Telecom Companies Enjoying Millions In VC Funding

VoIP Magazine has a short list of some telecommunications companies (including VoIP providers and hardware manufacturers) that have recently funding from venture capital firms and investment banks. VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), like RFID, is one of those hot areas of technology right now. All indications are the IP telephony will eventually replace regular PSTN (public switched telephone network) systems, at some point in the future.

RFID Ltd To Acquire Four Radio Frequency Companies

RFID, Ltd (OTC: RFDL) has plans to buy four companies involved in the RFID market. As such, they informed their shareholders of a number of actions that they are taking to prepare for the acquisitions. This includes a repurchase of 1,000,000 shares of RFDL and discussions with investment banks and financial institutions. No details of the intended targets was given. [via biz.yahoo]

RFID, Ltd, is joining a growing list of companies buying out RFID businesses, including Barcoding and Weyerhaeuser.

Barcoding Inc Acquires RFID Company Acquity ID

US-based Barcoding, Inc. acquired RFID technology maker Acuity ID LLC. Acuity will be incorporated into Barcoding's CaptureTech division, to provide RFID solutions for inventory control and other uses. [via RFID News]
This acquisition reflects a growing trend of companies to acquire an existing company producing RFID-related technologies. Recently, forestry products giant Weyerhaeuser bought OrganicID.

Jobs At Aprilis Ventures (Toronto, Montreal)

Savour the idea of working for a venture capital firm? Aprilis Ventures of Toronto, Canada is looking to fill a number of positions, including VP Technology Services, Sr. Principal Web Developer, Sr. Web Designer, Sr. Unix System Administrator, Director of Online Sales, and Sr. Inside Sales reps. (The latter also has positions in Montreal, Canada and would likely require a candidate fluent in both English and French.)

Weyerhaeuser Buys Organic ID

Weyerhaeuser, the forestry products giant, has purchased RFID (radio frequency identification) device maker OrganicID. The latter's focus is in inventory control and supply chain management. No price was mentioned. [via Biz Journals] Weyerhaeuser will likely use the acquired technology for inventory control in their product packaging.

In related news, Weyerhaeuser will be delisting from the Pacific Stock Exchange, but will stay on the NYSE and CHX listings.

Philips Semiconductors Now NXP

Royal Philips recently announced that they would be spinning out their Semiconductor division. The new entity also has a new name: NXP, for "Next Experience". Under the new arrangement, 80.1% of the ownership is now held by a private investment group. The group is a consortium made up of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) and three others. [via Contactless News]

A lot of the focus of Philips Semiconductors has been in RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies for a variety of uses including contactless payment systems.

Ford Motor Co To Go Private?

The troubled Detroit-based Ford Motor Company is considering going private in an effort to turn the company around. Shares have dropped down to the US$7-8 level. [via USA Today]

This is a company that is fiercely patriotic (to America), by all accounts, as are many of their pickup truck owners, from what media seems to portray. It's too bad, though, that they turned down a deal with foreign auto companies. If the company goes private, it's going to affect a lot of banks, investment firms, and mutual funds that own shares in the company.

This is an important company to the United States, and I hope they do the right thing, to protect as many jobs as they can.

Cisco Buys Arroyo Video Solutions

Cisco Systems wants to get into the video-on-demand market. To that end, they are buying Arroyo Video Solutions Inc for just over US$90M in cash. [via Technology Review]

This is a market that by all indicators is going to explode. It isn't necessarily just IPTV (Internet Protocol TV). This is a good move by Cisco, IMHO.

Lucent and Alcatel To Merge

Lucent Technologies is seeking approval from the US Committee on Foreign Investment for it's own purchase by France's Alcatel. If approved, Alcatel would pay just over US$10 B. This deal was actually announced in April, and Lucent's shares have dropped about 23% since then. [via eWeek]

Microsoft To Buy Back Shares

Microsoft will be buying back shares after all, to the tune of US$3.8B, which is roughly1.5 percent. The company is allowed to buy back just over $36B until June 2011. [via eWeek]

I talked about this over at World Wealth View, that it's something they should do to prop up their sideways moving stock. But $4B just isn't enough, as far as I'm concerned. Microsoft needs some youngbloods who understand Internet ventures and start being innovative again (or buying innovative companies).

Communications Merger: PAETEC + US LEC

PAETEC Communications and US LEC announced a merger last week in a deal worth about US$1.3B, including debts and preferred stock. The resulting company is expected to be listed on the NASDAQ. [via New Telephony]

Rite Aid Buys Drug Store Chains From Canadian Group

Rite Aid is purchasing the Eckerd and Brooks drug store chains from Canadian investment group Jean Coutu Group. The US$2.55B deal (cash and stock) will see the new stores (totalling nearly 1900 in 18 states) renamed to Rite Aid. Even with the acquisition, Rite Aid will still be behind the Walgreen and CVS drugstore chains in total yearly revenues. [via USA Today]

IBM To Buy Internet Security Company

IBM once went on an acquisitions spree, back in the 1980s, before Microsoft went on theirs in the 1990s, and Google to a lesser degree in this decade. Well, IBM is back on a buying binge, making their fourth purchase in a month. Their latest acquisition is Internet Security Systems, for approximately US$1.3B. ISS's shares are valued at US$28 each in the deal. [via USNews]

Apple Settles With Creative Over iPod

Apple has decided to fork over US$100 M to Creative to settle a patent dispute over Apple's iPod. Creative has long claimed that the iPod violates one of their software patents and wanted the devices removed for sale in the US. Alternately, they wanted $100M for licensing, which Apple settled for, supposedly amicably. [via BBC News]

Welcome To Venture Capital Journal

With all of the money changing hands between venture capitalists looking for the "next big thing" on the Internet, it's hard to keep track of what company is where. Venture Cap Journal will be a lense to point you to VC deals, profiles of companies, IPO information, mergers and acquisitions, and anything along these lines. In short, anything to do with business ownership status.

Focus is on technology and science/ medical companies, and posting frequency is whenever. It'll take me some time round out the content on this site. So at first, you're only going to see summaries of posts from other sites, with links to them. Whenever I'm able to add some intelligent commetary, I'll do so, and then expand from there.

There are no ads here on this site for the time being, but that may or may not change. I do write about personal finance and investing at World Wealth View (one of my sites), about online savings accounts and saving at OSAWatch (for someone I know), and I occasionally guest-write about personal finance at other sites.