"It is more admirable to be in business for yourself than to work for somebody else."
-- H. L. Mencken
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Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA) -- which makes software that lets its customers make, track, and manage online supply purchases and resource allocations -- said it will buy closely held SupplierMarket.com in exchange for 6.3 million shares of company stock. That values the company at about $581 million based on last night's closing prices. More Foolishness
TiVo tries to lure investors with strong partnerships... TIPS and I Bonds, among the safest investments in the world, may be perfect for retirees... We've got the skinny on the next hot 'Net trend, B2A.
The Post, which has led recent coverage of this story, said the companies could recall their application with the European Commission (EC) as soon as today, and might also be facing an antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. Justice Department. Both items came from unnamed sources, but the report also quoted Mario Monti, chief antitrust attorney for the EC, as saying, "My proposal to the commission would be to prohibit," and calling the deal grossly anticompetitive.
Bill Mann took a look at some of the factors facing the merger in the June 21 Fool on the Hill. U.S. regulators are concerned that the combined companies would carry the gross majority of domestic long-distance communications with little viable (in terms of scale) competition on the horizon. In Europe they're more concerned about the companies' presence as two of the world's leading providers of Internet backbone services.
Though some progress might be made by carving up some of Sprint and WorldCom's assets to please government watchdogs, the companies might be unwilling to give up key business operations and so the $129 billion merger now faces a critical juncture.
Qwest Communications International (NYSE: Q) will replace U S West (NYSE: USW) in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index upon completion of the companies' merger.
Broadband delivery systems provider Harmonic (Nasdaq: HLIT) said it expects to turn in second-quarter earnings of between $0.12 and $0.16 per share before taking into account purchase accounting adjustments in connection with the acquisition of C-Cube's (Nasdaq: CUBE) DiviCom operation. Wall Street was looking for a $0.29 profit; last year's number was $0.10. A conference call will take place at 5 p.m. ET.
Semiconductor assembly equipment maker Kulicke & Soffa's (Nasdaq: KLIC) board approved a 2-for-1 stock split that will take effect July 17 at the close of business. The board doubled the company's authorized common shares to 200 million to accommodate the split. It will have about 50 million shares outstanding after splitting.
Today is the 70th birthday of Ross Perot, former third-party presidential candidate and chairman and CEO of technology consulting services company Perot Systems (NYSE: PER). Happy birthday, Mr. Perot! (Disclosure: Author neither voted for nor campaigned in favor of Perot. He's just being nice.)
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