MetroPCS offers &#36;5.12B for Leap
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Discount wireless phone provider MetroPCS Communications Inc. on Tuesday offered to buy regional rival Leap Wireless International Inc. for about $5.12 billion in stock &#151; a deal that could effectively create another nationwide carrier.
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- Virgin Mobile USA Inc. filed with U.S. regulators on Friday to raise up to $506 million in an initial public offering of Class A common stock, up from its earlier filing to raise up to $100 million.
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The company says that in the most recent third quarter, the global market for handheld devices showed Microsoft&#39;s Windows Mobile Pocket PC platform accounting for nearly half the three million units shipped.
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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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The Motley Fool - Sybase (NYSE: SY - News) last week shelled out $425 million in cash for Mobile 365, a company backed by venture capital. It's certainly a big deal -- in comparison with Sybase's $2 billion market cap -- and investors nudged the stock down 4% on the news. Yet, to be a player in the fast-moving mobile world, high-priced deals are unavoidable, and in this case, Sybase made a savvy choice.
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MetroPCS Communications Inc made an  unsolicited offer on Tuesday to buy smaller rival Leap Wireless  International Inc for more than $5 billion in stock, seeking to  create a national U.S. wireless service provider.
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Virgin Mobile USA Inc. filed with U.S.  regulators on Friday to raise up to $506 million in an initial  public offering of Class A common stock, up from its earlier  filing to raise up to $100 million.
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Virgin Mobile USA Inc, a venture of Sprint Nextel Corp  and Virgin Group , filed on Tuesday for an initial public offering of up to $467.5 million to raise money to repay debt and for general purposes.
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Aether Systems Inc., a Maryland wireless data company that is selling off its operating units, said yesterday it received a &#36;30 million offer for a division it had already agreed to sell to another buyer for &#36;25 million.
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America&#39;s third-largest mobile operator, Sprint, yesterday agreed to buy the fifth-largest, Nextel, in a well-flagged cash and shares deal worth $36.3billion (Â£19billion).
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Cingular Wireless LLC on Monday said MetroPCS Inc. will buy some of its wireless spectrum licenses in a $230 million cash deal designed to help meet conditions set by regulators as part of its acquisition of AT&amp;T Wireless Services Inc.
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Platinum Equity is buying Covad Communications for about $304 million.
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(InfoWorld) - Ultramobile PCs, the new product category developed by Microsoft, have been unsuccessful so far because they're too expensive and their batteries don't last long enough, a top Advanced Micro DevicesÂ executive said Friday. AMD is exploring the prospects for ultramobile PCs, which includeÂ Samsung Electronics' Q1, but wants to be sure they make sense for users before making a big commitment, said Phil Hester, AMD's chief technology officer, in an interview at Computex. The devices are currently more expensive than many laptop PCs and their batteries don't last very long compared to other devices. They also need new screens that can be viewed outdoors under the glare of the sun, according to Hester. "We have a processor for that space when the space is ready," he said. Most of the big design wins for ultramobile PCs have gone to Intel and Via Technologies, which may help to explain Hester's coolness to the market. Samsung recently announced a new version of the Q1, called the Q1 Ultra, which starts at about $800 and uses Intel's new McCaslin processor. The new Intel chip should improve battery life considerably over the previous model, from 1.5 hours to more than 4 hours, according to Samsung. But AMD has had some design wins too, with itsÂ Geode processors. Raon Digital, a South Korean company, uses the Geode LX800 in its Vega ultramobile PC, and has put an LX900 in its Everun, which hasn't been launched yet. The Vega boasts 6-hours of battery life, while the Everun lasts seven hours on its standard battery, or up to 12 hours with an upgraded battery pack. Besides ultramobiles, the Geode family is aimed at low-end laptop PCs and the high end of the handset market, Hester said. There's a Geode processor in Nicholas Negroponte'sÂ One-Laptop-Per-Child laptop. The OLPC project is trying to reduce the cost of its laptop to $100 and put it in the hands of school children in the developing world. Hester believes the battle to put the next billion people on the Internet is not going to be won by PCs, however. "I really think for most people, the device is going to be the handset," he said. Â
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The mobile phone maker said  fourth-quarter net profit rose to $2.6 billion and that it had reached its goal of 40 percent market share in handset sales. The companyâs stock soared.
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Alcatel  has expanded its foothold in the key North American market with the acquisition of a mobile software provider and a conference technology business for &#36;277 million.
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Sales will be $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion, compared with an October forecast of $3.46 billion to $3.75 billion, because of lower revenue from handsets.
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Wireless service provider MetroPCS  Communications Inc  said on Tuesday it proposed buying  competitor Leap Wireless International Inc  for more  than $5 billion in stock.