Auto parts chain Pep Boys has agreed to go private in an $800 million deal in which the nationwide chain will be acquired by the Gores Group.

Per a press release, the deal is expected to wrap in the second quarter of 2012, and Pep Boys will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Gores Group offered $15 a share for Pep Boys stock in the deal, 24% up over the company’s per share price at the close of trading on Friday. Nearly a year ago, the company halted efforts to go private due to a lack of high enough bids for the auto supply chain during the earlier efforts. At the start of the last go-round, Pep Boys reported earnings of $1.99 billion in the fiscal year ending January 2011, an increase of over 4% from the previous year.

In a press release, CEO Mike Odell confirmed leadership at Pep Boys would remain consistent, and said:

“Partnering with The Gores Group delivers a significant premium for Pep Boys’ shareholders and ensures a strong foundation for us to continue our expansion. Our Board firmly believes that this transaction is in the best interests of all of our stakeholders and delivers an ongoing commitment to excellence for our customers and employees.”

In the same release, Managing Director of Operations and Consumer Practice Leader at The Gores Group Lee Bird said:

“Pep Boys’ strong brand awareness and management’s strategy to be the automotive solutions provider of choice for the value-oriented customer positions Pep Boys for growth. We are excited to help Pep Boys build on this vision and enable the Company to take the brand and business to the next level by effectively scaling its powerful differentiated service platform.”

In anticipation of the close of the transaction in Q2, Pep Boys has suspended its quarterly dividend.

Pep Boys Agrees to $791M Acquisition is a post from: The Inquisitr

While there were cheers and high-fives all over the tech world when AT&T announced that they were pulling out of the T-Mobile deal it didn’t stop AT&T needing to find a solution to a major problem facing the company – wireless spectrum.

You see AT&T needs wireless spectrum, or at least they say they do, very badly and that problem got even more complicated due to Verizon doing some smart deals with cable networks to pick up their unused wireless spectrum; which has reduced the pool of spectrum available to AT&T by a large degree.

Well it seems that Bloomberg is floating a report that a possible solution to AT&T’s problem would be to acquire the Dish Network who own a crapload of wireless spectrum and even at a premium AT&T could pick up the company for a reasonable price.

With Dish Network shares trading at $29 Bloomberg suggests that AT&T could easily pay as much as $50 per share for a 77% premium.

AS far as Dish is concerned they have no real problem with being acquired as noted by company CEO Joe Clayton recently

Dish is open to a potential acquisition once it builds out its wireless telephone and entertainment businesses, the Englewood, Colorado-based company’s CEO Clayton said last week.

“We’re open to all possible options,” Clayton said in a Jan. 11 interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West,” responding to a question on future merger possibilities. “We could be acquired or we could be the acquirer.”

via Bloomberg

Chances are that this type of deal would probably have an easier time with regulators considering that Dish Networks doesn’t currently have any cellphone service which was the major stumbling block for the T-Mobile deal.

via VentureBeat

With the T-Mobile failure could AT&T go after Dish Network? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Well this is one in from out in left field but according to Reuters and two trusted inside source at a Wall Street investment house Amazon was in some serious talks to buy beleaguered Research in Motion (RIM) earlier this year.

There was no formal offer made according to the sources but any talks of a buyout was turned away by RIM’s senior management believing that they would be able to turn around the companies recent misfortunes with it soon to be released offering as well as their already extensive product line and their foothold in the enterprise marketplace.

Apparently investment bankers sought Samsung and HTC as other potential buyers but the companies weren’t interested, citing existing relationships with Google and Microsoft. Some analysts have called for a sell-off of RIM’s existing patent portfolio, and have encouraged co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie to split the company into two halves, one focusing on consumer goods like its BlackBerry smartphone line and another catering more to B2B enterprise solutions.

via MobileSyrup

It doesn’t matter what RIM does these days as everything they are trying to do to bring the company back to its former glory isn’t working out for them as they continue to battle setbacks.

Rumor: Amazon apparently looked into buying RIM earlier in the year is a post from: The Inquisitr

AT&T announced on Monday that they are ending their $39 billion bid to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom after fierce government opposition marred the deal.

Speaking about their decision officials at AT&T say the actions of the U.S. government to block the deal will not change the challenges currently being faced by the telecommunications industry, specifically the company’s need to acquire more airwaves for expansion purposes.

Had the deal been allowed to pass AT&T would have become the largest cellular company in the United States, surpassing CDMA provider Verizon Wireless. As it stands AT&T is currently the second largest provider with T-Mobile just behind Sprint Wireless in the fourth place position.

On Aug. 31 the Justice Department sued to block the merger, claiming that such a deal would reduce competition while raising prices for consumers.

After the lawsuit was filed both companies withdrew their Federal Communications Commission (FCC) application when it became known that the chairman of the FCC opposed the merger.

Instead AT&T Wireless officials say they will pay T-Mobile USA their initially promised $4 billion breakup fee and will enter into a “mutually beneficial” roaming deal with T-Mobile, a deal that will allow the company’s to share their network capacities without an acquisition.

Do you think T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless should have been allowed to merge or would such a partnership have choked off competition throughout the U.S. cellular market?

AT&T Wireless Drops T-Mobile Takeover Bid, Forms Partnership Instead is a post from: The Inquisitr

Citing a desire for greater scale in their combined markets, supermarket chains Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo are merging.

Bi-Lo agreed today to purchase Winn-Dixie for $9.50 a share- about 75% higher than the stock’s closing price Friday- in a $560 million buyout. Currently, the chains do not overlap in market geographically- Winn-Dixie owns 480 locations in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana; while Bi-Lo has 207 locations in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.

No stores for either brand are expected to close due to the merger, and both brands are expected to remain intact as the companies move forward. In the past decade, both Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie have filed for forms of bankruptcy protection, the former in 2009 and the latter in 2005. Winn-Dixie “closed hundreds of locations” after its mid-00s financial struggles.

The companies released a joint statement this morning about the merger, and R. Randall Onstead Jr., Bi-Lo’s chairman, commented:

“With no overlap in our markets, the combined company will have a perfect geographic fit that will create a stronger platform from which to provide our customers great products at a great value, while continuing to offer exceptional service. BI-LO and Winn-Dixie are both strong regional brands with similar heritages, compelling customer connections, and outstanding employees. Both have been an important part of the communities and families they serve, and we look forward to building upon these two iconic brands and serving loyal customers for years to come.”

Winn-Dixie CEO Peter Lynch said:

“This transaction with BI-LO provides Winn-Dixie shareholders with a significant cash premium for their shares. We believe this transaction is in the best interests of our shareholders. By combining BI-LO and Winn-Dixie, we anticipate building a company that is stronger than our individual businesses and creating opportunities for continued advancement through the cross-pollination of our people and the sharing of ideas across our organizations, all to the benefit of our guests, suppliers, team members and the neighborhoods that Winn-Dixie serves.”

Until the transaction is complete, both entities will operate separately.

Winn-Dixie Bought By Bi-Lo, Chains to Merge is a post from: The Inquisitr

Online auction site eBay announced the acquisition of recommendation startup Hunch on Monday for an estimated cost of $80 million (Acquisition pricing has not been revealed at this time).

Launched in 2008 the company will retain their 50-person recommendations team who according to Hunch founder Chris Dixon will move over to join the team at eBay.

eBay has long had a problem predicting what their customers are searching for because many of their products are used or come in unique form which makes them hard to analyze.

According to eBay’s chief technology officer:

“Hunch was solving a similar problem with unstructured data,” he says. “The type of technologies were similar enough that this makes sense.”

How the company will integrate Hunch into their existing platform is still to be seen. What is known is that the company was likely a “hot target” as Michael Arrington explained in his Uncrunched post:

In mid 2010 there were whispers that Google was taking a long look at the company as well, although I haven’t heard anything to suggest they were bidding against Ebay this time around.

How would you like to see eBay change their recommendation engine for the better?

eBay Gobbles Up Hunch For Estimated $80 Million is a post from: The Inquisitr

Nuance confirmed on Tuesday that they have purchased mobile platform Swype for $100 million. Nuance currently owns the rights to the T9 keyboard system which will now add full QWERTY capabilities to their lineup.

By purchasing Swype the company now becomes the default provider for custom keyboard layouts on many phones. Swype and Nuance T9 technologies are used on phones ranging from basic mobile phones to Google Android based devices.

News of the buyout arrives just after Nuance is believed to have signed a deal for the iPhone 4S system to power the voice recognition system behind Siri. The buyout would mean that Nuance now controls major components of Google Android and Apple iOS systems.

Comments from Nuance and Swype have not been provided at this time although we expect to hear more about the buyout in the coming days.

Are you surprised that Nuance aquired Swype?

Nuance Buys Swype For $100 Million [Confirmed] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mobile and wireless behemoth AT&T has urged the federal court in Washington to dismiss lawsuits brought against it by rivals Sprint Nextel and Cellular South. Both firms are arguing AT&T’s proposed USD39 billion purchase of T-Mobile from Germany’s Deutsche Telekom would be anti-competitive.

AT&T, which is also facing a civil antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice, is claiming its competitors have failed to demonstrate that the T-Mobile deal will hurt competition or negatively affect access to networks needed to serve their customers.

Here’s part of the latest cuddly AT&T filing:

“What is good for consumers is bad for Sprint, and that is why Sprint has filed suit. Sprint does not purchase roaming services from either AT&T or T-Mobile – its network is technologically incompatible. The transaction will therefore have no impact on Sprint’s ability to obtain roaming prices. The immediate impact of any supposed reduction in demand for special access as a result of the merger would be to reduce the prices that Sprint pays for special access, not to increase them. That reduction in prices would benefit Sprint and would not constitute antitrust injury.”

AT&T’s filing also laid into Cellular South, stating:

“Cellular South suggested that it would not oppose the merger if AT&T would agree not to engage in facilities-based competition in Mississippi. This inappropriate proposal confirms that what Cellular South fears is competition, not lack of competition.”

Which, if you ask most right-minded people, is hogwash. Back in August, when the DoJ launched its civil antitrust lawsuit, deputy attorney general James M Cole warned the merger would mean consumers “faced higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products,” for mobile wireless services.

Cole basically has the entire history of mergers to back up his case. Seven U.S. states and Puerto Rico seem to agree – all have backed the DoJ’s case.

AT&T Requests Dismissal of Sprint and Cellular South Lawsuits is a post from: The Inquisitr

Typically when businesses move to acquire another company it is pretty smooth sailing, even if the deal has to be approved by various US agencies. Even when IBM sold off its laptop business to the Chinese company Lenovo there wasn’t much more than a cursory overview from those government agencies responsible for watchdogging this type of  deal.

So it is no surprise that AT&T figured that their move to acquire competitor T-Mobile would just slide through regardless of the uproar that came from those pesky consumer groups.

Well, hell has frozen over folks because in a surprise move the Department of Justice is suing to block the acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T using the most obvious,and probably very truthful argument that this deal would “substantially lessen competition” in the wireless market.

This lawsuit has apparently come as a total surprise to AT&T who thought everything was all hunky-dory after several meetings with the DoJ. According to Bloomberg

“We have met repeatedly with the Department of Justice and there was no indication from the DOJ that this action was being contemplated,” Wayne Watts, AT&T’s general counsel, said in a statement. He said the company intends to fight the litigation.

This lawsuit could be one of the most costly ones that AT&T has been involved in because if the acquisition is successfully blocked it would mean that AT&T would have to pay T-Mobile a $3 Billion cancellation fee so it is no surprise that AT&T moved quickly to counter the announcement of the lawsuit by the Department of Justice by saying that they will fight this all the way.

As noted by Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOM the reasons the DoJ stepped in like this are inconsistant with past cases .

A quick read of the complaint shows that the DOJ looked at the merger not at a local level as has historically been the case in wireless merger agreements, but with an eye toward how this affects wireless coverage across the nation. Significantly, it realized the value of mobile data and competition in nationwide mobile broadband access as a reason that this deal would be harmful.

I don’t know about you but I’m going down to the grocery store and stock up on popcorn because this whole thing just started to get interesting.

Finally someone with balls is fighting the AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile. Surprise, it’s the DoJ. is a post from: The Inquisitr

Skype has announced the acquisition of group messaging service GroupMe for somewhere in the vicinity of $50 million to $100 million. According to people close to the deal the GroupMe application will continue to operate independently but will likely play a major role in future updates to the Skype messaging system.

While initial reports put the buy at $50 million, BetaBeat‘s Ben Popper says several sources have placed the deal between $75 million and $85 million.

On their official GroupMe blog the company noted that the acquisition is “not just a big win for GroupMe and our amazing investors, but also for New York City.”

Popper noted:

“As part of the deal, GroupMe will remain in New York, team intact, working on our standalone application. The major difference will be that we will now have access to Skype’s 175 million monthly connected users.” and “Skype arguably picked the best of breed to help it conquer the mobile market.”

Microsoft acquired Skype  earlier this year which technically means Microsoft has purchased GroupMe.

Skype has most recently faced increasing competition from the like of Google+ and their video messaging service which allows up to 10 people to communication at the same time and from Facebook who recently launched a video chat competitor of their own.

How would you like to see GroupMe become integrated into Skype systems.

Skype Buys GroupMe For $50 Million, Company Will Retain Entire Team is a post from: The Inquisitr

Time Warner Cable on Monday announced that they have struck a $3 billion cash deal to acquire Insight Communications. The buyout will give Time Warner an additional 750,000 customers throughout Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.  

The acquisition was led by private equity owners the Carylyl Group which took the company private in 2005 with other investors such as Crestview Partners and MidOcean Partners who purchased a significant stake in the company in April 2010.

The deal marks the largest buy for Time Warner Cable since they split from Time Warner.

Time Warner Cable Acquiring Insight Communications For $3 Billion is a post from: The Inquisitr

GPS leader Garmin on Tuesday announced that their acquisition of competitor Navigon has been completed, signaling a smooth purchase with no major roadblocks in the deal.

Garmin said in June that they would have the Navigon acquisition completed by the end of July and they lived up to that promise, although they have not disclosed any financial information about the buyout, both company’s executives said that they are “excited” and “pleased” with the deal.

The partnership was seen as an important acquisition for Garmin who plan to use Navigon’s GPS software to compete in the mobile space, while acquiring talented GPS programmers and hardware designers is a needed competitive advantage for Garmin as the company’s market share has been in a free fall with free navigation from Google Maps dominating nearly all of the mobile GPS market.

Garmin Confirms: Navigon Is Officially Acquired is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s not news that Go Daddy, one of the biggest domain registrars in the business along with web hosting and online marketing, was up for sale.

What is news, and by the looks of it hot off the press, is that it has finally been sold to a group of private equity firms made up of KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners, and Technology Crossover Ventures. According  to the founder of Go Daddy, Bob Parsons, the plan is to make more partnerships, acquire other companies, and recruit talent, in other words – business as usual.

According to those in the know it wasn’t so much Go Daddy’s domain registrar business that was attractive but rather the other areas that the company is involved in and their potential growth.

The final price paid for Go Daddy?

$2.25 billion, which means Parson’s will have plenty of cash to go on more elephant killing expeditions.

via VentureBeat

Go Daddy is going … going … gone for $2.25 billion is a post from: The Inquisitr

An unnamed company is said to be after Hulu for an acquisition and according to the Company Town blog by LA Times that company is none other than Yahoo.

According to reports the offer wasn’t solicited by Hulu however it does have company officials for the streaming video service considering offers from other heavy hitters in silicon valley.

The possible acquisition comes right after NBCUniversal had to give up their seats on the Hulu board in order to complete their Comcast merger.

Is the timing of the possible acquisition by Yahoo meant to coincide with the Comcast/NBC merger? I sure would like to think so.

[Rumor Mill] Yahoo Attempting To Purchase Hulu is a post from: The Inquisitr

In May 2011 Microsoft announced that they would pay $8.5 billion in cash to acquire internet phone and chat provider Skype and less than one month later the FTC has approved that acquisition.

While concerns began to arise that Microsoft would begin to restrict Skype services on other platforms, providing the company with an unfair advantage in the VoIP market, FTC officials said that there did not appear to be any anti-trust issues with the deal and would therefore allow it to proceed. Microsoft has said repeatedly that Skype would continue to run as it’s own division.

The acquisition of Skype is important as Microsoft needs to compete successfully with Google and Apple video calling options so they can control brand recognition within the international market that Skype currently controls.[via]

FTC Approves Microsoft Acquisition Of Skype is a post from: The Inquisitr

In recent days, Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt has lamented the tech giant’s foot-dragging when it comes to the social sphere.

Google notably lagged in social products, finally releasing Google Buzz in 2010 to a response that could charitably be called tepid. Not only did Google Buzz fail to titillate users already well grounded in Facebook and on Twitter, some feature of the program ultimately got Google sued for being a bit too social with unconsenting parties. Anyway, Google has been a bit spotty on the whole “social” front.

But earlier this week- just yesterday in fact- Google added a +1 button for ranking. And today, social engagement ranking service PostRank has announced it has been acquired by Google and will be moving to Mountain View. In a blog post, the service gushes:

We are extremely excited to join Google. We believe there is simply no better company on the web today that both understands the value of the engagement data we have been focusing on, and has the platform and reach to bring its benefits to the untold millions of daily, active Internet users. Stay tuned, we’ll be sure to share details on our progress in the coming months!

Details of the sale have not yet been made public. Do you think the purchase signals a more measured social strategy on Google’s part?

Google Buys Engagement Ranking Service PostRank is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s done and dusted- the sale of the Inquisitr is complete, and the site has officially changed hands.

It would be incredibly difficult to post about this objectively, as I’ve personally had an eons-long by tech standards working relationship with Duncan, and most of the team have been here for a year or more. To be painfully honest, it was a bit terrifying to watch it play out, and difficult to imagine the Inquisitr without Duncan, and maybe some of me us panicked a little. However, we’ve all spoken to the new (secret!) owner- he’s very cool, he’s got some great ideas and we’re excited.

With everything said and done, Duncan has disclosed some facts and figures about the sale of the site. Final sale price was 10% over the reserve of $300,000, at $330,000. Keeping in with the threes trend, it went for 30x the monthly net after writers’ expenses. Duncan commented:

“Although it was a quick sale and I believe it was less than it was worth, the sale once again proves the viability of new media. The sale worked out at roughly 30x net monthly after writers, which is a good figure in the after market, and compares well to old media sales.”

As many of our readers know, Duncan said the decision to sell the Inquisitr was not an easy one, but he wanted some time away before diving into new ventures. He says:

“I had to sell for private reasons in the end, which werenʼt related to the running of the site (indeed it ran itself) but you get to a point where you need a proper break (one I havenʼt had for seven years,) and the site has gone into good hands at a good price.

“I do believe The Inquistr was worth far more, but the quality of the buyer and the fact that they kept on the writers, who are the real assets of the company (which they have proved time and again) was an important consideration.

“It was a clear cash sale (without conditions and with no clauses for me to stay on) which was the deciding factor in me accepting the offer.

“The Inquisitr has been my heart and soul for three years, and as much as it hurts me to be forced to sell it, I know it goes into good hands.”

At the end of his time off, Duncan says he plans on launching something new in an entirely different niche than the Inquisitr. We can’t wait to see what he’s planning, and I think it’s safe to say everyone here will miss him very much during his mini-retirement. Something tells me he won’t keep a low profile for long.

Duncan dishes on Inquisitr sale, future plans is a post from: The Inquisitr

After some speculation that Microsoft and Facebook were both vying to purchase VoiP property Skype, the former has plunked down $8.56 billion in cash to purchase the service.

Skype is Microsoft’s priciest acquisition to date, beating out the 2007 purchase of ad firm aQuantive in 2007, a deal that rang in at $6 billion. Microsoft already operates Windows Live Messenger with a significant userbase, and while Skype’s 124 million active users per month is far smaller than Windows Live Messenger’s 330 million, 8 million Skype users pay for their service.

After critiquing how Skype’s software is structured, Wired points out some interesting math about the paying customers:

Even the access to paying customers is hard to justify. The terms of the deal mean that for each Skype customer, Microsoft is paying about $1,000. And on average, those customers are worth a profit of about $30, presuming most of Skype’s income comes from subscriptions and call charges. That’s a huge disparity.

In a joint statement with Microsoft, Skype CEO Tony Bates said:

“Microsoft and Skype share the vision of bringing software innovation and products to our customers… Together, we will be able to accelerate Skype’s plans to extend our global community and introduce new ways for everyone to communicate and collaborate.”

Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion is a post from: The Inquisitr

According to a post just showing up on The Register says that Warner Music has been bought for a price of $3.3 billion.

The man behind the surprise deal is  U.S. businesses man Len Blavatnik who through his Access Industries also owns Top Up TV and saw him paying 34 percent over the market price for Warner Music.

t’s a minor surprise, given that rivals Universal and Sony were thought to have a head start in the auction for Warner. EMI had a short and unhappy period in the hands of an equity investor for years. Warner had tried hard to buy EMI before Terra Firma acquired it in 2007.

Having made his fortune in property and the former Russian nationalised industries, Blavatnik has faith that content companies are where future growth will be; he tried to buy MGM Studios last year.

 

Russian born businessman snaps up Warner Music is a post from: The Inquisitr

When word came out that AT&T was looking to buy up its competitor T-Mobile the tech blogosphere was quick to jump on it as being one of the worst ideas to come along in a long time. Unlike tech bloggers regular web users had to be happy with using Twitter or Facebook to voice their opinions on the matter; which by all accounts was much like the tech bloggers – this idea sucks.

Well for those of you that want to have a more direct way of expressing your thoughts on the matter the FCC has made it really easy. Just head over to the FCC Express Upload Form page and fill in the form with your thoughts on the proposed deal.

Note: the FCC filing number on the ECFS Expert Form list page is 11-65

via Engadget

Think The T-Mobile / AT&T Deal #Sucks? Tell The FCC Why. is a post from: The Inquisitr