Stories related to: mergers and acquisitions

The two private-equity firms set to buy Clear Channel sued the group of banks they had engaged to fund the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports. Joined by Clear Channel, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners accused the consortium—including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, and Wachovia—of breaching contract by attempting to back out of the deal amid the tanking credit market. More »

A Citigroup analyst upgraded Yahoo stock to a buy today, predicting that Microsoft will raise its buyout bid from $31 per share to $34, MarketWatch reports. Acquiring Yahoo is the only way for Microsoft to successfully compete with Google for online advertising, said analyst Mark Mahaney, and so “the likelihood of Microsoft walking away from the deal is small." More »

The Justice Department today approved the proposed merger between satellite radio firms Sirius and XM, the Wall Street Journal r eports. The FCC must still sign off, but the pair appears to have allayed antitrust concerns about the merger of the industry's two largest companies by arguing that they face competition from all music providers, including conventional radio. More »

Bookseller Borders is considering selling itself or some of its divisions, the Detroit Free Press reports today. The company, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is in the midst of a turnaround, but is desperately short on cash, today borrowing $42.5 million from its biggest shareholder, Perishing Square Capital Management. Perishing also offered to buy parts of the company’s international business. More »

Yahoo today restated its opinion that Microsoft’s $44.6 billion buyout bid underestimates the online giant’s “combination of unique assets,” but for the first time stated publicly the strengths it would bring to the Microsoft merger, MarketWatch reports. In an investor presentation for the SEC, the company argued it would take Microsoft "from sub-scale position to strong positions in search and display." More »

Battered by skyrocketing fuel prices, Delta Air Lines will eliminate 2,000 jobs to cut costs, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. With oil prices driving the airline’s fuel expenditures $900 million higher than expected, the carrier will offer buyouts to some 30,000 employees, aiming to cut 1,300 flight attendant and agent positions in addition to 700 administrative jobs, mostly through voluntary severance and hiring freezes. More »

Deutsche Telekom plans to buy a 20% stake in Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) of Greece, for $3.92 billion. The deal is conditional on the German carrier getting management control, and the company will open talks immediately with the Greek government, the only larger shareholder. The OTE stake will let Europe’s biggest telephone company expand into Eastern Europe, reports the Wall Street Journal . More »

For the first time since Microsoft made an unsolicited—and unwelcome—$44.6 billion bid to take over Yahoo Jan. 31, executives for the two companies sat down this week to discuss what a post-merger company might look like, reports the Wall Street Journal. No negotiations took place, the Journal notes. Microsoft officials pitched their vision, and Yahoo officials mostly listened. More »

Yahoo may postpone its annual meeting to delay a proxy battle with Microsoft, reports the New York Times . The move would temporarily fend off a hostile takeover bid by the computer giant, and buy Yahoo some time to weigh its options, including a negotiated deal with Microsoft and a merger or joint venture with Time Warner’s AOL. Microsoft’s bid currently is worth $41.2 billion. More »

A new Microsoft bid to take over Yahoo will do little to quash Yahoo holders' worries— primarily because many of them have greater holdings in Microsoft itself, reports MarketWatch. Eighteen of Yahoo's top shareholders—comprising 42% of its shares—have greater investments in the software Goliath "and could likely be hurt by a higher offer," says analyst David Hilal. More »

Video game kingpin Electronic Arts disclosed yesterday a $2 billion hostile takeover bid to acquire rival Take-Two Interactive Software, and capture the popular “Grand Theft Auto” franchise. EA, publisher of Madden NFL titles, said the $26-a-share offer represented a 50% premium over Take-Two’s closing price on Friday, but Take-Two’s chairman complained the offer was “woefully undervalued.” More »

Directors at Delta and Northwest meeting tomorrow could announce a marriage of the two airlines by day’s end if a crucial deal with the airlines’ 11,000 unionized pilots can be reached, reports the Wall Street Journal. The resulting company would be the largest airline in the world, and would almost certainly face tough scrutiny from regulators. More »

Investment manager Joe Rosenberg takes a swipe at Microsoft's bid for Yahoo in this week's Barron's , disparaging both the deal and CEO Steve Ballmer's financial acumen, Reuters reports. "It's a bad reflection on Ballmer that he's willing to pay a ridiculous price for Yahoo,” says Rosenberg. “Microsoft is not going to earn anything like a reasonable rate of return in Yahoo." An increased bid, which Yahoo is seeking, would be even worse, he says. More »

News Corp. and Yahoo are in talks over combining MySpace and other News Corp. entities with Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports today. The deal, which could fend off Microsoft's $44.6 billion hostile takeover bid, would allow Yahoo to remain independent while giving the Murdoch-run company a stake of roughly 20%. An acquisition by Microsoft still seems the most likely outcome, but Yahoo is scrambling for other options. More »

A potential advertising deal linking Google and Yahoo is losing steam because of Google's concerns over regulatory scrutiny, reports the Wall Street Journal, and that in turn removes one lever Yahoo hoped to use to boost Microsoft's buyout bid . Yahoo’s second largest shareholder, meanwhile, said yesterday that Microsoft’s takeover likely will succeed, but at a higher price than the $41.7 billion, or $31 per share, offered. More »

Yahoo chief exec Jerry Yang has secret plans that he hopes will dramatically boost the internet giant's share price, insiders tell Valleywag. Yahoo has turned down Microsoft's $31 per share offer, and while rumor has it that the company's board is holding out for $36, Yang is said to be against selling at any price until his plans to make Yahoo more "relevant" bear fruit. More »

Yahoo officially rejected Microsoft’s $31-per-share takeover offer today, saying the bid, which represents a 62% premium, “substantially undervalues” the company, Bloomberg reports. The statement didn’t specify a counteroffer, but Yahoo is seeking $40 a share, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Yahoo thinks they’re worth more because of the plans they’ve implemented that have yet to come to fruition,” explained one analyst. More »

Just how hostile Microsoft’s takeover bid for Yahoo becomes is up to one man: Christopher Liddell, the mostly anonymous former banker masterminding the deal, the New York Times reports. Microsoft could simply raise its offer, or it could try some old-fashioned Wall Street strong-arming. “You have to be disciplined and ruthless,” Liddell says. “You have to be willing to walk away.” More »

One possible reason for Microsoft’s massive bid for Yahoo: It’s a ploy to block a Yahoo-Amazon team-up, one analyst says. The $44.6 billion offer will never make it past regulators, Trip Chowdhry explains to MarketWatch. But Microsoft insists otherwise: Chowdhry’s report “is completely incorrect,” said a spokeswoman. The move, she says, offers Yahoo employees and shareholders big opportunities. More »

Yahoo is struggling to find shareholder-pleasing alternatives to Microsoft's buyout bid, reports the Wall Street Journal . Selling Yahoo Japan is one possibility. An outsourcing deal with Google for its search ads that could boost revenue 25% is another, yet would raise regulatory issues. And shareholders would need to be convinced any moves outweighed Microsoft’s $31-per-share offer, a 62% premium on recent prices. More »