acquisition

As Hulu executives determine the proper direction for the future of their company, the firm that was first to show interest in acquiring the streaming-video provider has withdrawn from the race, a new report claims.

Currently, Hulu's board of directors is mulling bids from Dish Network, Amazon, and Google, The Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing anonymous sources. However, Yahoo, which first met with Hulu to discuss a possible acquisition, has backed out of trying to acquire the firm as it prepares to potentially sell off its own company.

With Yahoo out of the way, it appears Dish Network … Read more

Microsoft might finally have all the pieces in place to finalize its Skype acquisition.

Joaquín Almunia, the European Union's competition commissioner, is ready to approve Microsoft's acquisition of Skype, the Financial Times is reporting. The publication says that Almunia will approve the deal without requiring Microsoft to give any concessions, indicating that the governing body does not feel the deal will stifle competition.

In May, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. As part of the terms of the deal, Skype will become its own division within the software giant's operation, led … Read more

Yahoo has been playing hard-to-get lately, saying that it doesn't want to be acquired. But according to a new report, the company is handing out financial information to give potential suitors much of the data they need to file a bid.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which cites "people familiar with the matter," Yahoo has authorized investment banks Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co. to send out both public and nonpublic financial data to a host of companies that have indicated some interest in acquiring the online giant. According to the Journal's sources, the data … Read more

Investment firms Silver Lake and Digital Sky Technologies (DST), along with Alibaba Group, are planning to partner on an acquisition bid for Yahoo, Bloomberg is reporting, citing anonymous sources.

According to Bloomberg's sources, the three firms have already contacted Yahoo, saying that a deal could be coming over, but so far, the bid has not been completed, and still might not happen.

Silver Lake has a long history of investing in troubled companies. In 2009, for example, the company acquired Skype from eBay for about $2 billion. Earlier this year, it sold off Skype to Microsoft for $8.5 billion. … Read more

There might have been more than meets the eye to the decision by Hewlett-Packard's board of directors to oust Leo Apotheker as CEO, according to a new report.

Bloomberg is reporting, citing multiple sources, that the board replaced Apotheker with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman at least in part to prevent its stock price from falling to a point where it would face an unsolicited buyout offer from Oracle. However, according to other Bloomberg sources close to Oracle, that company did not have any immediate plans to acquire HP, even though the idea was under consideration.

HP's stock … Read more

Social media company Glam announced today that it has acquired social Web site builder Ning.

The two companies say the deal will create a network that serves 240 million users and 100,000 publishers.

"With the addition of Ning, Glam Media will truly become the first next-generation media company in the post-social world," said Samir Arora, chairman and CEO of Glam Media in a statement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though AllThingsD pegs it at $200 million.

Ning was co-founded by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini and launched near the end of 2005 as … Read more

Google has acquired a German daily-deals provider as it tries to bolster its service to compete against a growing number of companies.

DailyDeal, which offers daily deals in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, announced on its site that it has been acquired by Google for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition came rather quickly for DailyDeal: the company was founded in December 2009.

Google's acquisition should help improve its own daily-deals service, Offers. That service, which launched earlier this year, is currently in beta. The offering, which sends deals to users each day via e-mail, is available in a small number … Read more

Browser maker Opera Software announced a new step in diversifying beyond browser-driven search ads today, the acquisition of Android app store specialist Handster.

Handster offers a white-label app store platform that others can use to sell apps and "the world's largest independent Android content library," Opera said today. It also offers developer tools, financial transaction abilities for setting payments, services for curating content--and customers.

Device manufacturers using its services include MTS, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, and LG Electronics, Opera said. The services will dovetail with the existing Opera Mobile Store, which already offers apps for "virtually every … Read more

Yahoo has been contacted by investment firm Silver Lake Partners about a potential acquisition bid, the Wall Street Journal is reporting, citing anonymous sources.

According to the Journal, executives from Silver Lake are currently lining up a deal for Yahoo, though the companies have yet to actually meet and discuss the planned proposal. In a separate report from Bloomberg last night, the publication, citing sources, reported that Silver Lake's plan involves liquidating Yahoo's Asian assets, and then focusing on the firm's core business elsewhere around the world in the hopes of potentially finding a new buyer.

Silver … Read more