Mergers and Acquistions: March 2008 Archives

Gadfly activist  investor Carl Icahn has a lot of questions about Motorola’s decision to split into two entities. yesterday, Icahn sent Motorola’s board a letter call the decision “much delayed and long overdue” and”step in the right direction.”

However Icahn is concerned about the timeframe for the split, asking for it to happen quickly. He questions the statement made in the conference call, “there can be no assurances that any transaction will ultimately occur.”

Microsoft Corp.announced plans to acquire Rapt Inc., the leading provider of advertising yield management solutions for digital media publishers. Rapt’s technology, along with its information and advisory services offerings, will become key components of the Atlas Publisher Suite, part of Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group. With the inclusion of Rapt, the Atlas Publisher Suite allows Microsoft to provide its customers with integrated asset and inventory management, forecasting, yield and sales management, and ad delivery and operations.

Qualcomm Iannounced that it has acquired Xiam Technologies Limited an Ireland-based pioneer of wireless content targeting solutions. Xiam’s My Personal Offers System (MPOS) provides targeting and personalization technology that accelerates discovery and individualizes the user experience by presenting relevant content offers and advertisements to consumers.

Xiam’s MPOS technology enables mobile operators and brands to make personalized recommendations to individual consumers that are tailored to their unique tastes and preferences using advanced profiling techniques.

Consumers can receive personalized offers of new and relevant content over wireless and Web channels, both before and after purchase. MPOS also leverages demographic, contextual and behavioral profiling to enable true one-to-one mobile advertising. Coupled with the global reach of Qualcomm’s ecosystem, MPOS will provide a powerful way for operators and brands to quickly and easily target their customers with relevant content offers and advertisements.

PC vendor, Acer Inc. announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire E-TEN Information Systems Co., Ltd.,designer and manufacturer of smart handheld devices.They expect the acquisition to close during Q3 2008.

The acquisition of E-TEN is in line with Acer’s expansion strategy and follows the recent acquisition of Gateway and Packard Bell, further strengthening its foothold in the fast-evolving mobile communications segment and completes Acer’s range of mobile solutions.

E-TEN has released a number of hugely successful Pocket PC phones that featured combinations of GPRS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3.5G GSM functionality each enhanced by exclusive in-house developed software applications.

The acquisition of E-TEN will allow Acer to play a key role in the development of the dynamic, fast-evolving market of smart handheld devices as well as ultra mobile devices in the future and will help bring Acer’s cutting edge mobile solutions to an even wider audience.