Acquisitions

Cisco nabs cloud-networking start-up Meraki for $1.2 billion

The three colleagues who created the cloud-networking and Wi-Fi startup Meraki at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science six years ago were not expecting to be acquired by Cisco Systems. But the tech giant announced today its intent to buy the startup saying it plans to throw down $1.2 billion in cash, along with retention-based incentives.

"The acquisition of Meraki enables Cisco to make simple, secure, cloud managed networks available to our global customer base of mid-sized businesses and enterprises," Cisco's Enterprise Networking Group senior vice president Rob Soderbery said in a statement. "Meraki's … Read more

Ziff Davis sold off to cloud services provider for $167 million

Ziff Davis, the once-giant technology media company, has been sold off to yet another buyer.

J2 Global, a cloud services provider, announced today that it has acquired Ziff Davis for $167 million in cash. The acquisition includes the purchase of some of Ziff's top Web properties, including PCMag, Computershopper, and Geek.com.

In a statement, J2 Global CEO Hemi Zucker said his company bought Ziff Davis because of its "significant interest in the digital media and online marketing space." Zucker didn't say what J2 Global has planned for Ziff Davis, but it appears for now that … Read more

Priceline names its own price for Kayak: $1.8 billion

Wonder if Priceline Negotiator William Shatner helped broker this deal.

Priceline today says it has agreed to buy rival Kayak for about $1.8 billion, bolstering its online travel shopping presence.

The deal, valuing Kayak at $40 a share, includes $1.3 billion in stock and $500 million in cash and is a 29 percent premium to Kayak's closing price today. The highest the stock has traded in the past year is $37.

The acquisition, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, should close by the end of the first quarter. Kayak will operate independently from the rest of Priceline, … Read more

Facebook's final Instagram tab: $715 million in cash, stock

Facebook ended up paying $715 million to purchase Instagram instead of the original $1 billion figure agreed upon earlier this year, according to a quarterly investment report filed today.

The social network paid $521 million in stocks and cash that was set aside for the purchase, but also added an additional 11 million shares for Instagram employees at the close of the deal in September, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission

The $521 million includes about 12 million shares of common stock to Instagram's non-employee stockholders and $300 million in cash. The additional 11 million … Read more

Apple buying Color's engineers -- not tech, report says

Did Apple really buy a video-sharing app, its small collection of patents, and other assets?

Not quite, according to a new report.

Citing sources, All Things Digital says Apple instead picked up "about 20" of the startup's engineering types, who will work on cloud-based projects for Apple, while the remainder of Color is "wound down."

The price on the deal was said to be in the $2 million to $5 million range, the report adds, well short of the $41 million in funding the company got before it launched.

News about Apple's interest in … Read more

Amazon in talks to acquire Brazilian bookseller, report says

Amazon is considering acquiring a Brazil-based bookseller, according to a new report.

The e-retail giant is currently in talks with Saraiva to acquire the bookseller, Bloomberg is reporting today, citing sources. The publication's sources did not divulge how much Amazon would be willing to pay for Saraiva.

Amazon has been rumored for months to be considering an acquisition in Brazil, and Saraiva's name has been floated before as a possible acquisition target. The acquisition could give Amazon a foothold in Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, and help the company expand its Kindle efforts in that area.

Saraiva, … Read more

Apple snaps up celebrity-backed Web app firm Particle

Call it an "acqui-hire."

Apple has snapped up Particle, a San Francisco-based creative consulting company that specializes in Web applications and marketing projects using HTML5, CNET has learned.

Particle was founded in early 2008 and has some celebrity financial backing. Pop star-turned-actor Justin Timberlake is an investor and helped fund short social video service Robo.to, which Particle created. Sources with knowledge of the deal did not know the selling price.

The company has done HTML5 work for Google, Motorola, Amazon, Yahoo, Sony, and Apple. The group has also created some "labs" projects including Intervue.me, … Read more

Twitter buys mobile-app maker Cabana

Twitter has made another acquisition to expand its app-development capabilities, the company confirmed in a tweet.

The company bought Cabana, a startup that provides technology to create mobile apps. Twitter likely made the acquisition in part to bulk up its staff focused on that area as Cabana's staff will be joining Twitter today, while its service will be shut down December 1.

Cabana said in a blog post that it will be working with Twitter's platform team "to build tools to help third-party developers create new experiences on Twitter and empower the larger Twitter ecosystem."

Terms … Read more

Google confirms it's buying facial recognition firm Viewdle

The rumors have been confirmed, Google's Motorola Mobility is indeed acquiring the facial recognition technology company Viewdle.

"Motorola Mobility today announced that it has acquired Viewdle, a leading imaging & gesture recognition company," a Motorola spokesperson told CNET today. "Motorola and Viewdle have an existing commercial agreement and have been collaborating for some time. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed."

CNET reported on Monday that Google was about to close a deal to buy Viewdle, which is a Ukrainian maker of facial recognition technology that automatically tags photos. Apparently the acquisition had been in … Read more