consortium

Exclusive: Silver Lake Finally Signs Yahoo NDA, as Talks Proceed With Bidders

Kara Swisher in News on November 9, 2011 at 11:08 am PT

Aggressive private equity firm signs on the secret dotted line it said it would not. Of course.

Yahoogle Redux? Why “Project Porcupine” Means Someone Is Definitely Going to Lose an Eye This Time.

Kara Swisher in News on October 25, 2011 at 6:07 am PT

How do you hug a porcupine? Very carefully.

Novell Patent Grab: “Cheap Defensive Insurance”

John Paczkowski in News on December 16, 2010 at 1:43 pm PT

An interesting new development in the big Novell patent sale that went down in November. Turns out that CPTN Holdings LLC, the Microsoft-led consortium that purchased the 882 patent portfolio, includes quite a few other industry heavyweights. According to a Dec. 9 merger notification posted by the Bundeskartellamt–Germany’s federal cartel office–other members of CPTN Holdings include Apple, Oracle and EMC.

McGraw-Hill: We Didn’t Get Booted From the iPad Launch, Because We Weren’t Part of It

John Paczkowski in Mobile on January 28, 2010 at 9:39 am PT

Though it may have seemed like another of Apple’s perfectly timed third-party leaks, McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw’s remarks to CNBC earlier this week were nothing of the sort. The publisher tells me it was not privy to iPad prelaunch details and that to conclude otherwise is a misinterpretation of McGraw’s comments.

Hearst Is Ready to Show Off Its Skiff E-Reader Platform, but It Doesn’t Want to Tell Quite Yet. Is Anyone Ready to Buy?

Peter Kafka in Media on January 8, 2010 at 3:30 am PT

Here’s another e-reader clamoring for attention in a Consumer Electronics Show full of e-readers: The Skiff Reader, produced by a company funded by publisher Hearst Corp. and supported by Sprint. But in many ways, the Skiff Reader’s specs are beside the point, because the real point of its parent company isn’t to produce e-reader devices at all–it wants to create a publishing and distribution platform. Does this sound familiar? And does it sound like something another publisher might want to buy?

Condé Nast, With Help From a Nearly Naked Rihanna, Takes Another Step Toward Digital Magazines

Peter Kafka in Media on December 18, 2009 at 12:33 pm PT

Condé Nast has taken another small step into the future of digital magazines: The publisher has put a second edition of its GQ magazine up for sale on Apple’s iTunes Store. Seminude pop star aside, this doesn’t seem as sexy as the Tablet of Tomorrow talk. But the fact that people are indeed buying magazines in digital form seems pretty relevant to me.

All Is Forgiven: "It's a Clean Slate," Says Andreessen About Lawsuit-Mad Skype Co-Founders

Kara Swisher in News on November 6, 2009 at 11:28 am PT

Silicon Valley legend and now VC Marc Andreessen was making the interview rounds after the settlement between the litigation-addled co-founders of Skype and all the various people they were suing was announced this morning. In an interview with BoomTown, when asked about the aggressive legal tactics of Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis that resulted in them finally seizing a stake in the Internet telephony giant by suing him and many other Silicon Valley players, Andreessen said: “We did not take it personally. It’s a clean sheet of paper.” Well, it is actually a torn, stained and very worn out piece of paper, but bygones!

I Love the Smell of Settlement in the Morning: Skype Founders Set to Get 10 Percent, Option to Buy Three Percent More and Two Board Seats

Kara Swisher in News on November 4, 2009 at 11:38 pm PT

According to several sources close to the situation, barring any unforeseen delay, a deal to settle the Skype imbroglio is likely to be announced around the time the markets open tomorrow. While the massive agreement–which will settle a series of lawsuits waged by Skype’s co-founders–is not yet officially signed, sources said lawyers are apparently putting the finishing touches on the paperwork. Sources also said that those co-founders–Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis–will get 10 percent of Skype back for rights to key technology they control, an option to pay $83 million for another three percent of the Internet telephony service and two seats on the 23-member board.

Volpi and Index Ventures Out of Skype Deal, the Lawsuit-Happy Founder Twins In

Kara Swisher in News on November 3, 2009 at 6:58 pm PT

According to sources close to the situation, Index Ventures and Michelangelo Volpi are out of the deal to buy Skype–and their lawsuit-loving nemeses, the founders of the Internet telephony service, are in. More details to come, but it’s sure proof that the legal system, such as it was used, works.