This was a busy week in the technology sector with large M&A deals capturing attention as Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) acquired Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) for $12.5 billion and HP (NYSE:HPQ) announced plans to acquire Autonomy for $10 billion. However, the renewed fears of another recession dominated the fears later in the week with the Nasdaq declining by more than 5% on Thursday. Research in Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) and Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) stock remained volatile as many believed that these companies could be the next acquisition target and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) or Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) the possible companies interested in this deal.
Motorola Mobility
Google announced its acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion at a whopping premium of 63% above its Friday market close price. Although at first glance this purchase seems very expensive and perhaps a negative to Google, we believe Motorola’s rich patent portfolio of over 17,000 granted patents and approximately 7,500 pending patent applications makes it a good strategic acquisition. [1]
See Google Pays a Princely Premium for Motorola’s Patents.
Nokia
On Monday when Google announced its plans to acquire Motorola Mobility at such high premium, Nokia’s stock shot up by more than 17% while RIM’s stock increased by around 10% as it led many to believe that struggling players like Nokia and RIM might be good buy-out candidates too.
See After Google-Motorola Deal Are Nokia and RIM Next?)
RIM
During the week, speculation has been prevalent that RIM could be the next takeover target, and that Apple or Microsoft might be the ones interested in this deal. However, we believe RIM does not look like a great acquisition target due to lack of strategic fit for potential buyers, a comparatively weaker patent portfolio, and the company has voiced in the past its opposition to a
See Why RIM Makes a Poor Acquisition Target
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