Mergers & Acquisitions

Italy's biggest defense contractor has agreed to buy DRS Technologies Inc. for $5.3 billion and grab a share of America's defense market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Finmeccanica will purchase the defense-electronics firm for $81 per share, a 32% premium on share price, pending approval by Washington. The deal is expected to close by year's end. More »

Hewlett-Packard is near a deal to buy Electronic Data Systems for $12-13 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports, an acquisition that would make it more competitive in the services sector with rival IBM. Confirmation was expected soon (HP admitted “advanced discussions” were underway), even as the tech consulting and outsourcing company, valued at $9.5 billion, saw its stock soar on the news. More »

Cablevision will pay Tribune Co. $650 million for Newsday , the companies said this morning. The cable operator's bid for the Long Island daily and its free offshoot amNew York topped $580 million offers from New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman and News Corp., reports the Wall Street Journal. More »

Rupert Murdoch has dropped his $580 million bid for Newsday . Cable operator Cablevision has offered $650 million for the Long Island daily, and Murdoch’s News Corp. said a higher bid would be “uneconomical.” The media tycoon’s dropout was unexpected, Reuters says, considering Murdoch recently told investors a deal was nearly done. A $580 million bid from Mortimer Zuckerman, owner of the rival Daily News , remains on the table. More »

Rumors that Microsoft is about to buy Facebook are just rumors: Despite the press corps’ desire to keep the Microsoft acquisition jones alive, it's not going to happen anytime soon, writes David Kirkpatrick in Forbes . And talk of the Yahoo deal suddenly resurfacing? Forget about it. Still, Microsoft may be interested in Facebook far down the road—the possibility of gaining the bank of personal info is endlessly tempting. More »

Sprint is considering selling or spinning off its Nextel division, signaling the end of a troubled, disappointing merger, the Wall Street Journal reports. Talks are already under way with Nextel founder Morgan O'Brien, who would integrate the unit into his new wireless public-safety network, and other prospective buyers, including private-equity firms. More »

Though Microsoft's courtship of Yahoo came to an unhappy end, Yahoo is still open to suitors, even Microsoft—at the right price, insists CEO Jerry Yang. Yahoo is in talks with other companies about ways to boost its value, and while Yahoo isn't in a rush to sell, executives are willing to listen to any would-be buyer, Yang tells Bloomberg as he faces mounting shareholder criticism for letting the deal get away. More »

T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom may bid for troubled Sprint-Nextel, a deal that would move the German telecom to the top of the US mobile communications heap, ahead of AT&T and Verizon, reports the Wall Street Journal. DT increasingly has looked to global options to help fuel earnings hurt by competition and sagging landline revenue at home. More »

Microsoft and Yahoo are holding active merger talks, with Microsoft willing to increase its offer “by several dollars,” sources tell the New York Times . The negotiations come as a major breakthrough after months of stalemate; Yahoo shareholders have been fielding calls from both sides seeking to arrive at an acceptable price. Shareholders had sought  $35-$37 a share; Microsoft is said to be willing to go as high as $33. More »

Microsoft appears to be edging closer to a hostile bid for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports; an announcement of the company's next move is expected today. Price will be a key factor: CEO Steve Ballmer told employees yesterday he won't pay a "dime above" what he thinks Yahoo is worth. Yahoo shareholders are looking for $35 to $37 a share; Ballmer's original offer was worth $29.48 a share at the close yesterday. More »

Let’s stop kidding ourselves, Jack Shafer writes in Slate: Rupert Murdoch is seizing control of the Wall Street Journal , and we might as well be done with the “Special Committee” that was supposed to protect editorial independence. The Bancroft family insisted on the creation of the board, which then proved itself  "a set of high-paid flunkies" who sat on their hands as the paper’s top editor was forced out. More »

Microsoft's board met yesterday to discuss the next move in its bid for Yahoo but didn't make a decision, the Wall Street Journal reports. Directors have given CEO Steve Ballmer broad leeway to decide between going hostile or walking away from the bid, and insiders say it could still go either way. An announcement is expected later this week. More »

XM and Sirius both postponed annual shareholder meetings as they awaited final FCC approval of their planned merger, the Washington Post reports. The nation’s only satellite-radio operators are expected to win approval, but their plans have faced new criticism from lawmakers and state attorneys, and there may yet be conditions on the partnership. More »

Steve Ballmer's next move on Yahoo is expected momentarily, and one option is to nominate a proxy slate for the board of directors, the Wall Street Journal reports, but hold off on making a new hostile bid for the company. Microsoft could buy time for setting a new price for Yahoo, which rejected the company's $42-billion bid, but keep the option of a hostile campaign later. More »

M&Ms-maker Mars, backed by Warren Buffett, has made a deal to buy Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for about $23 billion, reports the New York Times . The acquisition is likely to force other candy makers like Hershey and Cadbury Schweppes into mergers to maintain market share against a powerful conglomerate of recognized brands with global presence. More »

Microsoft may get nasty now that its deadline for a friendly Yahoo purchase expired yesterday. Talks died quietly after Microsoft refused to up its offer from $29.68 a share on Friday; Yahoo execs wanted $35. Microsoft could now press Yahoo, tack back the offer, or deal directly with Yahoo shareholders, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

After years of haggling, Arby’s owner Nelson Peltz reached a deal to acquire Wendy’s yesterday, ending the involvement of the Thomas family that founded it. Wendy Thomas herself called the sale a “huge, huge disappointment,” the Columbus Dispatch reports. The family had hoped local franchisee J. David Karam would acquire the company. “It’s a sad day for Columbus,” said Karam. More »

The CEOs of Delta and Northwest took their case for a merger to Capitol Hill today, where they argued that they would be better equipped to deal with surging gas prices as a single company. Both businesses had big first-quarter losses, and the executives told lawmakers they’d be better competition for foreign airlines as a team, the AP reports. More »

Apple has acquired a designer of sophisticated, low-power computer chips, Forbes reports. Analysts say the move will likely lead to a new kind of chip powering future iPhones and iPods, as well as new Apple designs, helping the company differentiate itself from competition scrambling to keep up. The news comes as a blow to chip maker Intel. More »

Microsoft won't raise its $44.6 billion takeover bid for Yahoo despite the Internet firm's strong first-quarter earnings, Bloomberg reports. "We are prepared to go forward without a merger," said CEO Steve Ballmer, who has threatened a proxy shareholder revolt to push the deal through, possibly at a lower price, if Yahoo didn’t agree to the original bid by Saturday. More »