Tag: acquire

Microsoft Buys LinkedIn for $26.2 billion

Big news for the tech industry, LinkedIn the social network for professionals has been acquired by Microsoft for $196 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at the whopping US $26.2 billion including all of LinkedIn’s current cash holdings.

LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture, and independence. Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn, reporting to Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. The complete takeover will happen by the end of this calendar year.

The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world’s professionals, Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet.- Nadella

We all know what came of the Microsoft-Nokia deal, and hope there is nothing similar on the books here.

Microsoft and LinkedIn will host a joint conference call with investors on June 13, 2016, at 8:45 a.m. Pacific Time/11:45 a.m. Eastern Time/9:15 p.m. IST to discuss this transaction. The call will be available via webcast at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-89PWn0QaaY

June 13, 2016
Google Acquires Content Sharing App Bump

Bump, the contact and media sharing app for Android and iOS, has been acquired by Google.

Bump co-founder and chief executive David Lieb said the company was “thrilled” to join Google, citing similar passions for sharing information between people and devices.

In September 2011, the company announced it had 50 million downloaders and 10 million active “bumpers.” Just less than a year later, more than 600 million photos were shared by “bumping” phones. Later it released an iPhone-only version photo-sharing app dubbed Flock (not to be confused with the social browser of the same name).

It’s worth adding here that Bump doesn’t use NFC, merely “whatever Internet connection is available on your device”, be that WiFi or cellular. The mobile app uses the phone’s sensors to “feel” the bump, thus actioning the actual transfer.

“The Bump team has demonstrated a strong ability to quickly build and develop products that users love, and we think they’ll be a great fit at Google,” said a Google spokesperson. Google declined to comment on what team Bump will be joining.

The full announcement on the Bump blog is as follows.

[toggle title=”Announcement”]“We’re excited to announce that the Bump team is joining Google!
Our mission at Bump has always been to build the simplest tools for sharing the information you care about with other people and devices. We strive to create experiences that feel like magic, enabled behind the scene with innovations in math, data processing, and algorithms. So we couldn’t be more thrilled to join Google, a company that shares our belief that the application of computing to difficult problems can fundamentally change the way that we interact with one another and the world.
Bump and Flock will continue to work as they always have for now; stay tuned for future updates.
We’d like to extend a special thank you to all of you who have used our products so far. It continues to be a pleasure to serve you, and your feedback and evangelism inspire us every day.
David Lieb
CEO and cofounder
Bump
We also want to thank our investors, advisors, and supporters — Marc Andreessen and all of a16z; Greg McAdoo, Tim Lee and all of Sequoia; Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, and everyone at Y Combinator; Ron Conway and SV Angel; Ram Shriram of Sherpalo; Aydin Senkut of Felicis — and our friends and family who have encouraged us to dream big and push the world forward.”[/toggle]

[Via]

September 16, 2013
Facebook will buy Instagram (PR)

Talk about big acquisitions! Social networking giant Facebook will buy popular imaging app Instagram for $1 billion in cash and shares. This comes soon after the app was developed for Android.

We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

-Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom

[toggle title_open=”Press Release” title_closed=”Press Release” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]

Facebook to Acquire Instagram

MENLO PARK, CALIF.-April 9, 2012-Facebook announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.

The total consideration for San Francisco-based Instagram is approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close later this quarter.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, posted about the transaction on his Timeline:

I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.

This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.

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April 10, 2012
Google Acquires Restaurant Rating company Zagat

Google announced yesterday that it has acquired restaurant rating company ZAGAT.

“ZAGAT will be a cornerstone of our local offering — delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world, I’m incredibly excited to collaborate with ZAGAT to bring the power of Google search and Google Maps to their products and users, and to bring their innovation, trust and wealth of experience to our users”

-Marissa Mayer, vice president of local, maps and location services at Google

ZAGAT was started more than 32 years ago by a couple, Tim and Nina Zagat, and the company’s ratings are now embedded in pocket guides and plastered on restaurant windows in more than 100 cities around the world and across 13 different categories.

[Google Blog]

September 9, 2011
Google will acquire Modu patents for $4.9 BN

Whats up with Acquisitions lately, Recent Microsoft-Skype acquisition and now this. Google will acquire all Modu patents from the bankrupt company for a whopping 4.9 Billion US $. The company had planned for major worldwide release of its spectacular transformer phones, that fit the purpose when needed, and had planned for an IPO, but came close to an imminent closure due to lack of funding.

Google’s $4.9 million IP purchase will be used to pay back Modu’s creditors and former Modu employees who are still due wages. What this could entail is freakishly small Android smartphones……hoping anyway.

May 19, 2011
Western Digital acquires Hitachi GST for $4.3 Billion

WD is one of the worlds best hard drive manufacturing and selling companies and they have just announced a deal to acquire one of its primary competitors, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi GST, will join WD at closing as president. In the deal the acquisition will include $3.5 billion in cash and $750 million in WD common stock.

The takeover is said to be finalized by Q3 2011.

Official Press

Western Digital to Acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Combination of Hard Drive Companies Will Create Industry’s Broadest Product Portfolio and a Significant Pool of Resources for Innovation

IRVINE, Calif. and SAN JOSE, Calif., March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) and Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT / TSE:6501) announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby WD will acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $4.3 billion. The proposed combination will result in a customer-focused storage company, with significant operating scale, strong global talent and the industry’s broadest product lineup backed by a rich technology portfolio.

Under the terms of the agreement, WD will acquire Hitachi GST for $3.5 billion in cash and 25 million WD common shares valued at $750 million, based on a WD closing stock price of $30.01 as of March 4, 2011. Hitachi, Ltd. will own approximately ten percent of Western Digital shares outstanding after issuance of the shares and two representatives of Hitachi will be added to the WD board of directors at closing. The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is expected to close during the third calendar quarter of 2011, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. WD plans to fund the transaction with a combination of existing cash and total debt of approximately $2.5 billion.

WD expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis, excluding acquisition-related expenses, restructuring charges and amortization of intangibles.

The resulting company will retain the Western Digital name and remain headquartered in Irvine, California. John Coyne will remain chief executive officer of WD, Tim Leyden chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl chief financial officer. Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi GST, will join WD at closing as president, reporting to John Coyne.

“The acquisition of Hitachi GST is a unique opportunity for WD to create further value for our customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and the communities in which we operate,” said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer of WD. “We believe this step will result in several key benefits-enhanced R&D capabilities, innovation and expansion of a rich product portfolio, comprehensive market coverage and scale that will enhance our cost structure and ability to compete in a dynamic marketplace. The skills and contributions of both workforces were key considerations in assessing this compelling opportunity. We will be relying on the proven integration capabilities of both companies to assure the ongoing satisfaction of our customers and to bring this combination to successful fruition.”

“This brings together two industry leaders with consistent track records of strong execution and industry outperformance,” said Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. “Together we can provide customers worldwide with the industry’s most compelling and diverse set of products and services, from innovative personal storage to solid state drives for the enterprise.”

Hiroaki Nakanishi, president, Hitachi, Ltd. said, “As the former CEO of Hitachi GST, I always believed in the potential of Hitachi GST to become a larger and more agile company. This is a strategic combination of two industry leaders, both growing and profitable. It provides an opportunity for the new company to increase customer and shareholder value and expand into new markets. Additionally, it is important to us that WD shares common values with Hitachi GST to create a more global company that is well positioned to define a broader role in the evolving storage industry.”

WD’s exclusive financial adviser on the transaction is Bank of America Merrill Lynch; its lead legal adviser is O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Goldman, Sachs & Co serves as financial adviser to Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi GST. Legal advisers to Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi GST are Morrison Foerster LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates, respectively.

March 8, 2011