdrew from the bidding.
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Sony Communication Network Corp. 3789.T   said on Friday it would buy a 27 percent stake in Gamepot Inc.   3792.SP, an operator of a popular online golf game, for 2.6   billion yen ($22 million), as Sony Corp.'s 6758.T Internet   unit strives to beef up its online game operations.
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LOS ANGELES: A group headed by Sony Corp of America on Monday agreed to buy Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for about US$2.
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Japanese electronics firm looks to expand agreements with Wal-Mart, Costco to boost total sales. TOKYO  - Japan&#39;s Sony Corp.
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Sony Corp.&#39;s new PSP portable game console sold out at Tokyo electronic retailers such as Yodobashi Camera Co. and Bic Camera Co.
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Sony&#39;s handheld gaming device, the PlayStation Portable, reportedly sold more than 200,000 units on its first day of availability in Japan.
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Johnson &amp; Johnson said late last night it will acquire Guidant for $23.9 billion, a move that will give the big drug maker a bigger share of the explosive market for heart devices.
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(InfoWorld) - Koninklijke Philips Electronics has completed the sale of an 80.1 percent stake in its chip division to a group of private investment houses, the company said Saturday. The stake in NXP Semiconductors, theÂ new nameÂ of the chip unit,Â was sold to a groupÂ including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners, and AlpInvest Partners. Philips expects to take in â¬6.4 billion ($8.12 billion) in cash from the sale, after taxes. The European electronics giant will keep a 19.9 percent share of the business. Philips said the deal places the value of NXP at â¬8.3 billion. There have been a number of chip industry deals this year, including aÂ $17.6 billion offer for Freescale SemiconductorÂ last month. In July,Â Intel soldÂ its communications and application processor business to Marvell Technology Group for $600 million, while earlier this year,Â PMC-Sierra acquiredÂ the storage semiconductor business formerly owned by Agilent Technologies for $425 million.
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Sony Pictures is considering selling half of its animation studio and even more of its thriving digital visual-effects company, although the matter is still at an early stage.
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A consortium led by Sony Corp. of America that includes Comcast Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Inc.
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[Business India] Los Angeles, Sep 24 : After months of wrangling, a consortium led by Sony Corp has signed a definitive deal to buy the famous Hollywood studio MGM, Xinhua reports.
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The database provider continues to buy its growth.
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After Time Warner withdrew its $4.6 billion bid, Sony reached a deal to acquire the Lion. And the winner isâ¦ Sony! After Time Warner withdrew its $4.
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A bidding group headlined by Sony Corp. (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed in principle to buy Hollywood film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM.