Samsung has recently approached BlackBerry with an acquisition offer, reports Reuters. Citing a person familiar with the matter, the outlet says that the Korean electronics giant offered as much as $7.5 billion to buy the struggling handset-maker.
Facebook is purchasing the San Diego, California-based web video startup QuickFire Networks for an undisclosed amount. The company announced the acquisition on its website today, saying that "key members" of its team will be joining the social networking giant as it "winds down operations."
QuickFire is known for its propriety software tech that significantly reduces the bandwidth needed to view video online without degrading its quality. The startup will help Facebook build an infrastructure capable of supporting the massive influx of video consumption it's currently experiencing.
Google has acquired RelativeWave, the team responsible for the popular iOS app prototyping software Form. Form is available for Mac and iOS, and allows designers and developers to create rich interactive app prototypes and run them on their iPhone or iPad.
In a note on its website today, RelativeWave announced that they would be joining Google to continue their work on the software, saying they "want to get Form in the hands of as many people as possible, and this is [their] first step in accomplishing that goal."
AT&T on Friday announced that it is set to acquire Mexican carrier Iusacell for a total of $2.5 billion, including debt. The two companies have entered into an agreement, which will occur once investor group Grupo Salinas completes its own ongoing acquisition of Iusacell.
The plan, AT&T says, is to expand Iusacell coverage beyond its already near-9 million subscriber base in Mexico. The carrier sees a large potential for growth in the country thanks to recent competitive-friendly changes made to wireless regulations by President Peña Nieto.
Apple has acquired cloud networking startup Union Bay Networks, according to The Seattle Times. The company focused on "enabling the next generation of networking for cloud computing and software defined datacenters," and seven out of nine of its former employees are said to have been hired by the Cupertino firm.
Of course, Apple hasn't officially commented on the acquisition, but it seemingly confirmed the purchase earlier today by providing The Seattle Times its boiler plate public relations response of "Apple sometimes buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
Before raising its latest $100 million in funding, Square was in talks with Apple regarding a possible acquisition, reports TechCrunch this afternoon. The outlet says that the two companies held discussions briefly, but the conversation quickly ended when their final numbers didn't match up.
Apparently Apple was willing to pay around $3 billion for the mobile payments company, about 30% over its value. TechCrunch even claims that the Cupertino firm showed Square hardware it was working on that would compete directly with its point-of-sale tools, but the company declined.
Amazon has acquired Twitch, the world's leading video platform and community for gamers, both companies announced in a statement after the market close on Monday. Google's YouTube was thought to have originally been the winning bidder, but that has changed after Amazon stepped in to close the deal.
With much of the ‘next big thing in tech’ talk focused on wearables and mobile payments, it’s easy to forget about the connected home. But all of the major tech companies are making major moves in this space, including Google, Apple and now Samsung.
Following Google’s Nest acquisition and Apple’s HomeKit unveiling, Samsung announced this week that it has purchased smart home startup—and former Kickstarter sensation—SmartThings. The money is said to be in the neighborhood of $200 million...
The Wall Street Journal just announced that Sprint Corp. is terminating its attempts to purchase T-Mobile US Inc, due to regulatory issues. Over the past several months, we've seen several reports that Sprint was in talks with T-Mobile over a buyout deal, and even that the deal was close to finalizing.
If the buyout had taken place, the results would be a decrease in competition and very likely an increase in cellular plan pricing. According to WSJ...
It's been just over 2 months since Apple announced that it would be acquiring Beats Electronics for $3 billion. And although the deal wasn't expected to be completed until September, the Cupertino company is clearly ready to officially welcome Beats to the family.
Apple this morning posted a link on the homepage of its website to a new portal called 'Welcome Beats,' which features a brief message about the merger. Likewise, a message has been posted on Beats' homepage regarding the acquisition and upcoming changes...
It appears that Sprint may have some new competition in the T-Mobile suitors club. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that French telecom Iliad has offered to buy T-Mobile U.S., putting in a bid of $15 billion cash for a majority 56.6% stake in the carrier.
Like T-Mobile in the United States, Iliad is the fourth largest wireless provider in France. Founded by billionaire French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, the company has climbed its way to the top by offering better pricing and customer service than the competition...
During Apple's quarterly earnings conference call on Tuesday, Tim Cook said that the company has acquired 5 companies in the last 4 months, not including Beats electronics. We've known about two of the purchases, Spotsetter and LuxVue, and today we add a third.
TechCrunch is reporting that Apple recently acquired BookLamp, a startup based out of Boise, Idaho, that developed big data-style book analytics services. Described as "Pandora for books," the service recommends books through digital analysis of author writing styles...