Roomba maker iRobot files for bankruptcy after 35 years
iRobot's Chapter 11 filing includes a sale to a Chinese company
Acquisition articles
Paramount's $108 billion offer to force Netflix out turns the battle for Warner Bros. into a showdown
Paramount Skydance throws down $18B gauntlet in Netflix-WBD battle
Blockbuster merger: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion
TL;DR: Netflix has agreed to purchase Warner Bros. as part of a colossal deal valued at $82.7 billion. The purchase, which includes HBO and HBO Max, works out to $27.75 per share of Warner Bros. Discovery – a modest premium over the $24.57 the stock closed at on Thursday afternoon. The deal isn't expected to close until late next year – that is, if regulators don't step in first.
Qualcomm rewrote Arduino's TOS, and the community is not taking it well
Arduino makers are revolting against Qualcomm's new corporate-style ownership
Italian software company Bending Spoons is the new owner of AOL
Will the Milan-based corporation be the final corporate home for AOL's decades-old business?
Senators raise national security and foreign influence concerns over Saudi-led EA takeover
Democratic senators also question Jared Kushner's ties to the deal
NSO Group's pending US sale marks a turning point for Israel's most controversial tech firm
NSO is best known for developing Pegasus, a surveillance tool capable of remotely accessing smartphones
Qualcomm just bought Arduino, the open-source hardware and software maker
What just happened? Qualcomm is buying Arduino – the Italian open-source darling of tinkerers, educators, and inventors – in a deal that underscores how the battle for the edge starts with the makers. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but Arduino will continue to operate independently once the acquisition closes.
BioWare employees fear for studio's future after EA's $55 billion sale
"Look at the negativity that came after Dragon Age"
EA strikes $55 billion buyout deal with Saudi-led consortium
Confirmed, EA is going private
Video game giant EA in talks to go private in blockbuster $50 billion buyout
Saudi Arabia's PIF and top private equity firms among potential investors
Intel shareholders uneasy after Washington converts CHIPS funding into ownership
Markets are weighing the risks following the $11 billion deal Washington struck with Intel
Elon Musk wanted Zuckerberg's help to take over OpenAI, court filings reveal
Maybe Musk shouldn't have challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match
British court orders Mike Lynch's estate to pay $943 million to HPE after long Autonomy battle
The tech giant alleged Autonomy misrepresented its finances
Amazon's latest acquisition is a $50 Fitbit-style device that never stops listening
The $50 wearable that listens and summarizes your life
Google hires Windsurf founders, derailing OpenAI's $3 billion acquisition
Google pays $2.4 billion to hire Windsurf's founders and researchers for DeepMind and Gemini
Xerox acquires Lexmark for $1.5 billion as legacy print giants consolidate
The enterprise sector is keeping print alive
The new VC playbook: Buy old businesses, power them with AI
Legacy businesses are suddenly becoming Silicon Valley's new frontier
OpenAI bets big on hardware with $6.5 billion acquisition of Jony Ive's startup
Ive says current AI hardware like the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1 are "very poor products"
VPN service cancels customers' lifetime subscriptions after takeover, says new owners didn't know they existed
Lifetime subscriptions rarely last a lifetime
WTF?! When you see an advertisement for a "lifetime" subscription to something, always remember that it rarely means your lifetime. Those who took out lifetime subscriptions to VPNSecure discovered this when the company was taken over by new owners who promptly canceled the subs. Their excuse? They didn't know some customers had them.
Samsung acquires Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, in $350M audio deal
Supercharging Samsung's premium audio ambitions
What just happened? Samsung and its subsidiary, Harman International, have just signed a $350 million all-cash deal to acquire the consumer audio business of Masimo Corporation, bringing several of the industry's most iconic audio brands under their umbrella. This includes Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Polk Audio, and Definitive Technology. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval.
OpenAI wants to buy Chrome if Google is forced to sell
The big picture: If Google really is forced to sell Chrome – as proposed by the DOJ after the company was ruled a monopoly in its antitrust trial – OpenAI could emerge as a potential buyer. The ChatGPT maker has admitted it's interested in acquiring the world's most popular browser and turning it into an "AI-first" experience.
SK hynix finalizes acquisition of Intel's NAND business, takes full control of Solidigm
Intel's exit from NAND market marks another strategic pivot to growth areas
What just happened? Intel and SK hynix have finalized an $8.85 billion deal that transfers Intel's NAND flash memory business to the South Korean semiconductor giant, marking the completion of a multi-year transaction that began in 2020. The final phase of the acquisition concluded with SK hynix making a $1.9 billion payment to Intel.
Musk merges startup xAI and Twitter, betting on AI to revitalize social media
X posts will continue fueling xAI's training data
What just happened? Elon Musk has orchestrated another move in his sprawling business empire, announcing on Friday that his artificial intelligence firm, xAI, has acquired X (formerly Twitter). The all-stock transaction values X at $33 billion, including $12 billion in debt, and xAI at $80 billion, creating a combined entity Musk says will "unlock immense potential" and provide "smarter, more meaningful experiences" for users.
Napster, the original P2P file sharing service, just sold for $207 million
Napster is still making noise a quarter-century later