mergers-acquisitions

During an employee Webcast earlier this week to discuss Intel's stock options program, the chip giant's CEO, Paul Otellini, shed a little background on Sun Microsystems' pursuit to find a buyer.

When queried by an employee about his thoughts regarding an IBM-Sun merger and whether Cisco's recent announcement about entering the storage market drove Sun to find a buyer, Otellini said:

Oh, I don't know if the Cisco entry spurred IBM. I think (a) cheap Sun price--a low price--spurred a lot of interest. I can tell you that Sun was shopped around the valley and around … Read more

Correction at 9:10 a.m. PDT: The size of the average M&A deal is lower than originally reported.

Israel's high-tech merger activity fell last year, but it's IPO market took a far greater hit, according to a report released Wednesday.

The country exited the year without a single high-tech initial public offering, a first since 2003, according to the Israel Venture Capital Research Center report.

With the global economy taking a beating and the markets leaving investors running for cover, it's not surprising to see companies pulling back on IPO plans, in hopes of … Read more

Shares of Sun Microsystems took a hit in Monday morning trading, falling at least 7 percent while the broader markets advance.

Sun fell as low as $7.53 a share, following reports Friday in The Wall Street Journal that IBM is currently engaged in combing through Sun's contracts, as part of the evaluation process on whether to move forward with an acquisition.

Sun's shares had been on a rocket ride, after reports surfaced last week in the Journal that IBM was in negotiations to acquire the company for roughly $6.5 billion.

After the reports surfaced, Sun's … Read more

Oracle on Monday announced plans to acquire Relsys, which develops drug safety and risk management applications.

The acquisition, which is expected to close by June, is designed to bolster Oracle's Health Sciences Global Business Unit, formed last summer. Health sciences is one of a number of industry sectors into which Oracle is delving via a buying spree.

Relsys develops applications designed to aid drug, biotech, and medical-device companies in streamlining their operations, adhering to regulatory compliance and improving the safety of their products.

With the acquisition, Oracle aims to provide its customers with the ability to identify safety risks … Read more

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once again publicly declared his interest in a Yahoo search deal, during a keynote speech at the 2009 Media Summit in New York.

And as with his past declarations of interest, Yahoo's stock responded. Yahoo climbed 4.84 percent to $14.07 a share in early morning trading.

Ballmer, according to a post in AllThingsD, had this to say about Yahoo and new CEO Carol Bartz:

I'm sure when it's appropriate, we'll have a chance to sit down and talk.

...Whether a deal gets done or not, who knows.

...There are a … Read more

Sun Microsystems shares soared Wednesday, as reports surfaced that the struggling hardware maker was in merger talks with IBM.

Sun ended the day up 78.9 percent to close at $8.89 a share. The last time Sun traded at such levels was back in September.

Although Sun's stock got a jolt as reports circulated that the workstation and storage company was in merger talks with IBM, it did not return it to its 52-week high levels of $16.72 a share.

Some analysts issued support for such a deal.

Jeff Goldberg, a senior analyst with financial research and … Read more

Update at 9:13 a.m. PDT, with IBM comment and Sun's stock price.

With Sun Microsystems reportedly in merger talks with IBM and its stock soaring as high as 83.7 percent in morning trading, Sun's largest shareholder may find its activist role is paying off.

Southeastern Asset Management, which holds a 22 percent stake, announced in October that it was seeking an active role in the company and would engage in talks with not only Sun's management but also third parties, in an effort to maximize shareholder value.

That was followed in December with an … Read more

Pure Digital, maker of the popular Flip Video camera, is reportedly nearing a deal to be acquired by Cisco, according to a report in TechCrunch.

TechCrunch cites several anonymous sources saying that San Francisco-based Pure Digital is considering a sale. Another source says the Cisco sale "is a done deal," and puts the price tag at "north of $500 million."

Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan wasn't available for comment.

Pure Digital had been in the business of making one-time-use cameras for about five years before it hit the jackpot with its Flip Video, a small, … Read more

Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has one word for investors attempting to gather any information floating in the wind about whether Yahoo will, or won't, do a deal with Microsoft: chill.

Bartz, speaking Tuesday in San Francisco at her first investor conference since taking the helm as Yahoo CEO more than six weeks ago, relayed the same message she conveyed to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

"I said this to Mr. Ballmer, I will not negotiate with you and 30,000 of my closest friends. I will negotiate privately," said Bartz, adding to investors, "If something happens, you … Read more