AllThingsD » Anupreeta Das

Big Clearwire Holder Resists Sprint

Anupreeta Das — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:30:04 +0000

Sprint Nextel Corp. is up to its neck in a merger fight, and it’s all about airwaves.

Pay-TV provider Dish Network Corp. has offered $25.5 billion for the mobile-phone carrier, in a headline-grabbing attempt to break up Sprint’s agreement to be bought by SoftBank Corp.

But Sprint is waging another battle over a separate, lower-profile effort to buy the roughly 50 percent stake it doesn’t own in wireless-broadband operator Clearwire Corp.

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Liberty Global to Acquire Virgin Media

Dana Cimilluca, Lilly Vitorovich and Anupreeta Das — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:00:10 +0000

John Malone’s international cable business Liberty Global Inc. has agreed to acquire U.K. cable-television and Internet provider Virgin Media Inc. for $16 billion, in a deal that may create a stronger rival to market leader British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC.

Liberty Global will pay for the deal using a mix of cash and its stock, totaling $47.87 per Virgin Media share, based on Monday’s closing prices, the companies said in a joint statement Tuesday.

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Dell Nears $23 Billion Deal to Go Private

Anupreeta Das and Ben Worthen — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 18:35:43 +0000

Dell Inc. on Monday was close to finalizing a $23 billion deal to take itself private at between $13.50 and $13.75 a share, said people familiar with the matter, in a buyout that marks an unofficial end to the era when a handful of young entrepreneurs made PCs the dominant computing device.

The buyout would be the largest such transaction since the financial crisis, and reflects the combined heft of Michael Dell, the computer maker’s founder and chief executive, software titan Microsoft Corp., private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners and a handful of investment banks.

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Dish's Clearwire Offer Lives On

Spencer E. Ante and Anupreeta Das — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 15:42:18 +0000

Clearwire Corp. kept alive its consideration of a merger proposal from satellite television operator Dish Network Corp., as a vocal group of shareholders continues to oppose the wireless broadband operator’s deal to be bought by Sprint Nextel Corp.

In a regulatory filing Friday, Clearwire said it opted not to tap financing made available by Sprint for February — a step that could have caused Dish to withdraw its proposal to buy Clearwire for $3.30 a share. Clearwire has agreed to sell itself to Sprint for $2.97 a share.

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Dell Deal Done Differently

Anupreeta Das — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:00:25 +0000

So much for one-stop shopping.

When a giant takeover is brewing, banks usually try to get as many pieces of the action as they can, from offering advice to lending money.

But J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets and one of the most frequently hired advisers on mergers and acquisitions, didn’t pursue an important chunk of business in the potential buyout of Dell Inc.

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Microsoft in Talks to Help Finance Dell Buyout

Anupreeta Das and Shira Ovide — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:13:41 +0000

Microsoft Corp. is in discussions about helping to finance a buyout of computer maker Dell Inc., according to a person familiar with the deal deliberations.

The software company hasn’t made a commitment, but if it were to join an investor group for a Dell buyout, its investment would likely be in the range of a couple of billion dollars, this person said.

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AT&T Stalking Europe for Mergers

Anton Troianovski, Anupreeta Das and Dana Cimilluca — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 13:30:14 +0000

AT&T Inc. is once again starting up its deal machine.

The telecommunications giant is considering buying a counterpart in Europe, a bet that it can best escape constraints on growth at home by getting into a new wireless market where it can upgrade technology and roll out more lucrative pricing strategies, people familiar with the carrier’s thinking said.

The company is currently studying targets, and a deal — if one happens — could come before the end of the year, those people said.

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Dell in Talks on Buyout at $13 to $14 a Share

Ben Worthen and Anupreeta Das — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:30:42 +0000

Dell Inc.’s journey from computer king to buyout candidate reflects the difficulty of abandoning what propelled it to prominence: A finely tuned supply chain that could quickly assemble and deliver custom-ordered computers at a lower cost than the competition.

Now the question is whether going private would present the best way for Michael Dell, the company’s founder and CEO, to move the company forward with a focus on products for business, rather than consumers.

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In Clearwire Gambit, Spectrum Is the Prize

Anton Troianovski, Shalini Ramachandran and Anupreeta Das — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 15:30:30 +0000

Charlie Ergen, chairman of Dish Network Corp., is in a familiar position: He can win even by losing.

Mr. Ergen’s attempt to snatch wireless provider Clearwire Corp. out of the hands of its current merger partner, Sprint Nextel Corp., is just his latest move in a long chess match. The endgame: to get access to the spectrum and network assets needed to deliver wireless service and even video over the air.

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Google, Dish Held Talks to Launch Wireless Service

Amir Efrati, Anupreeta Das and Shalini Ramachandran — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:30:09 +0000

Google Inc. has held talks with satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp. in recent weeks to partner on a new wireless service that would rival the networks of wireless carriers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The talks between Dish and Google, which involve the Internet giant’s corporate-development team, aren’t advanced and could amount to nothing, one of the people said.

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Softbank Nears Sprint Nextel Deal

Anupreeta Das and Anton Troianovsky — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 23:42:37 +0000

Japanese company Softbank Corp. is near a $20 billion deal to buy a majority stake in Sprint Nextel Corp., people familiar with the matter said, a deal that will give the third-largest U.S. wireless operator more financial firepower to compete with bigger rivals.

Softbank, a Japanese telecom and Internet company, will acquire 70 percent of Sprint by buying $8 billion of shares directly from the wireless carrier and then buying another $12 billion in shares in the market, the people said.

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China's Huawei Considers an IPO

Spencer E. Ante, Telis Demos and Anupreeta Das — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:45:09 +0000

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies Co. has reached out to investment banks for advice on issuing stock to the public, people familiar with the outreach said, as the company considers ways to make itself more transparent and improve its odds of winning big contracts in markets like the U.S.

The conversations with banks involve advice on how and where the telecom-equipment maker might list its stock and the types of disclosures it would have to make to facilitate such a step, the people said. The company hasn’t made a decision to proceed with an IPO or chosen a bank to handle such a transaction, the people said.

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News Corp. Mulls Splitting in Two

Martin Peers, John Jannarone and Anupreeta Das — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 10:21:42 +0000

News Corp. is considering splitting into two companies, separating its publishing assets from its entertainment businesses, say people familiar with the situation.

The split would carve off News Corp.’s film and television businesses, including 20th Century Fox film studio, Fox broadcast network and Fox News channel from its newspapers, book publishing assets and education businesses. News Corp.’s publishing assets include The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London and the Australian newspaper, as well as HarperCollins book publishing. If a separation occurs, the publishing company would be far smaller than the entertainment company.

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Morgan Stanley Was "Driver" on Facebook's Wild IPO Ride

Monica Langley, Anupreeta Das and Aaron Lucchetti — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:48:59 +0000

In snaring the most coveted investment-banking assignment of the year, Morgan Stanley’s Michael Grimes insisted to a senior Facebook Inc. executive that he be the “single driver” of the company’s initial public offering, adding that if the deal soured, it would be his “throat to choke.”

Mr. Grimes’s audacious, successful pitch to minimize input from other underwriters put Morgan Stanley in a position to exert unusual control over the IPO and to scoop up a bigger share of its fees. But it also turned the veteran Silicon Valley investment banker and his firm into targets for criticism when Facebook’s IPO swiftly turned bad for many investors.

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Kayak Pushes Back IPO Timing After Facebook

Anupreeta Das, Gina Chon and Shira Ovide — Wed, 30 May 2012 19:08:38 +0000

Kayak Software Corp. has pushed back the timing for its initial public offering in the wake of Facebook Inc.’s tumultuous public debut, people familiar with the matter said.

The online travel deals site was to be one of the next Internet IPO deals led by Morgan Stanley, the bank that led Facebook’s deal. The roadshow for the Kayak deal, in which large investors get pitched on the shares, was to begin after Memorial Day, the people said. Now, that timing is uncertain, they said, as Kayak takes stock of investor confidence. Facebook shares have lost about 25 percent of their value since they started trading May 18.

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Facebook Flop Puts Investment Banker on the Spot

Anupreeta Das, Aaron Lucchetti and Gina Chon — Sun, 27 May 2012 16:00:46 +0000

Facebook Inc.’s botched initial public offering left Morgan Stanley investment banker Michael Grimes in an unusual spot: on the defensive.

The 45-year-old Mr. Grimes, co-head of global technology banking at the New York firm, has been a big moneymaker in Silicon Valley since the mid-1990s, helping keep Morgan Stanley at or near the top of the IPO heap.

Now, though, Mr. Grimes is getting a chunk of the blame for Facebook’s flop. On Friday, the social-networking company’s shares fell 3.4%, or $1.12, to $31.91. The latest drop left the stock 16% below its IPO price.

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Some Big Firms Got Facebook Warning

Gina Chon, Jenny Strasburg and Anupreeta Das — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:15:47 +0000

Capital Research & Management wanted to buy into the Facebook Inc. initial public offering. But days before the IPO, an underwriting bank on the deal warned the big investment firm about Facebook’s dimming revenue prospects.

The Los Angeles firm, armed with information from a May 11 “roadshow” meeting with underwriters and Facebook, along with similar estimates of its own, slashed the number of shares it intended to buy. The night before trading began, a Capital Research manager told a banker at Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter, that the deal’s pricing was “ridiculous,” according to a person familiar with the situation. Some Capital Research fund managers didn’t buy into the IPO at all, say people familiar with the matter.

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Inside Fumbled Facebook Offering

Shayndi Raice, Anupreeta Das and Gina Chon — Wed, 23 May 2012 00:46:17 +0000

Less than three days before Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman decided to boost the number of shares the company would offer investors by 25 percent, said people familiar with the planning. His main adviser at lead underwriter Morgan Stanley assured him there was plenty of demand, they said.

That decision by the 41-year-old Facebook executive may have doomed any real chance the social-networking company had that its shares would jump when trading began — a hallmark of successful IPOs. On Tuesday, the second full day of trading, Facebook shares fell $3.03, or 8.9 percent, to $31, after falling 11 percent on Monday. Investors are blaming the downdraft on the last-moment expansion of the offering.

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Facebook IPO to Seek $85 Billion to $95 Billion Value

Shayndi Raice, Anupreeta Das and John Letzing — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:12:35 +0000

Facebook Inc. is planning to set the price range for its impending initial public offering in the high-$20s to mid-$30s a share, valuing itself at roughly $85 billion to $95 billion, said people familiar with the matter.

The pricing puts the social network on track to become the most valuable U.S. Web company at the time of an IPO, exceeding Google Inc.’s $23 billion valuation in 2004. It would also put Facebook just behind the market capitalization of Amazon.com Inc. and ahead of other technology giants like Hewlett-Packard Co.

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RIM Weighs Bleak Options

Will Connors, Anupreeta Das, Gina Chon — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:26:56 +0000

Research In Motion Ltd.’s new chief executive faces two bleak options: Attempt a bold turnaround of the embattled BlackBerry maker, or find a willing buyer. Neither will be an easy task.

RIM said sales of BlackBerrys fell sharply in the latest quarter, leading to the company’s first revenue decline in seven years. Its subscriber growth rate from the previous quarter also hit an all-time low of 3%. And two of RIM’s top officers stepped down, leaving RIM’s executive bench as shallow as it has ever been.

Meanwhile, morale has flagged amid the unrest, according to executives inside and outside the company.

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Yahoo Discussing Plan to Cut Alibaba Stake to 15 Percent

Anupreeta Das and Gina Chon — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:34:50 +0000

Yahoo Inc. is discussing a plan to cut its stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to about 15 percent as part of a tax-free transaction valued at between $17 billion and $18 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Yahoo currently owns about 40 percent of Alibaba, the value of which it pegged at about $13 billion in September. Yahoo also owns 35 percent of Yahoo Japan, a publicly traded company that has Japanese Internet firm Softbank as another large shareholder.

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Activist Fund Slams AOL's Strategy

Anupreeta Das — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 13:00:34 +0000

A little-known activist fund, Starboard Value LP, has trained its guns on AOL Inc., arguing that the Internet company’s strategy of investing in Web content businesses isn’t paying off for investors.

Starboard — one of AOL’s largest shareholders, owning about 4.5 percent of the stock — sent a letter late Tuesday to AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong, saying the company’s efforts to transform itself into an advertising-supported online media entity, from its roots as a subscription-based dial-up Internet access business, are destroying shareholder value.

The nine-page letter to AOL, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, echoes the frustration of many AOL investors and Wall Street analysts, who have been skeptical of the company’s multiple turnaround strategies amid a nearly 70 percent drop in the stock price this year. However, it stops short of suggesting that AOL sell money-losing assets or pursue alternatives such as a sale.

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Microsoft, Nokia Flirted With RIM

Will Connors, Joann S. Lublin and Anupreeta Das — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:57:39 +0000

Microsoft Corp. and Nokia Corp. in recent months flirted with the idea of making a joint bid for Research In Motion Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter.

The status of the talks remains unclear. But the fact that the discussions took place, even informally, underscores the severity of the challenges facing RIM and the opportunity it presents to rivals.

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Lam Research to Buy Novellus Systems

Anupreeta Das — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 00:40:27 +0000

Lam Research Corp., which makes equipment used in chip manufacturing, is buying Novellus Systems Inc. in an all-stock deal that values its peer at around $3.3 billion, the companies said.

Novellus shareholders will get $44.42 per share, at an exchange ratio of 1.125 shares of Lam for each Novellus share, which amounts to a premium of about 28% over the Wednesday closing price of Novellus shares.

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AT&T, T-Mobile Mull Plan B

Anupreeta Das, Anton Troianovski and Gina Chon — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:58:00 +0000

AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG, the parent of T-Mobile USA, have discussed forming a joint venture that would pool network assets from the two U.S. wireless carriers as an alternative transaction if their current acquisition deal falls apart, people familiar with the matter said.

These discussions are not advanced and were described by the people more as a plan the two companies have on the backburner. Still, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom are likely to take a closer look at a joint venture as AT&T’s planned $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA faces mounting opposition, they added.

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