Jan 23
This afternoon Qualcomm has announced that they will acquire all of HP’s remaining Palm-related patents. They will also be acquiring from Hewlett-Packard a number of other patents in the mobile … Continue reading
Jan 19
MySQL … The $1 Billion Acquisition
Posted in: Today's ChiliThis article was written on January 16, 2008 by CyberNet.
MySQL was acquired by Sun Microsystems today (also here and here) for a whopping $1 billion. I can’t say it was something I was expecting after MySQL has remained independent for over 10 years, but in the end I think it will be good for both the companies involved and the users.
The MySQL blog feels that users of the popular database software have little to worry about:
Given Sun’s proven track record as the largest contributor to Open Source, I think MySQL users have plenty of reason to feel happy about the acquisition. There are many companies that attempt to ride the wave of positive attention towards Open Source, but in my judgement, Sun gets it right.
The 350+ MySQL employees will be joining Sun’s 34,000+ employees, creating what I hope to be a remarkable team. The good news is that MySQL is currently available under the GPL license, which essentially means anyone can fork it off into their own product if they so desire. If Sun drops the ball it’s likely that someone else will pickup where the project left off.
Like most acquisitions we have to ride this one out to see if the end result is better or worse than what we would like. Sun is a good promoter of open source software though, and I would have to believe that they will not let us down.
Read more on the MySQL blog or on the Sun blog
Kudos to Mohan for the tip!
Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com
Jan 13
Nest Says Customer Data From Devices Will Only Be Used For Nest Products And Services
Posted in: Today's Chili
Nest says that it’s not going to just hand over its customer data to Google willy-nilly post-acquisition – in a blog post sent to TechCrunch penned by Nest founder Tony Fadell, a question and answer section at the end contains the following:
Will Nest customer data be shared with Google?
Our privacy policy clearly limits the use of customer information to providing and improving Nest’s products and services. We’ve always taken privacy seriously and this will not change.
This contrasts with some of the reactions making the rounds on Twitter, which express apprehension about the fact that Google will have access to Nest’s data, which knows, for example, where you are in your house.
Oh PS with Nest’s built-in sensors now Google knows when you’re home, what rooms you’re in, and when you’re out. Just FYI.—
Ryan Block (@ryan) January 13, 2014
It’s interesting because the immediately apparent upside of Google acquiring Nest would be the data it stands to gain access to. Still, the quote above indicates that it won’t use data from its devices any differently than it does now, and Nest will continue to operate as a separate entity. There’s no outright “No” answer to the question before the explanation about the privacy policy, however (I’d bet anonymized data still gets shared), so we’ve reached out to Google and Nest to hopefully clarify exactly how the relationship will work.
In the meantime, the startup’s early supporters stand to make a lot of money on the deal.
Jan 13
This week the folks at Nest Labs, Inc. have spoken up on Google’s intentions to buy the smaller company outright. Google will be dropping $3.2 billion USD in cash to … Continue reading
Jan 13
Facebook, which has been on the receiving end of a couple lawsuits in the past couple weeks, has acquired the startup Branch Media, the company at the helm of Potluck … Continue reading
Jan 05
This week the folks responsible for picking up companies at Apple have made a purchase – the SnappyLabs group responsible for quick-shot photos in iOS devices. This app was titled … Continue reading
Dec 30
Google To Buy YouTube = GooTube?
Posted in: Today's ChiliThis article was written on October 06, 2006 by CyberNet.
There has been all kinds of buzz around the Internet in the last 24-hours regarding acquisition rumors that Google is going after YouTube for the sum of $1.6 billion. From the sounds of it there is much more than speculation involved but the discussions are still in the very early stages and could end at any time.
I think Google is one of the few companies that would be able to purchase YouTube simply because of the amount of bandwidth that is needed to keep it running. The last report that I heard was that YouTube was spending over $1 million each month just to meet the high bandwidth demand. Their growth is increasing so rapidly that not many companies would be able to meet the scalability needs but Google should already know how to handle it.
The primary question that I was asking myself was whether Google would keep the two video services separate or combine YouTube into Google Video. I would think that they would keep them separate just so YouTube users don’t get confused and leave, but I am sure that they would put Adsense on the page to help generate revenue. They may, however, allow users to cross-search both sites when they are performing a search to help increase the quality of the results that are returned.
This will be very interesting to watch and if Google doesn’t scoop up YouTube I wonder if anyone else is going to try and cough up the money to purchase them.
People talking about this: TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, Digg, Googling Google, and many more on Technorati.
Copyright © 2014 CyberNetNews.com
Dec 23
The battle continues between Apple and the rest of the software giants around the world, focusing today on maps and the keeping of notes. Apple has been tipped to acquire … Continue reading
Dec 16
A couple of Italian newspapers are reporting that Amazon acquired a mobile payment startup, Gopago, something reportedly taking place amidst work on an “ambitious project”. What this project is wasn’t detailed, but it reportedly is the basis for Amazon’s interest in Gopago — namely, in the startup’s technology. Amazon and Gopago haven’t announced the business […]
Dec 13
This article was written on April 07, 2008 by CyberNet.
Microsoft and Yahoo are at it again with this whole acquisition thing, and this time we find it a bit humorous. It started out on Saturday when Microsoft posted a press release with a letter that Steve Ballmer sent to Yahoo. Yahoo responded of course, and they too posted their letter in a press release. To us it seems interesting that their letters to each other have been posted as press releases and it makes us wonder whether the receiving side even received a hard copy of the letter before they saw it online? This is turning out to be a very public situation between the two companies. Anyhow, back to the letters.
In the letter to Yahoo, Steve Ballmer talked about how Microsoft’s goal with making “such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction” He then went on to threaten saying, “If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board.” Is that what you call friendly? Yahoo called Ballmer out on this and essentially said threatening wasn’t going to do any good. They say, “we consider your threat to commence an unsolicited offer and proxy contests to displace our independent Board members to be counterproductive and inconsistent with your state objective of a friendly transaction.”
Ultimately, Yahoo said that Microsoft’s offer simply isn’t enough and undervalues them. They stated that they are open to all alternatives which they say could include a transaction with Microsoft, if and only if Microsoft offers a price that “fully recognizes the value of Yahoo on a standalone basis.” Yahoo clearly stated that they will not allow anyone to come in and buy them unless the offer is good enough. Does that mean Microsoft will be forced to up their offer if they even want a chance at purchasing Yahoo? We know they’ve got the money, it’s just a matter of whether they want Yahoo bad enough to cave in. We think they do…
Copyright © 2013 CyberNetNews.com
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