Mergers and Acquisitions

[Anonymous No.457962]

With Amazon buying Twitch, and Burger King attempting to merge with Tim Hortons, we should talk about the next big targets.

I'm really interested in Spotify. I think the obvious buyer would be Facebook. They are already linked with Facebook being the backbone to user profiles and connections and I think Facebook needs to get into this market.

From their, obviously Google is a possibility, but I don't see it and Amazon just launched their own streaming service, but it's shit. So who knows.

I really believe Apple would have purchased Spotify had not Beats had a very comparable product (in terms of quality).

Anyone else have thoughts?

[Anonymous No.457971]

>>457962
hehe who cares?

[Anonymous No.458009]

>>457962
god please don't be facebook
I don't want to see Spotify's UI change monthly

[Anonymous No.458011]

apple will acquire everything because apples streaming service will be hardwired into the phone with subscription fees attached to contracts from service providers like at&t and the such. having a huge market share of the mobile market, a huge software development team, and the biggest shills of hardware appreciation will make them have the biggest dick of all. why do you think amazon made a phone

[Anonymous No.458015]

I'm curious, if you know that a merger is going down do you go long or do you go short? Or does it depend?

[Anonymous No.458019]

>>457971
hehe, fuck you

>>458009
I personally don't want it to be Facebook because I avoid them at all costs. I dont have a Facebook, Whatsapp or Instagram account. If they purchase Spotify, I'll switch over to beats.

>>458011
Why would they acquire Spotify when Beats is comparable in everyway? Why wouldn't they just aggressively acquire market share?

>>458015
It depends.

Facebook is a long play. We'll look back in 10 years and wonder why we didn't invest now.

I really think Facebook purchases Spotify before the end of the year. Done deal.

[Anonymous No.458022]

>>458019
Ahh I forgot to mention Microsoft is a potential buyer and unfortunately I guess Yahoo! is there as well.

[Anonymous No.458028]

>>457962
>he thinks Apple bought Beats for their online music service

[Anonymous No.458030]

>>458022
>Microsoft
This is actually likely
Xbox Music isn't taking off as they would hope

[Anonymous No.458070]

What have been the largest mergers in the last past 4 years? There have been so many I've lost count, anyone know?

[Anonymous No.458073]

>>458028
they bought it for the black board member... everyone knows the libtards will do anything not to look racist

[Anonymous No.458104]

>>457962
>Burger King attempting to merge with Tim Hortons

No it's a buy, not a merge. BK moving their HQ to Canada for tax purposes isn't a merge.

>spotify
Getting into music is risk as FUCK right now. Trying to make a quick buck is already risky, amplifying that by trying to outmaneuver a saturated market is tough. If anyone is going to get bought in music streaming now, it's probably going to be Rdio.

Somebody should have already bought Sony. Same goes for Blackberry.

[Anonymous No.458141]

>>458019
I hope not, facebook is the regina george of social networking.

[Anonymous No.458176]

>>458070
Glencore Xstrata

[Anonymous No.458181]

>>457962
Google bought Twitch, you dumb fuck.

[Anonymous No.458212]

>>458176

The funny thing is that I was at PDAC in 2013, and happened to be using an Xstrata pen I picked up at their booth. Later at the conference someone mentioned to me that it was about to be a rare item, and that I should keep it. This was probably within first 2 weeks of people within the mining industry hearing rumblings (Early March, merger happened in May)

[Anonymous No.458224]

>>458181

[Anonymous No.458239]

>>458073
Actually, Iovine was the real pull. Dre was just icing on the cake.

And I really think Beats Music was a larger part of the deal than most people think. I mean headphones are going to push revenue for a long time but music streaming is just a market that Apple hasn't gotten right.

>>458104
http://online.wsj.com/articles/burger-king-in-talks-to-buy-tim-hortons-1408924294

>"The two sides are working on a deal that would create a new company, they said in a statement, confirming a report on the talks by The Wall Street Journal"

It's more of a merger at this point in time.

I also have this graph. Which although a little outdated (and a slightly different market that what I wanted to talk about) is a good jumping off point.

Pandora is the obvious leader but serves a very different purpose than Spotify, Rdio, or Beats. Pandora caters to more of a casual listener and will be really far behind the market because people are switching to paid, on demand services like mentioned above.

Rdio is a great service, but it's just not on the radar for most people like Spotify is. You buy a company like this for its user base really, not its potential.

[Anonymous No.458411]

>>457962
Spotify is probably the only one left that's really known to the general public. The only other possibility (which is years down the track) is if Apple bought the Xbox division from Microsoft.

Udemy is an option for probably Amazon if they can get color e-ink working or really push the Kindle Fire hard enough. Would link with the kindle ecosystem - bu tit really depends if they can get color e-ink a reality.

[Anonymous No.459179]

>>458104
>Somebody should have already bought sony

Who in their right mind would buy Sony? Even if you wanted to buy it, the most stake anybody has ever bought in Sony in the past few years was 6% by an extremely rich hedge fund

[Anonymous No.459215]

spotify is not for sell, it's too big for that and facebook is dying

[Anonymous No.459259]

>>459215
This nigga knows nothing.

>>459179
>>458411
I don't see how Xbox or Playstation are even options to buy for companies. I read a few months ago that Microsoft might spin-off Xbox into its own company. The research and development seem too high.

Udemy is definitely interesting.

I think Twitter should look to make a large acquisition in the coming year or two. What that would be, I don't know at this point. Doesn't seem like they are being run as well as Facebook.

[Anonymous No.459321]

I bought THI a few months ago for its 3% dividend yield, simple business model, wide moat, and iconic status in Canada. Sold it yesterday for a nice gain. Probably should have held and sold it today, but oh well. What's another 10%? It was a tiny percentage of my portfolio; <1%

Recently, I've sold FDO and KMP following their merger announcements. I hold both LO and RAI, and plan on holding my shares of LO to receive more shares of the new company. I also held IRM since before the announcement of the REIT conversion, and sold and bought back CTL when it popped following the WIN's REIT conversion.

I don't see any obvious take over targets looking through my portfolio or watch list. Pure speculation here, but maybe some M&A in the utilities sector? Off the top of my head, I can think of mergers in every major sector except utilities.


>>458239
Iovine is a fucking genius in the music industry, and has been for the last 30 years. By himself he is worth at least $2.5 billion to Apple. Apple generates enough free cash flow to pay for Beats in a month.

[Anonymous No.459383]

Ever since multinationals became a thing no one has stopped to think about financial liabilities of these companies. Why are tax inversions legal? Why is it possible to do business in a foreign country without incurring tax liabilities back home on the profits?

[Anonymous No.459401]

>>459215
>facebook is dying
Didn't die fast enough to keep their filthy hands off Oculus.

[Anonymous No.459434]

>>459259

>This nigga knows nothing.

facebook's user base has stalled, which in the tech world gives them about ~24 months before it starts really declining

that being said, Zuck bought out Oculus so that could save him. More likely, I'm guessing Oculus will be sold off to shore up money or it'll be run into the ground