Deals

Mobile technology giant Qualcomm has announced plans to purchase Atheros Communications, a leader in wired and wireless technology connectivity, for $45 per share in cash. The acquisition underscores the importance of wireless technology in the rapidly growing smartphone and tablet market. "It is Qu...

With a $450 million investment in Facebook, Goldman Sachs gets to look cool. Facebook gets capital to help face its competitors, particularly Google. The latest investment in Facebook rises to $500 million when you add another $50 million investment from Russian investors Digital Sky Technologies, w...

Twitter has received $200 million in financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, according to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. The funding pegs Twitter's valuation at $3.7 billion. Clearly, the investors believe Twitter will find an effective way to squeeze substantial revenue from its massive use...

Dell announced Thursday it has entered into merger talks with Compellent Technologies, offering $27.50 per share for a total of nearly $900 million. The offer is below Compellent's stock price on Wednesday of $33.65 a share. While acquisition bids are typically slightly above stock price, Dell may s...

Netflix is spending big time to become the dominant video streaming player in the nascent Web-TV world. On Wednesday, Netflix announced it has reached an agreement with Walt Disney to stream ABC programs through its online service. The deal reportedly will last one year with an option to extend for ...

Rumors are spinning across the e-commerce and investment banking world that Google will snap up Groupon. Though the talk started weeks ago, it has acquired new credibility with a news report claiming an unnamed insider confirmed the deal. Groupon is a shopping website that offers a daily deal on loc...

EMC announced Monday it has agreed to acquire Isilon Systems, a "big-data" company, for $2.25 billion in cash. EMC Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci noted that EMC decided to buy Isilon to take advantage of the waves of cloud computing and big data that are expected over the coming decade. Isilon is a majo...

We have watched Clearwire build its 4G wireless Internet service from scratch over the last few years. It has successfully won a few million customers and has looked like one of the hot new companies and technologies. But now it is suddenly struggling with the enormous investment costs and is thrott...

Previously in this space, I've discussed the collapse of the venture industry since the bloodbath began with the collapse of two Bear Stearns funds. While publicly traded stocks have been hammered, the private market is undergoing its own painful restructuring. As of the first quarter of this year,...

Dismayed by the prospect of Google acquiring a key service provider in the travel industry, online traveler providers have banded together to formalize their opposition to the deal. In July, Google announced a $700 million agreement to acquire ITA Software, a company that provides airline travel sof...

Starbucks and Yahoo announced Wednesday the launch of Starbucks Digital Network. The network goes live immediately in Starbucks' 6,800 U.S. company-operated stores, presenting a collection of hand-picked news, entertainment, lifestyle and local content developed for laptops, tablets and smartphones....

AOL is considering a play to take over Yahoo, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The deal is being discussed among AOL and a number of private equity firms, including the Blackstone Group, unnamed sources told the paper. Yahoo shares soared this week on the rumored possibilities; they...

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer visited Adobe's offices to meet with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen on Thursday afternoon, rumors began circulating that Microsoft was negotiating the purchase of Adobe. The meeting agenda reportedly included discussions about Apple, suggesting Ballmer wanted to talk abo...

AOL went on a buying binge this week. It made headlines with the purchase of the TechCrunch blog network, but on the same day it also bought two promising startups -- Thing Labs and 5min Media. Thing Labs makes Brizzly, a Web-based program that allows people to manage their social networking on Twit...

Facebook and Skype reportedly will soon announce a partnership, integrating a number of functions to enhance the user experience: Users will be able to call and SMS Facebook friends from Skype; Skype will integrate Facebook Connect into its system; and users will be able to video chat with Facebook ...