by Paul Joseph
January 5, 2012
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The year 2011 saw many legal tussles in the Electronics industry. Most of them were between Apple on one side and Google and its hardware partners for Android devices on the other. Samsung and Apple are in the middle of a long and painful legal battle in courtrooms across the world. Microsoft too sues manufacturers now and then to make them pay for patents. Google is going through a legal battle with Oracle over their Android Operating System. All of these have one thing in common: Intellectual Property aka Patents. The Patent System was meant to foster innovation while safeguarding intellectual property rights. But it is being used by certain companies to cripple innovation and fill their own coffers. Google has suffered setbacks due to their relatively small set of patents in the past. Hence they began building up. In their multi-billion dollar acquisition of Motorola , one of their major reasons was Motorola’s vast Patent collection. In June 2011, they had bought 1000 patents from IBM and three months later, in September, they bought another 1000 patents. Now we have news that Google has purchased over 200 patents from IBM. They range across technologies like server backup, e-commerce, email management, recovery and tuning, instant messaging, database tuning, advertising, online calendaring and mobile Web page display. Says William Stofega, analyst for IDC, “ Google has had a great run with what they’ve done so far and it’s clear their patent portfolio isn’t as rich as those of others, especially in mobile. If you’re going to be a mobile platform player, you need to make sure you have your ducks in a row regarding intellectual property”. Since Google have diversified so much, they can use these patents across a range of products but most people think they will use them mainly for their own social network: Google+. To give some real competition to Facebook, they have a long way to go and this can only help. What do you think? Why is Google so intent on collecting patents? Do let us know in the comments below. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts HTC Looks Optimistic Even After Apple Win In Patent Case Young India Is A Different Ball Game When It Comes To IT And Internet WWW: WAT Weekly WrapUp 1st August– 8th August 2010 Google Enters The Living Room, Google TV To Be Launched soon Google Wins Case To Patent Homepage Design – What Was The Big Deal About The Page?
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by Paul Joseph
December 23, 2011
Featured
Internet giant Yahoo is considering selling a part of its stake in Alibaba, recent reports say. The recently troubled company has a 40% stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and is mulling over the prospect of cutting down the share to 15% . Yahoo had acquired a 40% stake in Alibaba, based in Hangzhou, eastern China, for about $1 billion in 2005. Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company, wants to re-purchase its share in a tax-free manner from Yahoo. The deal values the assets at about $14 dollars a Yahoo share, pitching the Yahoo stake at about $17 billion . Yahoo would also sell off its stake in Yahoo Japan Corp. Alibaba doubled its efforts to buy back its share after the September sacking of its CEO, Carol Bartz, who had opposed the sale. With the change in management, the deal is moving forward, reports say. If it could, Yahoo would have wanted to hold on to it for a few more years. China’s e-commerce is entering a period of structured growth. Alibaba, through its Taobao subsidiary, has a dominant presence in this market. The transaction is fairly complicated and it could take weeks, a person with knowledge of the matter has said. Alibaba and Softbank Corp, co-owner of Yahoo Japan, are hoping to repurchase Yahoo’s stake without the introduction of the various taxes that would be triggered with the gains in the investment, into the equation. The way around this is that both Alibaba and Softbank would each create a standalone entity , investing cash and operating assets in it. Thereafter, Yahoo would exchange all of its stake in Yahoo Japan and most of its stake in Alibaba for these new entities. However, Yahoo would retain 15% of Alibaba. Analysts at RedTech Advisors have said that in spite of the doubling of Taobao’s sales revenue in 2010, the same trend is hardly seen in 2011. Presently, with investors focused on growth, the valuation of Yahoo’s stake in Alibaba is probably one of the best. Apart from Alibaba itself, there aren’t many buyers. TGP Capital and Silver Lake are offering to buy a minority stake from Yahoo, with Silver Lake offering $16.60 a share. But Yahoo investors said that they would prefer if the company is sold in its entirety, at a higher value. In addition, chairman and CEO Jack Ma’s trifle with the Yahoo management is sure to deter prospective buyers, if any. The best scenario for Yahoo would be if Alibaba launches a public offering for Taobao. But Alibaba is under no qualms to do so and might even refuse unless Yahoo reduces its stake. For Yahoo itself, things aren’t looking too bright for the parent company. Hence, this deal that would give them a significant amount for its stake and allowing it to hold 15% to benefit from future growth of Alibaba looks like a pretty good option for Yahoo. What do you think Yahoo should do in this situation? Should it wait for more time or should it go ahead with the deal? Do let us know. Looking For A Social Media Agency?? – Contact WATConsult – India’s Leading Social Media Agency Related Posts Yahoo Sees Red In China! Trouble With AliBaba? CyberAttacks? Yahoo Buys Interclick To Boost Ad Data Alipay Outshines PayPal To Become The World’s Largest Payment System Yahoo Increases Focus On Content – Buys Associated Content For 100 Mil $ Alibaba.com Bullish On India Market – Looks For JV & Sets No Upper Limit On Investments
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