Microsoft Corporation Not Interested In Slack Messaging Platform Anymore

The technology corporation has backed out from its acquisition of the messaging app Slack which it had initially decided to acquire for $8 billion.

For a price of $8 billion, Microsoft Corporation showed its interest in acquiring Slack, a messaging platform similar to that of Skype, on Friday. However, according to recent news the technology giant backed out from that acquisition as Qi Lu, the Vice President of Microsoft’s application and services failed to convince the founder Bill Gates, the CEO Satya Nadella along with a number of other board members to go forth with the acquisition.

The company is widely known for its Windows Operating System however it is trying to direct its efforts towards its video and messaging platform, Skype. Slack, the messaging app that Qi Lu wanted to acquire was launched back in 2013 in San Francisco. This application is quite similar to Skype as it offers file sharing, video and text messaging as well. The sole reason as to why Microsoft was drawn towards the app was that it gained tremendous popularity after its release in 2013.

Presently, Slack has over 2.5 million users out which 700,000 are paying users, according to a research conducted by Statistics Brain Research Institute. Due to this reason, many now believe that the company might have made a handsome amount of revenue in the past two years that it has been operational for; this clearly indicates that putting a price tag of $8 billion on the organization was simply now enough.

The increased popularity of the messaging app indicates that soon enough it will be in direct competition with Skype as it also plans to introduce advanced features to the platform soon. The company is aiming at being big and better if it wants to stand next to Skype hence proving that even if the offer was still on the table, it would have given a serious though and might not have immediately agreed on that price.

The acquisition of Slack would not have been the first one on the technology giant’s part; initially it has acquired Skype back in 2011 for a price of $8.5 million along with another application by the name of Yammer for $1.2 billion. This would have been the third acquisition by Microsoft Corporation. However, Yammer wasn’t a profitable acquisition on the company’s part as it was broken down into various parts to make Microsoft 365.

While many people believe that the acquisition was worth the price tag that the tech organization put on it, on the other hand many believe that it was not even close to that. For example: Facebook Inc. had acquired WhatsApp for a price of $22 billion back in 2014 indicating that it paid a price of $55 per user however if Microsoft has gone forward with the acquisition of Slack at the same price, it would be paying at least 45 times more than what the social media giant paid for its messaging app. Ultimately, it’s quite evident that it was a smart move by the technology business as it saved large capital.

The Redmond, Washington based company can now completely focus on making Skype a bigger and better messaging app and it plays to do so by offering its 74 million users with additional features as well.

Yahoo Inc Let the Bidding Begin!

The search engine giant will be meeting with the activist hedge fund Starboard this week to settle important matters.

The last resort to save Yahoo! Inc. was to save it. The CEO, Marissa Mayer is been packaging a secret deal which is not so secret, to sell the core business of the search engine giant. However, Ms. Mayer has been offering this deal provided she remains the CEO of the company, as per a report by The New York Post.

As per the Post’s news, this deal has been pitched by Frank Quattrone, who is a banker hired by Ms. Mayer additionally they still have not disclosed how many people are interested to buy the core business of the search engine corporation but according to the news, over 40 parties had shown interest to buy the core business of the giant.

Furthermore, the board of directors are expected to meet with the activist hedge fund Starboard Value during the current week. This meeting comes as no surprise as both the parties have been having conversation back and forth. The hedge fund has been on Yahoo’s case for a while not to shake-up its management so that the company comes out of this black hole.

According to a recent letter sent by Starboard to Yahoo, it requested for the dismissal of Marissa Mayer and stated to include majority of Starboard people in the board of the company. It was not as much of a request as a threat as they further stated that if the demands of the hedge fund are not met, they might start a proxy battle.

New York Post states that this could be the last nail in the coffin to start a proxy battle by Starboard. In addition to that, the CEO of Starboard Jeffery Smith has clearly stated that the company needs to be sold now. Due to these reasons, the board is not pondering over whether to include two or more people from the hedge fund to Yahoo’s board.

The turmoil in the search engine giant started ever since Marissa Mayer was made the chief executive officer of the company; however she has taken drastic measures to turnaround the fate of the organization ever since her appointment in July 2012. Those measures have always caused much displeasure to the shareholders of the business.

The CEO as part of a revamp plan made public that she had decided to keep the $30 billion stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd but had decided to sell the core web business. Furthermore, the plan includes cost-cutting procedures as well which of course include cutting down the workforce. As per the plan, the company has planned to lay off as many as 1,600 employees by the end of the current year.

Apple Needs To Adjust According To Smartphone Market Saturation

Apple has to enter the low-end smartphone manufacturing to avoid the high-end smartphone market saturation.

Over the past few months, Apple’s stock has been in the mid-$90 range which has risen few doubts among the investors and analysts, although the tech giant reported highly commendable profits and sales of its prestigious current generation iPhones last quarter. Industry experts have expressed that the Silicon Valley business is facing this year’s anticipated “marked slowdown in higher-end, higher-cost devices.” CEO Tim Cook confirmed the slowing sales forecasts. Many analysts believe that highly anticipated crunch of global smartphone market has already commenced.

Overall, year 2015 was not that bad for the iPhone sales. The Connecticut-based research firm, Gartner, reported that in 2015, the company sold 225.85 million iPhones that went up from 2014’s 191.43 million. Another glad tiding for the organization is that during last year, it increased its share in the global market to 15.9% from previous year’s 15.4%.

What is alarming in Apple’s sales is how the year ended for it. The sales estimates forwarded by Gartner do not reflect the units shipped by the tech giant to its large number of vendors. If the sales are examined on those parameters, then Apple’s devices have taken a substantial hit in calendar Q4. The tech behemoth noted, during the conference call that, it “sold 74.8 million iPhones in the quarter,” indicating a 300,000 units bump from previous year’s fourth quarter.

The data compiled by the research firm highlight that currently several million iPhones are placed on telecom providers and retailers. Apple, along with its partners, in fourth quarter 2015 sold around 71.5 million smartphones, which were down from the prior year’s 74.8 million. Apart from marking a year-over-year 3.3 million unit sales decline, the market share of the company came down to 17.7% in 2015 from prior year’s 20.4%.

The only smartphone manufacturer who posted a year-over-year improved sales was Apple’s South Korean rival, Samsung, which crawled up to 20.7% after the tech company sold 83.44 million smartphones. It is more than probable that Samsung is likely to fall prey to the growing smartphone market saturation but it has some better strategies for the future.

The edge for Samsung in the market is apart from offering a wide range of electronics is that it produces and sells low-cost smartphones as well. According to Gartner estimates, “basic and lower-end” variety will hold about “two-thirds” of the global smartphone sales in just three years.  

It is prudent for the organization if it even considers manufacturing iPhones, which are a bit lower in cost and affordable, so that it can easily enter the uncharted territory of low-end smartphones.

At the market which closed on Thursday, Apple Inc. stock stood at a price of $101.50. The 52-week range of the stock is expected to be between $92 and $134.54. 

Apple Inc. Vs, FBI The Case Just Keeps Getting Better

Tonight is the night we will find out who won this battle. The Monday ruling could have a huge effect on the decision.

The on-going battle between two giants the FBI and Apple Inc. has gone to another level now. All eyes are glued on who would win this battle. It all started when the FBI asked the tech giant to decrypt an iPhone that was found on one of the suspects of the San Bernardino attack in December. However, this saga has come to point where we can say that the ball might be in Apple’s court.

There had been an unrelated but similar case earlier and on Monday a federal judge in Brooklyn stated that the iPhone maker cannot be forced to by-pass the security passcode on the device. This case involves a meth dealer’s iPhone 5s by the name of Jun Feng. There was a raid at the meth dealer’s house during which the DEA – Drugs Enforcement Administration discovered a phone; while questioning the suspect, he state that he did not remember the password due to which the DEA had to turn to the FBI for assistance.

In the following months of the raid, the FBI constantly nagged the iPhone maker to unlock the device or create a backdoor for the specific device so they are able to access the data of the phone however Apple Inc. did not comply with the request of the Feds. However the authorities did not stop asking the technology company to do so despite that fact that the suspect was pleaded guilty. This makes us think that the FBI just wants the company to create a backdoor through which they are able to gain access to millions of user’s data.

The authorities even played the “All Writs Act” card to their advantage however it failed to work for them as the Federal Magistrate Judge James Orenstein stated that it lacked legal footing. They relentlessly came up with arguments for the company to comply with their request. The matter still stands that if the company even decided to create such a software it would give access of data to potentially everyone because who is to say that they the hackers will not gain access to the software.

The ruling that was passed on Monday worked more in the tech giant’s favor than in the favor of the FBI as the company and a number of other technology companies have argued at numerous occasions that they cannot be forced to do something that they do not want to do especially when it comes to the violation of its customer’s privacy. The iPhone manufacturer has made its stance very clearly with everyone publicly, despite the fact that it understands the importance of national security the organization does not want to jeopardize the privacy of its users and hence has decline to unlock the phone.

However the technology giant wants to put this case behind it now due to which it has appeal to the Congress and not the court so that a final decision can be made on the matter. Yet to see what the answer will be tonight. 

Alibaba Executives BuyBack Shares

To boost the confidence of the investors the Chinese internet giant's co founder and deputy will be buying stock from their own spending

On Monday, the Chinese e-commerce giant; Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. announced, as reported by Sina News and confirmed by an unnamed Alibaba’s spokesman, that two of its executives; Chairman Jack Ma and Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai will be spending out of their own pockets a sum of $500 million in order to contribute to the buyback of the company stock. The proposed buyout intends to boost the confidence of the investors in the company which has been slumped down due to the prevalent slowing economic environment.

Last year, in August, through a regulatory filing the Hangzhou, China based firm had disclosed that it has planned to repurchase shares worth $4 billion. The span of the buyback was expected to spread over for two years. The company highlighted that the Chinese billionaire and co-founder Jack Ma and his deputy Joseph Tsai would contribute personally in the buyback program of the company however the extent of their spending was not disclosed. The filing also said that during the September 30, 2015 quarter ended the company had canceled and repurchased $2.74 billion worth shares which totaled to be 40.8 million in number. The segregated amounts for the purchase made by both the executives have not been revealed by the company.

The recent economic crux has slumped down almost every industry and naturally the Chinese internet giant couldn’t immune itself from the decelerating economy. The slow growth substantially tarnished the consumers purchasing power which collaterally weighed down on the company’s stock. The stock fell down by 20% in the foregoing year from its price of $68 as introduced in its Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Moreover, the company has been under a lot of external pressure which includes dynamic competition, price cuts, and lawsuits and litigations. Recently, the Chinese giant has been under a lot of criticism when it couldn’t hold the sale of counterfeited goods from its platform. Therefore, to come out clean as strong, the company has a lot of hard work to put in. Smaller rivals like JD.com Inc. are also posing great threats to the company. As of now, Alibaba Group successfully holds 80% market share of the e-commerce sector.

Furthermore, the unwanted slumped in the stock has also impacted Jack Ma’s personal worth. According to a study formulated by a research firm, Hurun Report, in August, Mr. Ma has been taken over by Chinese property developer Wang Jianlin to become the China’s richest person. However, as of 2015, Mr. Ma and his family still has an estimated worth of $27 billion which has gone up from $25 billion.

At the market which closed on Monday, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. stock closed at $66.91.

Qualcomm Inc's Good Days Have Finally Arrived

The chipmaker was named the biggest winner at the MWC which shows that 2016 is going to be a good year for the tech giant.

After going through a rough patch in 2015, there has been a turn of events for Qualcomm Inc.

In the previous year, the chipmaker’s flagship processor Snapdragon 810 failed to prove itself in the market and therefore could not make a significant difference during the year. However, the turn of events suggest that at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) it was the biggest winner due to its new Snapdragon 820 processor.

As stated by the company, the chipmaker’s Snapdragon 820 processor will be present in most of the smartphones in the market this year. The flagship product’s version that the company launched in 2015 failed miserably as it was reported to have heat and power issues and because of that the chip manufacturer even lost its deal with the Korean giant, Samsung Electronics Ltd. The Korean Giant was Qualcomm’s biggest customer in the market who after the failure of the processor decided to power its devices with its own internal processor, Exynos.

Samsung leaving had a major effect on Qualcomm’s stock as it plunged significantly and this decline cost the company’s reputation as well. However, as per recent news, the Korean technology organization is back on board with the chipmaker along with a number of other smartphone makers including Sony, HP, LG and Xiaomi. All the smartphones from the above mentioned companies will have the Snapdragon 820 processors in them.

The latest processor is expected to provide twice as better performance in comparison to the previous one. The device is a quad-core and not an octa-core however the company has informed that this will not make much of difference and will not compromise the performance of the smartphones. Additionally, it will have a aptx HD feature with the help of which 24-bit music playback can be done along with wireless headphones.

Furthermore, Qualcomm’s chips will be featured in Samsung Electronics latest Galaxy smartphone including Galaxy S7, S7 Edge along with LG’s modular G5 smartphone and in three of Sony’s smartphones. The company got a lot of appreciation and praise from the cellphone makers at the Mobile World Congress.

And this month the chipmaker also announced that it will be working on three new chips which includes Snapdragon 425,435 and 625 – these chips are said target a number of difference market segments. Additionally, the chipmaker also announced and introduced its Wearable Platform’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 chip. This segment works on producing chips that will be incorporated in wearable gadgets such as smartwatches and activity trackers.

Even though it ca be observed that the smartphone market has almost reached its saturated market, the chip manufacturing organization has proved that it is still the best and the preferred chipmaker in the industry as most of such technology companies wants their phone to be powered with Qualcomm’s chips. The decline in the demand in the phone market has caused the sales of a number of tech businesses to drop but Qualcomm is growing with the growing market and is likely to be present in other such smart devices including drones, laptops, etc.

Yahoo! Inc The Damsel in Distress

The search engine giant is failing on all levels; the CEO might have to step down.

In a recent post by the New York Post, it has come to the attention that the chief executive officer of the struggling company, Marissa Mayer has been looking for influential investors to whom she can sell her backup plan to for Yahoo! Inc. It does not come as a surprise that the CEO is looking for various ways to get the company out of the current disturbing situation it is in now.

As per the New York Post’s report, Marissa Mayer will be paying a visit to a number of ‘heavily backed’ financial firms and pitch her plans for the search engine company to them and see how it works out for her. She will be paying a visit to two of the hedge funds that hold big stakes in the search engine organization which include Millennium Partners and Mason Capital.

There has been quite a dispute between the board of the company and the CEO ever since she was given the position; she has always wanted to do things her way at Yahoo! Inc. and has kept the company in a transitional phase for a while not. It seems to many people, at this point that all she is going is buying herself sometime before the board points their fingers at her.

Both parties have taken help from outside – the CEO as well as the board. The Board has taken on board Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Evercore Partners for consultation as potential buyers of the company’s web business. On the other hand, the CEO had been asking for help from a Silicon Valley tech dealmaker, Frank Quattrone. Furthermore, the board has been consulting an independent committee to work on more strategic alternatives.

Mayer was appointed at the CEO of the giant back in 2012 – in a time span of three years, any company would have managed to establish a strategy for its business. In that time period, she has made numerous efforts to turnaround the company and brings better days to it. The pressure has been increasing on the CEO as investors believe that in these past few years, she could have easily managed to restructure the company.

Rumors have been circling around that Ms. Mayer might have to step down from her position as CEO of Yahoo soon enough – by March mostly likely – in case the situation does not get better by that time. On the other hand, the management of the company is making an effort to improve the mobile platform on the search engine organization.