Tag Archives: mergers and acquisitions

Microsoft Prepares to Acquire Majong, Minecraft’s Maker for $2B

Posted on by
Microsoft Minecraft

In the Minecraft universe, anything’s possible, and Microsoft seems to be well aware of that, as it is in talks for buying Majong, the Swedish company behind the bricks-and-mortar video game.

Two billion dollars may sound like a lot of money, especially since Majong only reported a revenue of $360M last year. The thing is that Microsoft couldn’t care less about how much Minecraft’s developer is making a year. The Redmond giant is more interested in the 50 million-strong user base that global phenomenon Minecraft is currently having. Sure, the Xbox One is great, and ensures a respectable audience, but surely the tech giant wouldn’t mind if it got 50 million more, right? Microsoft adopted a similar tactic in 2011 when it bought the (also Swedish) Skype.

Ironically enough, if Microsoft actually manages to buy Majong, it won’t be getting a developer that makes its games exclusively for PCs, as an Xbox One version already exists. The price varies, the one for mobile being $7, while the PC version is $20. On Xbox One, where Minecraft is a bestseller, the game sells for $20, sign that the Swedish makers were more forgiving with console users.

It should be noted that while not extremely impressive, Majong’s revenue for 2013 was 38% higher than the year before. Now that’s a remarkable progress, and Microsoft probably hopes that the trend will continue next year. The problem is… the game is already extremely popular, so the growth won’t be that spectacular from now on.

What people fear is that as soon as Microsoft buys Majong, Minecraft will no longer get free updates. In other words, all future updates would come in the form of DLCs people would have to pay for, and everything that’s currently appealing about the game would turn to dust.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s new CEO, said about gaming that it is the “single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world.” That could mean that Microsoft intends to shift its focus from consoles and PCs to its tablets and Windows Phone. I’m a bit skeptical about Microsoft’s success in attracting the young crowd to its unappealing mobile OS, but that remains to be seen after Microsoft’s acquisition of Majong, which should take place this week.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Minecraft Star Wars: Episode IV opening sequence, and the Minecraft King’s Landing built by avid Game of Thrones fans.

Google Buys Lift Labs, Maker of Tremor-Canceling Smart Spoon

Posted on by
Lift Labs Smart Spoon

As proven again and again, Google is genuinely interested in the wellbeing of people suffering from various diseases. By buying Lift Labs, the maker of a tremor-canceling spoon that minimizes the symptoms of some neurodegenerative diseases, Google X gives Parkinson sufferers a reason to hope.

Google X, the search giant’s research lab specialized in moonshots, acquired Lift Labs in the hope that it would help expand its involvement in the biotech industry. The acquisition was announced on Google+ by Lift Labs: “We have news — we’re excited to be joining Google[x], Google’s moonshot factory. We will continue to sell our Liftware system, and Google will enable us to reach even more people living with Parkinson’s or essential tremor who could benefit from using tremor-canceling devices every day.?” Google X later confirmed the deal.

The Liftware system the startup referred to in its announcement is actually a tremor-canceling spoon equipped with sensors that detect such reactions and cancel them by up to 70 percent. Needless to say, people with Parkinson’s disease or essential tremor could benefit a lot from using such devices.

Mountain View isn’t interested only in helping patients cope with the symptoms, but also in preventing diseases, altogether. At least that’s what Baseline, one of the Google X project focusing on the study of the human body, suggests. Calico, another Google X project, looks to find the secret of immortality. I doubt it that if found, such secrets would be shared with the common folk, but at least it’s nice to see that Google gets involved in this field, as well.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is the one who spends more time on such moon shots. This last acquisition might have been stimulated by the fact that Brin’s mother suffers from Parkinson’s and Sergey himself has a genetic mutation that increases his chances of developing the disease.

After buying Lift Labs, Google will obviously allow them to continue to function. On top of that, Google will use its own technology that, along with Lift Labs’, will enable the exploration of additional ways in which neurodegenerative disease patients could be helped.

This is an example that should be followed by companies that have left the impression that they’re only after our money, and don’t care that much if we’re suffering or not.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the smart fork that prevents you from overeating, and the smart contact lens developed by Novartis and Google.

Amazon Gets Serious About Gaming, Buys Twitch for $1B

Posted on by
Twitch Amazon

As Google’s acquisition of the video gameplay website didn’t go through, Amazon looked at this as an opportunity to expand its involvement in the gaming world. The e-tailer is said to plan on buying Twitch for $1 billion or more.

A bit over three weeks ago, Google’s acquisition of Twitch was almost a certainty, and now we find out that Amazon also has an interest in the live-streaming service for videogame players. Oddly enough, the e-tailer is willing to pay the same amount ($1 billion), but might add a bit extra, just to sweeten the deal. According to The Information, Amazon is now in late-stage talks to complete this acquisition. After all, Twitch would fit just fine in the e-tailer’s portfolio, along with the in-house game development studio and the 3D smartphone that was launched recently.

Just to put things into perspective about how big Twitch is, the website has more than 45 million monthly users, and during primetime hours, it fares better than MTV, TNT and AMC. In this context, paying $1B for such a website seems quite a bargain.

Half a year ago, Amazon bought Double Helix Games, the makers of Killer Instinct. Correlate that with the launch of Fire TV, and you can see where all of this is going. The e-tailer is most probably considering adding Twitch to its set-top box, which is already handling gaming pretty well.

If Google’s plan was to torn Twitch apart and integrate it in YouTube, Amazon will likely keep it intact, as it’s more useful like that.

UPDATE: A few minutes ago, Twitch confirmed on Facebook that it has been acquired by Amazon, and quite a few people expressed their enthusiasm saying that it’s better that the e-tailer got ahead of Google in this deal.

In a Thank You letter, Emmett Shear, Twitch’s CEO, stated that “Today, I’m pleased to announce we’ve been acquired by Amazon. We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence. But with Amazon’s support we’ll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch.”

Now that the acquisition is official, it remains to be seen what plans Amazon has for Twitch.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Google’s plan to buy Twitch, and Twitch’s new VOD features & copyrighted music blocking system.

Google Buys mDialog, Makes DoubleClick’s Video Advertising Even Better

Posted on by
Google DoubleClick

Google often buys other companies in order to improve its own products, and the acquisition of mDialog seems to fit that bill, as this company’s technology and employees will be used for making DoubleClick’s video advertising better.

On a post on Google+, DoubleClick announced that mDialog is now part of Google:

“We’re thrilled to welcome mDialog to Google.

Together, we’re committed to offering more ways for publishers to monetize live, linear and on-demand video content across all screens. While nothing’s changing for their customers immediately, over time we’ll work with the mDialog team to incorporate their technology and expertise into our DoubleClick product suite. This represents the latest of our ongoing investments in helping brands connect with high-quality video content, like Google Partner Select, our new marketplace for premium programmatic video.?”

Here is what mDialog had to say about Google buying them:

“We’re excited to announce that mDialog is joining the DoubleClick team at Google.

We will continue to offer our services, just as we always have, to programmers and distributors — meaning there are no immediate changes for our existing customers.

Longer term, we’re also very excited about combining mDialog with the DoubleClick platform for publishers. Together, we’re looking forward to offering content creators new and even better ways to make money from their live and on-demand content.

A special thanks to all our customers for helping mDialog along the way. We look forward to working with our Google colleagues to continue providing you with a great advertising experience.”

There has been no word on how much Google paid to acquire mDialog, nor what other plans the search giant has for the video advertising company it has just bought. Still, publishers using DoubleClick might soon discover that the way they monetize video content has somehow improved. The great thing about mDialog, and definitely one of the things that made Google consider acquiring it is the great number of platforms on which mDialog can integrate video ad tech. Among the most important devices, some worth mentioning are iPad, iPhone, Android, GoogleTV, Apple TV, Roku, and Xbox.

Google has been making so many acquisitions lately that it’s pretty clear that the company’s not heading in a single direction. That’s great news for us, the ones who are using its services.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about how Google’s acquisition spree reached into space and Google’s acquisition of Green Throttle Games.

AstraZeneca spurns Pfizer’s Massive Offer

Posted on by

AstraZeneca deftly turned away an offer that many others probably wouldn’t have been able to resist. The $117 billion being given for a merger of the two companies by Pfizer was rejected. The...

Google Buys Quest Visual, Hints at Improvement of Its Translate Service

Posted on by
Google Glass Word Lens

The makers of Word Lens, the smartphone app that uses the camera to translate foreign text into a known language, are now part of Google, who means to improve its own translation service.

Up until smartphones became mainstream, getting around in a foreign country without speaking the language of the locals was quite difficult. Fortunately, mobile apps can now help people learn new languages on the go, and when traveling, they facilitate the translation of foreign words and expressions into a language that you’re comfortable with. Word Lens took this one step further by enabling smartphone users to translate whatever words they had in front of their camera, supposing a data connection was available.

Google and Quest Visual have collaborated in the past on the Word Lens app that was specifically tailored for the search giant’s smart glasses. These two companies may actually be planning to get real-time translation to other categories of devices besides smartphones. Assuming that more smartwatches will be equipped with cameras in the future, and not just Samsung’s Gear family, it would definitely be nice to have Word Lens’ functionality at your wrist.

Word Lens is currently offered for free, along with all the language packs that the company offered over the time, which means that Google might actually choose to discontinue this product in order to incorporate the technology into its own Translate service. Still, that’s not really a certainty. After all, Google also bought the makers of the Timely app a while ago and made the app free in the Play Store, but didn’t discontinue it. To be fair, they didn’t bring any improvements, either, so the reasons behind that acquisition are anyone’s guess.

As always, the ones to benefit the most from Google’s acquisition of Quest Visual are the users of the Word Lens app, and above all, of the Translate app, which will definitely be updated to include Word Lens’ functionality in the not so distant future.

Below is the promo video that Quest Visual made for their Word Lens app at the time of the launch:

Once wearables become mainstream, translation services will change the way people interact, and Google Translate will be a prime example of that, with its newly gained capabilities.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the revamp of Google Translate for Android from two years ago, and the VizLingo service that translates video to text acoustically.

Google Targets Yelp with Its Recent Acquisition of Appetas

Posted on by
Google Appetas Acquisition

It definitely looks like everybody has a bone to pick with Yelp lately. Foursquare announced that it will rebrand its app to focus on reviews of local businesses, while Google bought Appetas, a restaurant website builder.

Appetas was a website building service specialized in restaurants that enabled businesses to create their online presence in seconds. The integration of such services as grubHub, OpenTable, Foursquare and InstaGift made Appetas’ restaurant websites even more appealing. To prove that it means to have a strong relationship with local businesses from anywhere in the world, Google acquired Appetas and stated that it will assimilate its services in one form or another.

Today, Seattle-based Appetas detailed on its blog the acquisition by Google: “We are excited to announce that the Appetas team is joining Google. Google shares Appetas’ vision for bringing incredibly simple experiences to merchants that strengthen their business. We’re very excited to use what we’ve learned with Appetas to create something even better at Google.”

The company also mentioned that its service will be discontinued and integrated with other Google products: “To focus on our new endeavors, we’ll be shutting down the Appetas service and working with our customers to transition their websites over to alternative platforms. We’ll be reaching out to each customer individually to ensure a smooth transition.”

Co-founders Curtis Fonger and Keller Smith surely seemed excited about Google’s move, especially since themselves and their team will join the search giant in making local businesses even better. At the end of their post, the two co-founders thanked everyone who was part of their journey: “Thanks to all of our customers and partners who used the service, gave us feedback, and helped make Appetas what it is today. In addition, we wouldn’t be here without the guidance and support we received from our families, friends, mentors, and investors. This has been an incredible experience and we can’t wait to discover what the future holds!”

This move is firm proof that Google wants to extend its tentacles in as many directions as possible, and that can only be good for the world. If more companies had the same philosophy in what regards acquisitions, the entire world would progress faster, as acquiring knowledge is one of the good ways of moving forward.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Foursquare Swarm app that includes check-ins and displays nearby friends, and Google’s acquisition of drone maker Titan Aerospace.

Facebook Acquires Moves Activity Diary App, Doesn’t Kill the Service

Posted on by
Facebook buys Moves Exercise Diary App

As acquisitions go, Facebook really lacked a fitness tracker, but the recent acquisition of Moves mark’s the social network’s entry in this field.

It’s a habit for some companies to kill the services they acquire in order to integrate them in their own products. Moves seems to be as one of the exceptions, as Facebook won’t include this app’s functionality into its own anytime soon. For the time being, Moves users might not even notice that the app and the service have a different owner now.

ProtoGeo Oy, the Finnish company that developed Moves, announced on this service’s blog that “For those of you that use the Moves app – the Moves experience will continue to operate as a standalone app, and there are no plans to change that or commingle data with Facebook.”

While the Moves service itself might not be altered in the not-so-distant future, ProtoGeo Oy will start working on current Facebook services. This suggests that the social network’s mobile apps might gain a similar functionality soon.

The unique aspect of Moves was that once installed, people didn’t even have to launch the app or enable the data connection in order to track their physical activities or routes. The app was permanently active in the background, even though it didn’t even appear in the Task Manager. At the end of the day, users could see the places they’ve been to, as well as the routes they’ve taken and the means of transport (by foot, by bike or by public transport).

The fact that it doesn’t actively use the GPS or data connections has its downsides, as the routes are not drawn precisely. From this point of view, I prefer a lot more such mobile apps as Endomondo, despite their more aggressive use of the battery, just because I can see exactly the streets I walked on.

Moves has a minimalistic interface that shows the number of steps or the distance covered, along with a simplified version of the route, focused on the places where the user spent the most time. Other fitness trackers provide a lot more detail, at the smartphone battery’s expense. The Finnish app is directly competing against such passive activity tracking apps as Human more than against Runtastic and the likes.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR and the acquisition of Instagram by Facebook.

Google Acquires Drone Maker Titan Aerospace

Posted on by
Titan Aerospace

Remember Facebook’s recent plans of providing Internet using solar-powered drones? It looks like Google bought the very company the social network was going to acquire for that task.

The WSJ reports that Google just snatched the New Mexico manufacturer of high-flying solar powered drones right from under Facebook’s nose. While the amount paid by the search engine for this new acquisition is unknown, rumor has it that the social network was going to pay $60 million for this drone company. It’s anyone’s guess that Google upped that offer in order to get itself a deal.

One thing is certain, though: drones will be a hot topic this year, whether if it’s for providing Internet or for mobile networks. Amazon even planned to make deliveries using such flying robots, so there are plenty of options. As far as Titan Aerospace’s options as a subsidiary of Google, there are a few ways in which the drone maker could add value to the search giant:

  • The drones could take high-quality pictures from up above to help make Google Earth and Google Maps Better
  • Google might take Facebook’s previous route (since the social network now has to look for another drone maker) and provide Internet in undeveloped areas of the world, as part of the Project Loon
  • Titan Aerospace might collaborate with Makani, another drone company that was bought by Google, in order to harvest wind power up in the sky and deliver it through a very long cable

A Google spokesperson stated that “It’s still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring Internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation.”

In terms of autonomy, the drones manufactured by Titan Aerospace are quite impressive. The company reported last year that its drones could be in the air for up to five years, and obviously this is achieved through the solar panels that harvest the energy required by the drones.

Google’s acquisition of Titan Aerospace is just one in a long row of acquisitions of robot makers, so it will definitely be interesting to see what the search giant has in store for us in the not so distant future.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Facebook’s plans to deliver Internet using drones and satellites, and the OppiKoppi drones that deliver beer from the sky in South Africa.

Facebook Acquires Virtual Reality Goggles Maker Oculus VR for $2B

Posted on by
Facebook Oculus VR

Similarly to Google, who tries to dip its toes in as many waters as possible, Facebook turned to virtual reality and bought the maker of Oculus rift for $2 billion.

The social network recently bought text messaging app Whatsapp, and now is committing to buy a manufacturer of virtual reality goggles, thus proving that Facebook is not shy about testing new waters. Whether this acquisition will be good or not for the company remains to be seen, as people currently have mixed feelings.

Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg stated in a conference call with the press and media yesterday that “The history of our industry is that every 10 or 15 years there’s a new major computing platform, whether it’s the PC, the Web or now mobile. We’re making a long-term bet that immersive, virtual and augmented reality will become a part of people’s daily life.” Furthermore, Zuckerberg admitted that Oculus Rift is “different than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

In my humble opinion, Facebook’s CEO acts like a spoiled kid who must own whatever he likes. The joke running earlier this year about Zuckerberg buying Whatsapp because his subscription expired might as well be true. Another side of the story that is undoubtedly true is that Facebook bought Oculus VR in the idea of making a lot of money when the virtual reality technology fully develops.

Zuckerberg pointed out that Oculus Rift could be used for than just gaming: “Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home.”

Facebook stock went down 6% today, showing that a lot of shareholders entered panic selling mode. In other words, there are many shareholders who believe that Zuckerberg’s latest acquisition is a dumb move. RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney, on the other hand, explained that the social network’s move is not completely irrational: “The question this time is whether Facebook is too early or simply betting on the wrong platform. This won’t be known for some time. But if it gets the platform right, we’re relatively confident that Facebook will develop an effective monetization strategy for it, thus boosting its overall financial growth.”

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 and the Crystal Cove prototype made by Oculus VR.