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Panasonic is already a sizable company, but they are going to get that little bit bigger with the confirmed takeover of Sanyo.  Sanyo have been struggling recently, and it’s probably not a coincidence that their downturn coincides with the economic crisis that we are facing.  Nevertheless, they are still worth a substantial $18.5 billion which will boost Panasonic’s value to around $107.8 billion, making it one of the biggest consumer electronics companies.

The reason behind this is that this takeover will give Panasonic access to two key technologies in the shape of solar panels and batteries which will help them greatly in their own hand-held electronic products, in fact, Sanyo is the market leader in the manufacture of rechargeable batteries.  They will also acquire a company specializing in portable gadgets which generates $4 billion per annum in revenue.  Continued after the break.

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Sources have revealed to the Wall Street Journal that Yahoo! will announce layoffs when they reveal their quarterly earnings tomorrow.  The exact number of jobs affected isn’t know but is estimated to be at least 1,000.  The move isn’t much of a surprise, however.  Last month they hired a consulting firm to help them streamline their operations.

The company, which once boasted the top search engine on the net, has been struggling as of late.  Its shares have fallen 32% over the past month, its deal with Google was put on hold due to an FTC investigation, and earlier this year they rejected a takeover bid by Microsoft.  Shares entered the week at $12.90 after hitting a 5-year low of $11.37 last week.  Microsoft takeover bid was for $33 a share.

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Yep, looks like we haven’t heard the end of the whole Yahoo/Microsoft going-ons.  However, that apparently isn’t the official position of Microsoft…just their CEO. While speaking at the Gartner ITXpo in Orlando, Florida, this morning, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer came out with the following comments.

“We offered 33 bucks [for Yahoo] and it’s at $11 today. It’s clear Yahoo didn’t want to sell. They probably still think it’s worth more than $33 a share…I still think it makes sense for their shareholders and ours.”

This little gem cause Yahoo stock to jump 17%...despite the fact that an official statement by Microsoft disputed any interest stating “Our position hasn’t changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo; there are no discussions between the companies.”

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We like you, we like you not. We like you, we like you not. It seems to have been a veritable rollercoaster ride for the past weeks as offers were tossed back and forth about as easily as not so cleverly veiled insults between Yahoo! and billionaire investor Carl Icahn. But it seems as though it may have finally come to some sort of resolution before the August 1 board meeting, as Yahoo! offered Icahn a minority position on the board (he and two other hand-picked candidates will join) in exchange for his agreement to pull back with his “toss the idiots” ideology, and back the rest of the existing board in the August 1 shareholder’s vote. So, it just may be a “keep your enemies close” move.

This kind of unexpected move did occur after influential mutual fund manager Bill Miller of Legg Mason said Friday that he and the 4.4 percent stake he controls would be backing the Yahoo board in the proxy battle.

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In an attempt to lock into some kind of deal before their board re-election August 1st, Yahoo! is trying to resume talks with Time Warner about a possible merger with their internet arm AOL in a deal worth up to $10 billion. 

These talks have come to the forefront after it came to light that Microsoft is also talking to companies including Time Warner in an effort to launch a break up bid of Yahoo!.  Microsoft is attempting such a breakup in order to place themselves on a more level playing field with their big search competitor Google, and snag a larger slice of the advertising market pie estimated to be worth about $40 million. (This number is set to double in the next two years). Microsoft is not a happy camper after being promptly rebuffed in their revised offer to Yahoo!, and it is also rumored that they approached Mr Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who already nominated himself and other execs to replace the Yahoo! board, last week.

Mr. Icahn is not pleased that the Yahoo! shareholders weren’t given the chance to vote on the initial cash/shares offer from Microsoft in May, and he wants investors to boot the board when they meet on the 1st. However, Jerry Yang, the co-founder and chief executive of Yahoo! is wanting to be able to present the shareholders with an alternate offer at the annual meeting. A hostile takeover by Microsoft is NOT the direction he wants to see Yahoo! have to take. Should be interesting to see what goes down in that boardroom August 1st.

Read [TimesOnline]

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As we previously reported, video rental giant Blockbuster has been looking to acquire electronics giant Circuit City. Blockbuster has already offered a whopping $1 billion, but reports are flying in, saying that they cannot fund such a hefty offer.

In an official statement from the company, Circuit City said:

“Circuit City awaits a viable financing structure that is predictably executable by Blockbuster given its current constraints of size and capital structure before it would be appropriate to allow further due diligence.“

While this may be just another attempt to stop the merger in its tracks, Blockbuster has no resistance to going hostile in the bid. More on this as it happens.

Via [Crave]

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