CWC acquires Grupo Sonitel August 26, 2014 LONDON-listed Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has acquired Panama-based Grupo Sonitel, an IT and telecoms business with clients in Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Peru, for $36m (£21.7m). CWC said the deal, which included an additional $5m contingent consideration, would help to boost business-to-business and business-to-government operations in the region.
Amazon’s Twitch takeover puts tech deals at 14-year high August 26, 2014 Amazon's $970m (£585m) takeover of eSport video website Twitch on Monday pushed the value of global tech M&A (mergers and acquisitions) so far this year to $174bn, its highest level since 2000, according to industry data. Global tech M&A activity is up 54 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to [...]
Burger King to leave US in $20bn tax inversion deal August 25, 2014 Burger King is in talks to combine with Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons in a deal that would create a fast food empire with a market valuation of over $20bn (£12bn). The companies confirmed they had entered merger talks late on Sunday, and said the new merged group would be based in Canada, [...]
Netflix poised to scoop another 6m European users in five years August 25, 2014 Europe could bring another six million subscribers to Netflix by the end of 2018, as the online streaming video service prepares to launch in six new European countries next month, according to researcher IHS. Netflix, which has 50m subscribers globally, is not just disrupting distribution – putting traditional players like Sky and BT in the [...]
Bomb scare diverts Sony chief’s flight as PlayStation and Xbox hit by cyber attack August 25, 2014 An American Airlines flight carrying a Sony executive was diverted after a bomb scare yesterday, in the wake of a cyber attack that took the Japanese electronics giant’s online gaming service down over the weekend. The attack, which started on Sunday, took down Sony’s PlayStation network by overwhelming it with traffic, but the company said [...]
Facebook’s WhatsApp hits 600m active users after just five years August 25, 2014 Facebook’s mobile messaging app WhatsApp has soared to 600m monthly active users, its chief executive announced yesterday, just four months after it passed 500m. Last August WhatsApp had just 200m users while the number doubled to 430m in January 2014. In February Facebook announced it had bought WhatsApp for $19bn in the social network’s largest [...]
eSports is Amazon’s big bet on the future – Bottom Line August 25, 2014 While eSports may look and sound like child’s play, it is in fact big business. Last year the industry attracted 71.5m online viewers worldwide, with Twitch being the destination of choice for over 75 per cent of viewers, and total prize money across eSport competitions reached $25m. While those viewer numbers are a drop in [...]
Britain’s biggest media groups are now top US takeover targets August 21, 2014 Multi-billion dollar takeovers threaten Britain’s largest media and television groups, the boss of Channel 4 warned last night. Liberty Global’s interest in ITV, in which the US-listed group recently bought a 6.4 per cent stake, and Rupert Murdoch’s ongoing fascination in upping his 39 per cent stake in the now pan-European BSkyB empire were top [...]
Hyder Consulting chief Ivor Catto set for windfall after £288m Arcadis takeover August 21, 2014 The chief executive of British engineering firm Hyder Consulting is in line for a £1.24m windfall after the firm agreed a £288m cash takeover offer from Dutch rival Arcadis. Hyder, which helped design London’s Tower Bridge and Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, said it had accepted a 730p per share bid from engineering group Arcadis. [...]
US says Islamic State must be defeated soon August 21, 2014 ISLAMIC State militants represent a major threat to the US that may surpass that once posed by al-Qaeda, US military leaders said yesterday. “This is an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated,” said chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey speaking [...]
