Friday June 6, 09:54 PM
Tech Roundup: Verizon Wireless buying Alltel
NEW YORK (AP) - Verizon Wireless grabbed headlines this week after it agreed to buy Alltel Corp. for $5.9 billion in a deal that would oust AT&T Inc. as the largest U.S. cell phone service provider.
Verizon Wireless also plans
to assume $22.2 billion in debt, bringing the total value to $28.1 billion. Alltel was recently taken private by TPG Capital and a unit of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS - news) .
Analysts were upbeat on the deal, and investors sent Verizon Communications Inc. shares higher Thursday -- though the stock still finished the week down slightly.
Verizon Communications owns a majority stake in Verizon Wireless, its joint venture with Britain's Vodafone Group PLC.
Oppenheimer analyst Timothy Horan said the planned acquisition is positive for Verizon (NYSE: VZ - news) both financially and strategically, as the companies have complimentary network footprints, identical technology platforms, and will benefit from a larger scale.
Elsewhere, on Friday activist investor Carl Icahn for the first time put a price tag of $49.5 billion on Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO - news) . Friday. Icahn urged the Internet bellwether to offer Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT - news) . a sale at that price, which is about $2 billion higher than Microsoft's last buyout offer. If the companies don't come to an agreement by Yahoo's August 1 shareholder meeting, Icahn will try to replace Yahoo's board with a slate of his own directors.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD - news) . was a standout among chip companies. Its shares rose Wednesday and Thursday, finishing the week up 8 percent.
AMD's ascent began after the No. 2 microprocessor maker behind Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC - news) . debuted a new package of chips for laptops on Wednesday. The offering was seen as an overhaul of the company's mobile chip lineup which could help fuel a recovery.
AMD continued to climb Thursday as South Korea's antitrust regulator ordered Intel to pay $25.4 million for offering rebates to South Korean computer companies in exchange for not using AMD processors.
Other regulatory developments unfolded on Friday when Intel and AMD were subpoenaed by the Federal Trade Commission, escalating the FTC's probe of possible anticompetitive behavior in the microprocessor market into a formal investigation. Antitrust investigations of Intel have been launched in several countries, including the U.S., based on complaints by AMD of unfair business practices that have stunted its growth.
Intel shares finished the week about 1 percent lower.
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. reported fiscal second-quarter results far above Wall Street's expectations Thursday thanks to stellar sales of 'Grand Theft Auto IV.' The company had no news on larger rival Electronic Arts Inc.'s $2 billion tender offer, which expires later this month.
Take Two shares hit a 52-week high of $27.95 on Friday.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Broadcom Corp. co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III has been charged in one of the largest stock-option backdating cases in U.S. history, but it was the sex and drugs that grabbed the most attention this week.
Indictments unsealed Thursday charged the former CEO with slipping ecstasy into the drink of a technology executive, hiring prostitutes and maintaining a drug warehouse. During a fight on a private jet in 2001, Nicholas 'distributed and used controlled substances,' causing so much marijuana smoke to enter the cockpit that the pilot had to put on an oxygen mask, according to the indictment.
Defense attorney Gregory Craig said Nicholas was innocent and will prevail.
COMING UP: Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL - news) . hosts its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco from June 9 to June 13. An update to the iPhone, with faster Internet surfing, is widely expected to be unveiled at the conference.
--
Compiled by Barbara Ortutay and Dan Scheraga, AP Business Writers in New York.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
NNNN
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
