Gizmodo Australia » mergers

Dell’s Gearing Up To Buy Something Big, But What?

John Herrman — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 12:21:33 +0000

Recently, Dell’s been doing all the things that a major company does when getting ready to make a big acquisition, like building up cash reserves, selling bonds, and, well, talking about it, at least internally. The only question now is, what do they want? Is it a hardware company, maybe to break into the mobile space, or, as the WSJ boringly insinuates, a “data-storage and tech-services business.” [WSJ]

ACCC Not Going To Stop Vodafone And Three Merger

Nick Broughall — Sun, 31 May 2009 23:30:59 +0000

This one came through Friday afternoon after beer o’clock, but it looks like that Vodafone merger with Three here in Australia is going to go ahead, after the ACCC did the fatherly thing and gave the companies its blessing. So now the two companies want to finalise everything within the next two weeks.We already know that the new company, VHA (which will mostly operate under the Vodafone brand) won’t be changing any plans for the next two years, so there’s no need to panic if you’re a Voda or Three customer. But if you are concerned for whatever reason, you can call up Vodafone’s customer care on 1555 from your Voda mobile or Three Care on 133320 if you’re a 3 customer.

[Vodafone/Three merger]

Big Three/Vodafone Merger Announcement Tomorrow?

Nick Broughall — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:12:53 +0000

Stick this one firmly in the rumour file, but at yesterday’s Skype event, a 3 representative sort of mentioned that they were expecting an announcement on the Voda/Three merger on Friday. Guess we’ll see if it actually happens tomorrow…

More Info On The Vodafone And Three Merger

Nick Broughall — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:30:16 +0000

Vodafone and Three held a conference call today to offer answers to questions about the new joint venture. The biggest thing you should know is that for the most part, a lot of the finer details are still yet to be worked out.Here are some of the more note-worthy points from the call:

The new merged company will have about 6 million customers, with annual revenue of about $4 Billion and about 26% marketshare in Australia

Nothing will change for 3 customers. All contracts will remain. There will also be no change to the Crazy Johns brand.

They refused to confirm whether the 3 brand would be completely phased out (considering the press release mentioned that they could maintain and use the brand until the transition and thereafter). That includes rebranding the 3 retail stores. In the end, they said that they need to work out the details of how the new joint venture will present itself to market. I wouldn’t be holding my breath for 3 to stick around though…

The network arrangement between 3 and Telstra for 3 customers to roam on Next G later this year is still in place. I’m not sure how this will work – they were short on details – but apparently it will still go ahead.

There will be redundancies, probably most from 3, but nothing has been decided yet.

The whole thing isn’t set in stone. It still needs approval from shareholders (it’s been unanimously recommended by the boards of both companies), the ACCC and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

As you can tell, there’s still a lot to go down before this is all made official. There’s no need to jump ship from 3 just yet – I’m sure we’ll be discovering lots of new exciting tidbits of information in the coming weeks. Hopefully this whole arrangement will result in wins for the consumer, but only time will tell that.

[Vodafone and Three merging in Australia]

Verizon Wireless Completes Merger With Alltel: Now the Nation’s Largest Carrier

Sean Fallon — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:10:00 +0000

It has been in the works for months, but Verizon and Alltel have finally consummated their relationship—making Verizon the nation’s largest wireless carrier with nearly 83.7 million subscribers.

In the meantime, Alltel will continue to operate under their brand until a full integration is completed sometime in the next year. All-in-all it seems like good news for everyone involved—especially if it means the end of Chad and those annoying My Circle commercials. [Verizon via Phone Scoop]

Virgin Mobile and Helio Merger Complete

Matt Hickey — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:00:52 +0000

Virgin Mobile today finished its acquisition of nerd fave Helio. The deal was finished today with US$38 stock transaction to EarthLink and SK Telecom. This means that Virgin is hands down the largest MVNO in America, and it also means it could expand even more sing it can now offer both pre-paid and post-paid plans as well as the high-end devices from Helio. But the question remains: Will it be able to make money? [Press Release]

Sirius-XM Merger is FINALLY Approved

Adrian Covert — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:52:55 +0000

The Sirius-XM Merger was finally approved by the FCC today following a 3-2 vote by the commission. The final and deciding vote only came after both parties agreed to pay a US$19.7 million fine for violating FCC regulations. After 16 months of MTV-esque “drama” and gnashing of teeth, the US$3.6 billion merger means that subscribers of both services will now get the best of both worlds. [SF Gate]

XM-Sirius Merger Comes Down To One Woman’s Vote

John Mahoney — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:05:45 +0000

And here she is. After FCC chair Johnathan Adelstein withdrew his support today, the vote is now deadlocked and awaiting the yea or nay from Deborah Taylor, a Republican who is thought to be in favour of the merger. Something tells me a large batch of high-end satellite radio gear is now being priority overnighted to Taylor’s office to ply for her support.

Virgin Mobile to Buy Helio, Kill It, Consume It

Mark Wilson — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:58:00 +0000

It appears that the rumours were right, kinda fake telecom provider Virgin Mobile will buy kinda fake telecom provider Helio. Once the acquisition is complete, Virgin Mobile will consume Helio and hopefully become stronger from the nourishment, but the trendy Helio logo will be gone forever. Since both companies run on Sprint’s network, it shouldn’t be that big a deal from a technical “will my phone still work??” standpoint. Although Helio was extremely progressive in features and pioneered “all in” plans. We don’t know if Virgin is interested in giving users the world like Helio did in the financially challenging MVNO space. [Yahoo and Electronista]

Helio Stores And Kiosks Closing Soon, Company In Trouble?

Jason Chen — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:59:59 +0000

A tipster told us that the talks between Virgin Mobile and SK Telecom/Helio are going nowhere, with Virgin backing out unless there’s some sort of bankruptcy declaration or huge liquidation. Our tipster says that Helio’s corporate stores and kiosks will be closing very soon, which is backed up by similar info from Engadget. They say that there’s no merger between Helio and Virgin, and that customers might just be moved over to Virgin’s network.

When we called up Helio stores, their people sounded like they were reading off a script, or that they’ve gotten a memo, and were trying to convince us that they shouldn’t worry if Virgin takes them over. So in essence, Helio customers won’t be plan-less if Virgin does take over their customers–you’ll just be making out your checks to Virgin instead of Helio.