Yesterday, Comcast and Time Warner Cable announced a $45 billion merger deal. Consumer advocacy groups (and consumers) were less than thrilled about Comcast’s big news, and ardently called on the FCC and the Justice Department to alter or prevent the buyout. [More]
mergers and acquisitions
Comcast & Time Warner Cable: A Wedding That Should Be Called Off Before It’s Too Late
By 2.13.14
The streets covered in snow and ice aren’t the only changed landscape many of us woke up to this morning. As we learned overnight, Comcast has reached a $45 billion dollar deal to purchase Time Warner Cable. [More]
Comcast Agrees To Buy Time Warner Cable For $45 Billion
By 2.13.14
A month after Time Warner Cable laughed off Charter’s $37 billion merger offer, the cable company has reached a $45 billion deal with Comcast that would make its nearly 15 million customers permanent citizens of Kabletown. [More]
Why Sprint’s Case For T-Mobile Merger Is Logical But Bad For Consumers
By 2.12.14
Japanese telecom giant SoftBank owns a controlling share of Sprint and has made no attempt to hide its desire to acquire T-Mobile USA and merge the two companies into one. It’s a plan that makes sense from a business point of view, but could be a disaster for consumers. [More]
Jos. A. Bank Attempts To Fend Off Men’s Wearhouse Get Weirder
By 2.5.14
Everyone was getting bored with the constant drama in the Men’s Wearhouse/Jos. A. Bank saga, and we ran out of “gonna like the way you look” jokes weeks ago. That’s why Joey B. decided to mix things up last week and make what seems like a completely random offer to acquire Eddie Bauer. [More]
DOJ’s Antitrust Chief: Decision To Block AT&T/T-Mobile Deal Has Helped Consumers
By 1.31.14
Not so many years ago, the folks at AT&T were so confident they could acquire the little pink wireless company called T-Mobile that they bet billions of dollars in cash and spectrum that the deal would go through. Then both the FCC and the Justice Dept. said they would fight the merger and AT&T ultimately left T-Mobile stranded at the altar. The head of the DOJ’s Antitrust division says that what has happened since that failed marriage is evidence that regulators did the right thing. [More]
Lenovo Agrees To Buy Motorola From Google For $3 Billion
By 1.29.14
Not even three years after Google bought wireless device biggie Motorola for $12.5 billion comes news that it’s made a deal with Lenovo to take the manufacturer off Google’s hands for a fraction of that amount. [More]
You Might Hate Time Warner Cable, But Would We All Be Worse Off Without It?
By 1.27.14
While Comcast might have more customers who hate it, we’d be willing to bet that Time Warner Cable is loathed by a higher percentage of its customers. Ask just about any cable-subscribing customer in NYC about the company and prepare to listen to numerous tales of screw-ups, outages, and bad billing. So some are greeting with open arms the news of TWC’s possible sale to one of its competitors. But would the disappearance of TWC just end up costing all of us in the long run? [More]
T-Mobile’s “Maverick” Pricing May Drop Call On Potential Sprint Merger
By 1.15.14
Sprint has reportedly been eyeing a merger with T-Mobile since December. Together, the two companies might have the size and clout to stand up to the nation’s two largest mobile carriers, Verizon and AT&T. But could T-Mobile’s small size and untraditional strategies actually be the roadblock preventing the purchase from happening? [More]
Time Warner Cable Rejects $37.3 Billion Offer From Charter, But Takeover Attempt Is Just Beginning
By 1.14.14
Yesterday, the backers of Charter Communications made a $37.3 billion offer to purchase Time Warner Cable. It was Charter’s third cash offer to TWC and it was quickly rejected by the larger cable company’s board as “grossly inadequate.” But that doesn’t mean this is the end of the road for Charter’s bid to merge with TWC. [More]
Jos. A. Bank Shareholders Like How Men’s Wearhouse Takeover Bid Looks, Sues Board
By 1.13.14
We can’t help it: we really miss Men’s Wearhouse founder George Zimmer and his “you’re gonna like the way you look; I guarantee it!” commercials, and are compelled to make headline jokes about him. Yet since his ouster, it’s been interesting to watch dueling big-box menswear chains Jos. A. Bank and Men’s Wearhouse circle each other in a strange acquisition mating ritual. Each company wants to acquire the other, you see, and one major investor has had enough. [More]
Google Moves Into Home Electronics With Acquisition Of Nest
By 1.13.14
A few years back, the folks at Nest came out of nowhere with their sexy, web-connected smart thermostats, treating a heretofore overlooked piece of home electronics with style. The company recently did the same thing for another necessary evil in the home, launching a line of equally sleek smoke detectors. Google apparently saw enough from these two product lines and has decided to buy Nest. [More]
American Airlines Will Remind Customers Nonstop About All Its New Post-Merger Changes
By 1.7.14
Moving in with your significant other means creating new rules and getting rid of excess. The same goes for the $17.7 billion merger between American Airlines and US Airways, only on a much larger scale. But it’s all for the good of the consumer, right? [More]
Men’s Wearhouse Likes The Way Jos. A. Bank Looks, Wants To Buy It
By 1.6.14
Jos. A. Bank and Men’s Wearhouse sell similar merchandise at similar price points in similar environments (malls), so why should they deny how much they have in common?
The two companies have been circling each other for months now, wanting to acquire each other. Now Men’s Wearhouse has made a second, higher offer for Jos. A. Bank. [More]
Does Dish Also Have Lust In Its Heart For T-Mobile?
By 12.20.13
Last week’s big news in the wireless world was a report that Sprint was making googoo eyes at T-Mobile and dreaming dreams of wedded bliss. But, as always seems to happen in great romantic comedies, there’s now rumors of a new suitor from the other side of town. [More]
Now Sprint Reportedly Wants To Hook Up With T-Mobile
By 12.13.13
Like one of those horrid ABC reality dating competitions where spurned contestants from previous seasons come back to get their “chance at love,” T-Mobile is once again being pursued by a moneyed suitor with unlimited data. Will the wireless company find true romance with Sprint or will the spoilsports in D.C. ruin these wedding plans like they did for AT&T? [More]
Odds Of Comcast/Time Warner Cable Merger Are Pretty Slim
By 12.6.13
Given a shared history of treating subscribers like ATMs and of taking the “do the least” approach to customer service, it almost made sense last month when the merger rumor mill went into overdrive with reports that Comcast was looking to acquire Time Warner Cable. But the odds of this marriage being blessed by regulators seem pretty slim. [More]
Impact Of US Airways/American Airlines Merger Will Depend On Who Gets Leftovers From Wedding
By 11.14.13
The path for US Airways and American Airlines to merge their businesses has been cleared and several smaller airlines like JetBlue and Spirit will benefit from the sale of the merged carriers’ excess takeoff and landing slots at airports around the country. But will that be enough to balance out the fact that we are now down to a handful of major national airlines? [More]
