Recently Microsoft offered $44.6 billion for Yahoo. After that price of yahoo shares jumped for 50%. But yesterday Yahoo rejected Microsoft proposal. Actually Yahoo rejected price of Microsoft's offer. So now it seems it's not the end if story. To be continued...
by Steve Goldstein
LONDON (Dow Jones) -- Yahoo shares rallied 14% in overseas trading on Friday after a newspaper report that Microsoft may try to buy the Internet search firm after being beaten to other deals by Google Inc.
Shares of Yahoo (YHOO) jumped 14% to $32.22 in Frankfurt on volume of over 110,000, which by German standards is extremely high for a U.S. stock.
The gains came after The New York Post reported that Microsoft (MSFT) may want to buy the firm in what could be a $50 billion deal.
Citing anonymous sources, The Post said Microsoft is intensifying its pursuit of Yahoo and has requested formal talks. In recent weeks, Google bought DoubleClick for $3.1 billion and in 2005 renewed a key search-advertising pact with AOL.
The Post also reported that Yahoo two months ago spurned a bid from the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant.
According to the report, a deal between Microsoft and Yahoo would lift their combined share of the search advertising market to 27% against Google's (GOOG) 65%.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-04-07 0556ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Engadget: Dizamn, chalk this up to buyouts we didn’t see coming; reports are starting to hit the wires that Matushita (aka Panasonic), which owns the controlling share (52.4%) of Victor Company of Japan (aka JVC) is apparently considering selling the unit to Kenwood. Although talks have supposedly 
been ongoing since earlier this month, Matsushita is apparently refusing to comment. Naw, probably won’t affect you and your general buying habits — it’s not like JVC would be going to D&M to be dismantled for its IP — we just thought you might like to know.
By Keith Regan
Ericsson will acquire Redback Networks, which makes routers used by telecom carriers to direct data traffic, for US$2.1 billion. Ericsson said the purchase would be part of its strategy to "help telecommunications carriers lower costs and upgrade networks for broadband, telephone, video and mobility services."
Telecommunications gear maker Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) said Tuesday it would buy Redback Networks, which makes routers used by telecom carriers to direct data traffic , for US$2.1 billion.
Sweden-based Ericsson said it would pay $25 in cash for each of share Redback stock, an 18 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price.
Back in Demand
Ten-year-old Redback competes with Juniper Networks (Nasdaq: JNPR) and Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) . After a roaring start during the dot-com era, Redback is finding its data routing gear in demand again as telecom companies widen their offerings to focus on data as well as voice.
Ericsson said the purchase would be part of its strategy to "help telecommunications carriers lower costs and upgrade networks for broadband, telephone, video and mobility services."
Plans call for Redback to retain its management team and operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ericsson. It will also continue its own research and development efforts, focusing on new video and mobility technologies.
"This agreement is about accelerating market growth," said Redback President and CEO Kevin DeNuccio, a former Cisco executive who helped lead Redback out of bankruptcy in 2004. "We believe Redback now will have the global reach and financial resources to accelerate its own routing technology innovation and grow market share faster than our traditional routing competitors."
Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said his company is buying a market leader with technology that outpaces that of its rivals. "Redback has always had a well known technology advantage over its larger routing competitors in broadband services edge routing," he said. "We believe the combined strengths of both companies in mobility and IP routing will create significant value for customers and shareholders."
Seeking Growth
Although the price tag on the deal seems high, Ericsson said the future potential represented by Redback's technology and Ericsson's strong relationship with many carriers -- for whom it is a top provider of mobile network gear -- make it a smart play. It also argued that building similar technology to Redback's would take it, or its rivals, several years of development time.
With the buy, Ericsson also gains new customers, such as Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T) at a time when more carriers are seeking to build networks that can seamlessly carry voice, data and video, and extend all three offerings to mobile devices.
Redback counts 15 of the top 20 telecom companies worldwide among its customers.
The move makes Ericsson far more of a rival to Cisco Systems, whose gear is still responsible for moving some two-thirds of the world's Internet traffic.
Ericsson said the deal would decrease earnings this year, but it is getting a company on a strong revenue growth run. Redback's sales were on pace to be up nearly 80 percent this year, with analysts on average forecasting growth of 23 percent for 2007 and 31 percent for 2008.
The Yankee Group predicts the worldwide market for Internet Protocol edge routers will top $5 billion annually within two years, and Ericsson said it believes as many as 2 billion users of wire-line and wireless phone networks around the world are primed for an upgrade of their networks to all IP-based routing.
European Invasion
Despite its strong growth, Redback would have been hard pressed to survive on its own, according to Lehman Brothers analyst Jeffrey Kvaal, particularly amid a strong trend toward consolidation in the gear industry.
"Ericsson's global footprint and carrier relationships will provide support to this growing revenue stream," he said.
The purchase comes a month after France-based Alcatel completed its takeover of Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) , creating the world's top gear-making firm in the process.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) and Siemens (NYSE: SI) are also merging their networking business lines in a bid to expand their offerings.
With Redback, Ericsson is extending a buying spree of its own. A year ago, it paid $2.1 billion to buy Marconi, a purchase that enabled it to begin offering fixed-line network products alongside its own wireless gear.
Multi-service edge routers are being sought after by telecom companies because they can help them deliver more services to customers, Gartner (NYSE: IT) analyst Jennifer Liscom explained.
"Edge routers can help telecom operators deliver bundled offerings of broadband voice, data and TV from a single core network," she added.
Ericsson is seeking renewed growth and recognizes that video and mobile data services are where sales expansion is most likely to come.
Last month, the company said it would cut as many as 400 jobs at its Swedish headquarters in a cost-cutting measure. Those cuts still left the company with more than 50,000 employees worldwide, including those employed by the Sony Ericsson joint venture, which makes mobile phone handsets.
Hoya, a Japanese maker of optical glass, plans to buy Pentax for about 91 billion yen ($770 million) in shares, gaining access to profitable markets such as medical gear and optical lenses.
The deal, announced on Thursday, will take Hoya into business areas it would otherwise have been difficult to enter or develop itself, such as endoscopes, advanced digital cameras and lenses used in DVD players, where it will take on rivals such as Olympus and Fujifilm Holdings.
"This is a positive surprise," said Hisashi Moriyama, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase in Tokyo. "It's also positive for Hoya because it will help it enter oligopolistic markets with high-profit margins."
It will be one of the biggest deals in Japan's precision equipment industry since a merger between Konica and Minolta in 2003, and it also eases concerns over possible takeovers of technology companies such as Pentax that have patents and experienced engineers.
Hoya will swap 0.158 shares for each Pentax share, giving a 10.5 percent premium based on Wednesday's closing price, or a valuation of 709.4 yen per Pentax share.
The companies plan to complete the integration on October 1, 2007, and the new company will be named Hoya Pentax HD. It is set to be headed by Hoya President Hiroshi Suzuki.
Based on the companies' earnings last year, the new firm would have combined annual sales of about 500 billion yen and operate like a holding company with existing Pentax units positioned under it.
Hoya, which is more than half-owned by foreigners, is said to control about 85 percent of the global market for mass blanks, used in chipmaking, and more than half of the LCD photomask market. Photomasks are used to make liquid crystal displays.
As a market leader in these key materials, and with solid earnings growth, Hoya has been a favorite pick among investors. Its market value now comes to $16.6 billion, a Goliath compared with Pentax's $745.45.
But Pentax, a pioneer in cameras used by professionals, is also a major player in other profitable industries, such as optical lenses and medical equipment. Pentax President Fumio Urano will become chairman of the new company's board.
"The most attractive part about Pentax was its medical business," Hoya's Suzuki said during a press conference. "We see this as a friendly and equal merger."
The market for endoscopes--small cameras used to look at internal organs--is led by Olympus, which has a global share of about 70 percent. But Pentax and Fujifilm, the only other makers, have been increasing their efforts to expand their market share.
Trading in Pentax and Hoya shares was halted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after the Nihon Keizai business daily reported the deal.
Prior to the halt, Pentax shares rose 7.5 percent, and Hoya shares rose 0.5 percent, both outperforming the benchmark Nikkei average, which rose 0.22 percent.
At the latest prices, the deal values Pentax at $6.04 a share, or $770.86 million in all. That equates to about 33 times forecast earnings, a premium to the sector average of 25, according to Reuters Estimates.
Hoya was advised by UBS Securities Japan, while Pentax was advised by Morgan Stanley Japan Securities.
