“Lenovo, the world’s No.4 PC brand, has emerged as the leading candidate to buy struggling smartphone maker Palm, after the U.S. firm was rebuffed by other potential Asian buyers, sources said,” Kelvin Soh reports for Reuters.
“Investment banking sources said they had heard that Lenovo is looking into a possible bid for Palm, but did not have any further details,” Soh reports. “HTC, the world’s No. 5 smartphone brand and one name associated with a possible offer, was approached about making a bid but decided to pass after reviewing Palm’s books, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said.”
MacDailyNews Take: Looking at Palm’s books is slightly less appealing than looking at Ed Asner’s naked ass.
Soh continues, “Huawei, the world’s No.2 wireless telecoms equipment maker, also declined to put in a bid, a company source said earlier this month… Earlier this week, Lenovo’s Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing also declined to comment about a possible Palm buy.”
“Based on recent deals in the technology sector, a Palm sale could potentially fetch $1.3 billion, given its current $1 billion market capitalisation and the 30 percent premium recently paid in tech deals. The company’s advisers had previously been seeking about $1.2 billion for the company — a valuation considered too rich by many suitors, one investment banking source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity,” Soh reports. “Another investment banking source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was unsure on how aggressively Lenovo was going to be in bidding for Palm. ‘What are you buying – a good operating system?’ he said. ‘It’s a wounded brand.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Wounded?! “Oh, my God. Get a doctor!” “Get a hearse. He’s dead. Fsck him.” (Bonus points for naming the movie and actors.)
Soh continues, “Palm has struggled to generate interest from buyers in its Pre and Pixi smartphones, with customers turning to more popular buys such as Apple’s iPhone… The Palm purchase, if realised, would also fit into Lenovo’s history of expanding into competitive Western markets by buying former product pioneers that have lost their edge. The company is best known for buying IBM’s PC business in 2005.”
Full article here.
