mergers

How's the Sirius XM satellite radio monopoly working out for subscribers? Not so well. Now that Sirius XM is the only game in town, it's nudging up fees for subscribers. Nice!

The one and only satellite radio company's boasts of its ever-increasing subscriber base are gone now, and the decline is significant. The number floating around the Internet is a loss of 400,000 subscribers. That still leaves 18.6 million, but there's no way of knowing how many of that number are full-price-paying subscribers.

Could the subscriber losses be attributed to recent price hikes? The … Read more

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

Sun Microsystems will reportedly be willing to resume takeover talks with IBM if Big Blue says it will commit to closing the deal.

Bloomberg reports the news based on two people familiar with the matter. The two companies currently aren't talking and each one is waiting for the other to make a move.

Gee, I wonder why Sun would be so willing to talk to IBM again...

Fairly obvious, eh? But it's not all about the stock chart. There's another little problem: Sun doesn't have any … Read more

Update at 7:25 a.m. PDT: Updated stock information added and headline updated.

Sun Microsystems shares soared more than 10 percent in premarket trading on Thursday, following a Bloomberg report that the struggling hardware maker was interested in resuming merger talks with IBM.

Sun climbed nearly 10.8 percent to $6.79 a share in premarket trading. But as the markets opened for regular trading, Sun's shares settled back to a more modest uptick of 2.77 percent to $6.30 a share. The broader markets were mixed.

Either way, its stock remains a ways off from the $… Read more

Updated at 11:36 a.m. PST with information on Google's share price performance and an analyst note.

Yahoo shares rose in morning trading on Monday on reports that the company is in preliminary talks for an advertising partnership with Microsoft.

Yahoo's stock was up as much as 7.6 percent to $14.49 in early-morning trading, a level it hasn't seen since early October. Yahoo's gains also went against the tide of the broader markets, which were down in morning trading.

The bump in Yahoo's share price follows reports on Friday that the Internet … Read more

Brightkite, one of the half-dozen or so companies vying for market share in the location-based social-networking space, has merged with another mobile start-up called Limbo. The official branding of the company will be Brightkite now, but its home base will now be at Limbo's headquarters in Burlingame, Calif.

Limbo's focus is on mobile games, as well as text-message alerts: sports scores, celebrity gossip, weather, horoscopes, and the like.

It's not totally clear how the two will merge their technologies, but a little bit of background was provided on the Brightkite blog. Brightkite will have access to Limbo'… Read more

Shares of Sun Microsystems suffered a staggering jolt Monday, following reports that the hardware maker rejected IBM's formal bid over the weekend and Big Blue has withdrawn its offer.

Sun's stock plummeted nearly 23 percent to $6.68 a share in premarket trading, following reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal that the company rejected a formal buyout bid of $9.40 a share or less, and terminated an exclusive negotiating agreement, prompting IBM to withdraw its offer.

Sun's shares closed at $8.49 a share during the regular trading session on Friday. … Read more

Updated at 7:13 p.m. PDT, with comment from Sun Microsystems and market share information for both companies.

Sun Microsystems rejected IBM's formal buyout offer on Saturday, calling the bid insufficient and putting future deal talks at risk, according to a report Sunday in The Wall Street Journal.

IBM reportedly made a formal bid of $9.40 a share, or less, for Sun, which in turn rejected the offer and terminated Big Blue's right to exclusive merger talks, the Journal reported. IBM, in turn, withdrew its buyout offer.

In addition to holding a belief that the bid … Read more

After weeks of negotiations, IBM reportedly is eyeing a $9.55-per-share buyout for Sun Microsystems, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Such a price would value the deal at roughly $7 billion and offer Sun investors nearly double the price of the stock before reports surfaced earlier this month that the parties are in buyout talks.

A report in The New York Times, meanwhile, notes the parties are discussing a purchase price of $9.50 a share.

In either case, Sun's investors haven't seen the hardware maker's stock trade at those levels since August. … Read more

IBM has reportedly cut its purchase price for Sun Microsystems to a range of $9 to $10 a share. And Sun is apparently willing to accept the lower range providing IBM agrees to pursue the deal, even in the face of antitrust scrutiny, according to a report Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

Previously, IBM was contemplating a buyout price of $10 to $11 a share, according to the Journal. Big Blue had recently been delving into Sun Microsystems' contracts for any possible conflicts, as part of its due diligence on the company.

Sun Microsystems stock spiked 6.25 percent … Read more