The writing’s on the wall. Mobile is the future, and it requires different skill than the web. Entrepreneurship is more fetishized than ever, making standard hiring tough. The result is days like today where Yahoo, Twitter, Salesforce, and Box all bought startups, and Facebook and Microsoft were reported to be in talks for major acquisitions. Big is a scary thing to be right now. → Read More
Larry Ellison said today that Oracle does not plan to do any acquisitions in the next few years but would not rule one out down the road. He made the remarks in a CNBC interview at OracleOpenWorld in San Francisco. Ellison was also asked about a successor to the company he has run for the past three decades. He only said there are several who could take his place. → Read More
Microsoft just announced that it has now officially completed the acquisition of Yammer, the four-year-old social networking company for enterprises. All the closing conditions have now been met and the Yammer team will now officially join the Microsoft Office Division. After weeks of rumors, the $1.2 billion acquisition was first announced in late June. According to Microsoft, the company is… → Read More
Here’s a common problem: you notice an awesome article, video, or song in the Facebook news feed but there’s no easy way to save it for later. So while Facebook only bought the talent and not the tech behind Spool, a content caching service, I bet within a few months they’ll help Facebook launch a news feed button for saving external content to the web and your mobile device.
It could even be… → Read More
Two years ago, app developer tap tap tap launched Camera+ onto the App Store. For only a buck, users could get way more mileage out of the mobile photography experience, bringing 27 color effects and granular controls to their iPhone cameras. These features have made it one of the most popular camera apps out there. So popular, in fact, that Camera+ rang in its second birthday today with its 8… → Read More
Airbnb has acquired Crashpadder, a London-based company that runs an online marketplace where people can list their homes and apartments to be rented out for short stays (essentially, it was like a smaller Airbnb.) Financial terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed.
Visitors to Crashpadder’s website are automatically directed to a landing page about the Airbnb deal, which will affect… → Read More
Another acquisition for Groupon, and a sign of how the e-commerce company is getting more focused on mobile as a route to future growth: it has picked up Kima Labs, which makes mobile barcode reading app Barcode Hero and mobile payment app TapBuy. The terms of the deal were not disclosed; we’re trying to find out.
The news comes just hours after news broke that Groupon had bought another mobile… → Read More
LogMeIn, the longtime maker of remote access tools, has acquired Bold Software, a provider of web chat and customer communications software. The company says it will use the technology to offer additional features and capabilities to its customers on LogMeIn Rescue, the company’s support product.
Under the terms of the deal, LogMeIn acquired all the net assets of Bold Software for approximately… → Read More
Question: How do you acquire your biggest rival if you don’t have the cash? Answer: Partner with a private equity firm. SurveyMonkey has done just that, buying MarketTools’ products Zoomerang, ZoomPanel, and TrueSample through a partnership with TPG Capital.
The deal gives MarketTools’ other businesses and a minority stake in SurveyMonkey to TPG, while SurveyMonkey gets the 3 products and… → Read More
Confirming earlier reports, luxury deals site Gilt City, a subsidiary of Gilt Groupe, Inc., is acquiring the assets of failed daily deals site BuyWithMe, after the latter saw massive layoffs following its failure to raise additional funding. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Former members of BuyWithMe will now have access to all of Gilt’s offerings, including women’s, men’s and… → Read More
Location Labs, a location-as-a-service provider and makers of mobile parental control utility Safely, is today announcing the acquisition of two companies in the mobile space, Wirkle and Volly. Wirkle, a mobile product development firm, and group messaging company Volly will bring their product portfolios, IP and team to Location Labs as a part of their respective deals.
Although the terms of… → Read More
Sprint and Virgin Mobile sitting in a tree, m-e-r-g-i-n-g. Well, not merging per se. More like Sprint is acquiring Virgin Mobile. Seems as though this whole “pre-paid, no contract” thing is a hit and Sprint, looking to gain some ground in the mobile arms race, wants in on the action. → Read More
Whoa, whoa, whoa. The Inquirer says, “Well placed sources tell us that Google is going to be buying Valve any second now.” What? And all because of Steam, Valve’s “amazing content distribution platform” no less? Okay, I can see that. → Read More
Best Buy will be acquiring Napster for around $121 million as the two companies have announced they’ve “entered into a definitive merger agreement” for Best Buy to scoop up all of Napster’s outstanding shares at $2.65. The deal will include all 700,000 Napster subscribers, Napster’s web-based platform, and key employees. Best Buy already has a digital music initiative that’s powered by… → Read More
If you’re going to be building super popular phones and digital media players, why not use all your own parts, right? That’s Apple’s thinking, apparently, as Forbes has uncovered a recent deal to purchase a fabless semiconductor company called P.A. Semi to the tune of some $278 million, according to sources inside Apple. The decision to center the iPhone design around a chip that… → Read More
[photopress:gtaiv1.jpg,full,center] It’s not as big as Microsoft and Yahoo!, but EA’s bid to acquire fellow game maker Take-Two is news. After being refused a sale at $25 a share, EA is trying again at $26 a share, 64% more than Take-Two’s price per share at market closing on Friday. EA is counting on strong share holder sentiment to make the sale go through, but Take-Two is… → Read More
These Microsoft logo mashups are getting out of hand. Om Malik puts the Om in GigaOM so when he says, “The deal’s big sticker price is intriguing — leading me to believe that Microsoft wants to pull an Xbox on its mobile phone business,” I hit the lever on my office chair that makes it so it stays in the upright position, allowing me to give those words my full attention. → Read More
Ah, this sounds like when you were a kid and you did something so bad that your parents weren’t mad, they were just “really disappointed.” Looks like Microsoft is laying down a nice little guilt trip for Yahoo! in a recent press release, saying “It is unfortunate that Yahoo! has not embraced our full and fair proposal to combine our companies.” It also appears that… → Read More
According to a recent Microsoft press release, “Microsoft Corp. today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Danger Inc., the company responsible for the software and services powering many popular consumer handsets.” I like the Sidekick software interface. I’m not crazy about the Windows Mobile interface. I’m hoping this means that the Danger interface will… → Read More
Microsoft apparently intends to purchase a French mobile music service company called Musiwave, according to Electronista. The technology would be implemented into "Microsoft’s more portable hardware and software services, including Windows Live, the Windows Mobile OS for smartphones, and the Zune media player." → Read More
So for $710 million, Acer bought Gateway – the same company that was worth $7 billion back in 1997 and purchased eMachines in 2004. Its fall from grace is a testament to the importance of good management and an even better business model. → Read More
Hey do you live on Kentucky or Oregon like Peter did? Oh you don’t? Well then this won’t really concern you, but it’s worth a mention because Peter will chase me with a broom if I don’t post about Oregon. Verizon today acquired Ramcell, a regional network operator based out of Kentucky and Oregon. Verizon’s acquisition will help over 500,000 people achieve better… → Read More
Tellme Networks announced at the Web 2.0 Expo today that it will be adding three new ways to access its information service that was launched back in January. The service functions similar to to 411, but users can request information through voice, SMS, or Mobile Web. The announcement comes just a week after Google announced its free 411 service, Goog-411. To use the service through voice, simply… → Read More
MTV, on a goal to buy out music-oriented games, has recently acquired Hamonix Music Systems. Harmonix Music Systems is known for its hit game Guiar Hero , and if you haven’t played it yet, you should. The buyout was for a massive $175 millions dollars- in cash. MTV wants to expand musical gaming onto its website, virtual worlds, and its coming mobile services. It seems MTV is slowly trying… → Read More
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