Acquisitions

Apple reportedly acquired search startup Ottocat in 2013 to improve App Store discovery

Cody Lee ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

Apple has quietly acquired Ottocat, reports TechCrunch, a little-known startup with some interesting search tech. The deal went down a few years ago—sometime in 2013—but its impact is still being felt today. The site believes the company's tech is behind the App Store's fairly new 'Explore' section.

There's little evidence of the acquisition, except for a patent granted to Apple that lists Ottocat co-founder Edwin Cooper as an inventor. The patent is titled "System and Method for Divisive Textual Clustering by Label Selection Using Variant-Weighted TFIDF," and clearly incorporates Ottocat's tech.

Samsung makes offer to buy BlackBerry for $7.5 billion

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Samsung has recently approached BlackBerry with an acquisition offer, reports Reuters. Citing a person familiar with the matter, the outlet says that the Korean electronics giant offered as much as $7.5 billion to buy the struggling handset-maker.

Facebook acquiring web video startup QuickFire Networks

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Facebook is purchasing the San Diego, California-based web video startup QuickFire Networks for an undisclosed amount. The company announced the acquisition on its website today, saying that "key members" of its team will be joining the social networking giant as it "winds down operations."

QuickFire is known for its propriety software tech that significantly reduces the bandwidth needed to view video online without degrading its quality. The startup will help Facebook build an infrastructure capable of supporting the massive influx of video consumption it's currently experiencing.

Google buys iOS app prototyping startup RelativeWave, makes Mac app free

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

Google has acquired RelativeWave, the team responsible for the popular iOS app prototyping software Form. Form is available for Mac and iOS, and allows designers and developers to create rich interactive app prototypes and run them on their iPhone or iPad.

In a note on its website today, RelativeWave announced that they would be joining Google to continue their work on the software, saying they "want to get Form in the hands of as many people as possible, and this is [their] first step in accomplishing that goal."

AT&T acquiring Mexican carrier Iusacell for $2.5 Billion

Cody Lee ∙ November 8, 2014

AT&T on Friday announced that it is set to acquire Mexican carrier Iusacell for a total of $2.5 billion, including debt. The two companies have entered into an agreement, which will occur once investor group Grupo Salinas completes its own ongoing acquisition of Iusacell.

The plan, AT&T says, is to expand Iusacell coverage beyond its already near-9 million subscriber base in Mexico. The carrier sees a large potential for growth in the country thanks to recent competitive-friendly changes made to wireless regulations by President Peña Nieto.

Apple said to have held talks with Square regarding acquisition

Cody Lee ∙ September 12, 2014

Before raising its latest $100 million in funding, Square was in talks with Apple regarding a possible acquisition, reports TechCrunch this afternoon. The outlet says that the two companies held discussions briefly, but the conversation quickly ended when their final numbers didn't match up.

Apparently Apple was willing to pay around $3 billion for the mobile payments company, about 30% over its value. TechCrunch even claims that the Cupertino firm showed Square hardware it was working on that would compete directly with its point-of-sale tools, but the company declined.

Rumor: Apple planning to acquire social network Path

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple is close to announcing an acquisition of the social network Path, according to a report from PandoDaily, in an attempt to bolster its social offerings. According to a lone-source said to be placed within Apple's engineering team: “It’s almost done, if not signed already, but it’s essentially a done deal.”

Amazon has acquired Twitch for $970 million

Jake Smith ∙ Updated December 29, 2017

Amazon has acquired Twitch, the world's leading video platform and community for gamers, both companies announced in a statement after the market close on Monday. Google's YouTube was thought to have originally been the winning bidder, but that has changed after Amazon stepped in to close the deal.

Samsung acquires smart home startup SmartThings for $200 million

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2014

With much of the ‘next big thing in tech’ talk focused on wearables and mobile payments, it’s easy to forget about the connected home. But all of the major tech companies are making major moves in this space, including Google, Apple and now Samsung.

Following Google’s Nest acquisition and Apple’s HomeKit unveiling, Samsung announced this week that it has purchased smart home startup—and former Kickstarter sensation—SmartThings. The money is said to be in the neighborhood of $200 million...

Apple officially welcomes Beats to the family

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

It's been just over 2 months since Apple announced that it would be acquiring Beats Electronics for $3 billion. And although the deal wasn't expected to be completed until September, the Cupertino company is clearly ready to officially welcome Beats to the family.

Apple this morning posted a link on the homepage of its website to a new portal called 'Welcome Beats,' which features a brief message about the merger. Likewise, a message has been posted on Beats' homepage regarding the acquisition and upcoming changes...

French carrier Iliad makes $15 billion bid for T-Mobile

Cody Lee ∙ August 1, 2014

It appears that Sprint may have some new competition in the T-Mobile suitors club. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that French telecom Iliad has offered to buy T-Mobile U.S., putting in a bid of $15 billion cash for a majority 56.6% stake in the carrier.

Like T-Mobile in the United States, Iliad is the fourth largest wireless provider in France. Founded by billionaire French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, the company has climbed its way to the top by offering better pricing and customer service than the competition...