spinoff

RIM reportedly considering splitting company in two

Research In Motion is considering a plan to split its company in two, separating its handset division from its messaging network and selling off the struggling BlackBerry hardware business, according to The Sunday Times.

The British newspaper (subscription required), which didn't cite sources, also mentioned Facebook and Amazon as "potential buyers." Another option has the company staying intact but selling a large stack to a larger tech company such as Microsoft.

RIM declined to comment on the report's specifics but reiterated that it's examining a wide range of strategies.

"RIM has hired advisers to … Read more

Samsung to spin off LCD unit to focus on OLED TVs

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of flat-screen TVs, expects to spin off its money-losing LCD unit as a new corporation after the company's board of directors approved the plan today.

The new entity, which will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung, will be called Samsung Display Company and switch the company's focus from LCD panels to OLED panels. The spinoff, which still requires shareholder approval, is expected to launch April 1 and make it more competitive in the face of falling demand.

"Currently, the display market is undergoing rapid changes with OLED panels … Read more

Nook spinoff could be next chapter for Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble said it is exploring a spinoff of its Nook e-reader unit so it can continue to scale the business.

In a statement, Barnes & Noble said that it is looking to “unlock” the value of the Nook unit. That’s shorthand to acknowledge that the brick and mortar retail unit overshadows Barnes & Noble’s digital content business. The move may also mean that Barnes & Noble doesn’t have the resources to scale the Nook business.

Indeed, Barnes & Noble cut its sales forecast for fiscal 2012, which ends April 30. The company projected fiscal 2012 … Read more

HP's PC biz risks 'lame duck status,' analyst says

Hewlett-Packard risks putting its PC business in an awkward "lame duck status" as it looks to spin it out.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu believes that such a move could take 12 to 18 months given the legal, tax, and business issues that need to be sorted out, in line with the company's own expectations. HP is opting to go the spin-off route because of the lack of buyers and the tax-free nature of such a transaction.

But the downside to a spin-off is the length of time necessary to prepare for such a move. HP has … Read more

News Corp. mulls sale, spinoff of MySpace

News Corp. revealed today that it's exploring the possibility of selling or spinning off MySpace, just a day after the troubled social-networking site announced heavy layoffs.

During an announcement that confirmed many rumors, MySpace CEO Mike Jones briefed employees today on company options during a companywide meeting, spokeswoman Rosabel Tao told Bloomberg.

"News Corp. is assessing a number of possibilities including a sale, a merger, and a spinout [spinoff]," Tao said. "The process has just started."

On Tuesday, Jones announced a "significant organizational restructuring that will result in a 47 percent staff reduction across … Read more

Is Time Warner finally going to unload AOL?

There's been chatter on the Web (and Wall Street) for years now about whether Time Warner should spin off its AOL subsidiary. Now, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, it looks as though Time Warner's management is looking to tweak the requirements that prevent it from unloading AOL. So it finally might happen.

On the other hand, AOL's slow drift away from its parent company has been at about the speed of plate tectonics; these "fresh start for AOL" moves are nothing new. It was way back in 2003 that Time Warner … Read more

Google calls in chips in AOL investment

Google is calling in its chips in its $1 billion investment in Time Warner's AOL.

The search giant, which struck the hefty deal back in 2005, gave it a 5 percent stake in AOL.

The 2005 arrangement, not only included collaboration on advertising, instant messaging and video, but also gave Google "certain customary minority shareholder rights," such as those related to any future sale or public offering of AOL.

With the markets in the doldrums and AOL's business continuing to take a beating, as evidenced in Time Warner's fourth-quarter earnings report Wednesday, Google is looking … Read more

Bewkes confirms AOL split

Time Warner will indeed split its AOL access and media units starting next year, CEO Jeff Bewkes confirmed in a release announcing the company's second-quarter earnings.

It's the first time the executive has confirmed that the split will take place soon, though it's been widely talked about for months since the chief mentioned it speculatively earlier this year. What he hasn't said yet--and what some are expecting may come soon--is that Time Warner will get rid of AOL altogether, perhaps selling it to a bigger player in the online-advertising market.

It was another tepid quarter for … Read more

Where we're biting off a little more than we can actually chew

Today Dave Karp from Tumblr.com tells us why we should all be tumblelogging. Plus we'll get a movie review from Justin and Dave about--brace yourself--Teeth. All this and the new Cleveland show, Indiana Jones 4, and Uwe Boll's craptastic Postal movie. EPISODE 102 Download today's podcast

Who profits from semiconductor spin-offs?

We've seen a horde of semiconductor spin-offs these past 10 years. Why all of a sudden? Companies are refocusing on core competencies and unloading unprofitable, sometimes debt-ridden businesses. There's also an ongoing and apparently interminable disaggregation of the electronics industry.

The latest trend is for semiconductor companies to spin off product or application-focused companies. I'm not sure that's always the right move, but you'll see a lot more of that in the coming years.

Here are 10 notable chip divestitures. A bunch of them went public during the tech bubble--exciting for them, not so much for long-term investors who, for the most part, took it in the shorts.… Read more