mergers

On Call: How the Alltel/Verizon merger affects you

Nothing is constant in the cell phone world and carriers are no exception. In the past five years, we've seen Sprint scoop up Nextel, AT&T Wireless merge into Cingular, and Cingular become the new AT&T. And I won't even mention the small regional operators that disappeared into the folds of a national carrier.

The latest carrier casualty is Alltel, which , as of last Friday, merged with Verizon Wireless. Like any corporate marriage, there are plenty of details to sort out so this one won't be completed for some time. But if you're a customer of either carrier, I'm sure you have questions on how the merger will affect you. So, to help you understand how the merger will proceed, I've created this handy FAQ that expands on Verizon's own FAQ on its Web site. If you have any additional queries, please send them on and I'll do my best to answer them.

Q: When will the merger be completed?

A: It will be a few months until Verizon and Alltel are one company. For now, Verizon is the legal owner of Alltel. Once the deal is done, Verizon will outpace AT&T as the largest U.S. wireless carrier with an expected 78 million customers.

Q: What will the company be called?

A: Verizon is the buyer here so the Alltel name and branding will disappear starting in the second quarter of this year. Most current Alltel customers will become customers of Verizon automatically.

Q: How much is the deal worth?

A: Verizon is paying $5.9 billion for Alltel and assuming $22.2 billion in Alltel debt for a total acquisition worth $28.1 billion. … Read more

M&A prospects better for small companies, new media

Two reports released this week shed some light on just what types of technology sector merger and acquisition deals are expected to show resiliency in 2009. Among the winners: small companies and nontraditional media companies.

Technology M&A deals fell 17 percent to 3,751 transactions in 2008 over the previous year, according to a report released Friday by ICON Corporate Finance. But small technology deals of under $100 million fared better, posting only a 15 percent decline.

These smaller deals, which account for 95 percent of all IT mergers and acquisitions, are expected to show more resiliency in … Read more

Verizon completes Alltel purchase

Verizon Wireless has finally completed its $28.1 billion acquisition of regional wireless carrier Alltel.

Verizon announced its plan to buy Alltel in June for $5.9 billion in equity, and it assumed about $22.2 billion in Alltel's debt. The deal was struck only seven months after Alltel was bought out by TPG Capital, a unit of Goldman Sachs Group, for $27.5 billion.

The deal now makes Verizon the largest wireless carrier in the United States, with more than 83.7 million customers. AT&T, which had held that title, had 74.9 million wireless customers … Read more

Report: Investment group teeing up Yahoo deal

Update January 8 at 12:44 p.m. PST: Added Yahoo's response.

A group of investors are reportedly putting together a buyout deal for Yahoo, which would call for Microsoft's financial backing, according to a report in TechCrunch.

Such an arrangement would call for the investment group to pay a premium of approximately 20 percent to Yahoo's current share price, which closed Wednesday at $13 a share, for the entire company.

The investment group would take Yahoo, which would have a $20 billion market cap under those terms, and simultaneously sell its search and marketing business to … Read more

Tech M&A down 40 percent in 2008

Technology companies seeking a white-night buyer had a long wait this year, according to a study released Thursday by research firm The 451 Group. And 2009 isn't looking any more promising.

During 2008, tech mergers and acquisitions fell 40 percent across virtually every sector of the industry, with $290 billion in deals getting done to date. And deals worth $1 billion or more dropped even further, with only 32 megadeals getting done so far this year, compared with 80 last year.

Corporate tech titans that have historically had a large appetite for snapping up companies left and right went … Read more

AeA and ITAA to merge

Mimicking a larger technology industry consolidation trend, the American Electronics Association and Information Technology Association of America trade groups announced on Tuesday plans to merge lobbying efforts.

The AeA-ITAA deal, aiming to create a stronger industry advocacy voice in Washington, D.C. and provide a greater breadth of technology sector-specific programs, is expected to close by the end of the year. The combined group, to be known as the Technology Association of America, is expected to have approximately 2,000 member companies.

Sun's largest investor lands two board seats

Update at 9:27 a.m. PST, with comments from a shareholder activist research firm. Correction, 9:35 a.m. PST: This story initially had the incorrect day the agreement was announced. It is Monday. Update at 1:33 p.m. PST, with closing stock price and excerpt from Southeastern podcast about its board seats.

Sun Microsystems and its largest investor announced an agreement on Monday that entitles the investor to nominate two directors to Sun's board, marking the latest action it has taken to right the struggling company.

Southeastern Asset Management, which holds a 22 percent stake in … Read more

Five reasons Sun won't be acquired

Sun Microsystems last week launched its second major restructuring for the year--with good reason.

The company posted a sizable $1.68 billion net loss in its fiscal first quarter last month, amid a 7 percent decline in revenue, as its traditional business of high- to midrange servers running on Sparc processors took a hit. Add to that a steep sell-off of its stock over the past 12 months, falling from about $25 a share earlier in the year to close at $3.02 a share on Friday.

For the embattled tech titan that's lost its allure over the years, … Read more

Yahoo sells Kelkoo to U.K. private-equity firm

Yahoo has sold its European comparison-shopping site Kelkoo to private-equity investors, according to a TechCrunch report.

Yahoo, which acquired Kelkoo for approximately 475 million euros ($579 million) four years ago, reportedly sold its wholly owned subsidiary for less than 100 million euros to U.K. private-equity firm Jamplant this holiday shopping season.

In a copy of an e-mail obtained by TechCrunch, Glen Drury, Kelkoo's managing director for the United Kingdom, had this to say about the organization's sale and rumors about its future. The "Toby" he mentions is apparently Toby Coppel, who heads up Europe for … Read more

FCC approves Verizon/Alltel merger after delay

The Federal Communications Commission approved the $28 billion acquisition between Verizon Wireless and Alltel on Tuesday after a four hour delay in which commissioners negotiated terms of the deal.

The meeting was supposed to start at 11 a.m. EST. But didn't actually get under way until nearly 4 p.m. EST.

The delay was attributed to discussions among commissioners and Verizon to hammer out a deal that satisfied concerns over roaming conditions put on the deal.

During the meeting, the two Democratic commissioners on the FCC, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, expressed concern that combining Verizon and Alltel … Read more