Yahoo bids debated, 5G processes questioned … 5 things to know today
1. Verizon Communications could end up bidding less than $3 billion for Yahoo, according to reports, but other sources still expect a much higher offer. The Wall Street Journal cited “people familiar with the matter” who expect Verizon and other bidders to offer between $2 billion and $3 billion for the troubled Internet portal. The report also says the next round of bids are not expected until next month.
Setting expectations for lower-than-anticipated bids can be a strategic move for companies. If those reports depress the target’s stock price they can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, enabling bidders to pay a lower price in the end. Yahoo’s shares opened lower today while most technology stocks gained ground in early trading.
CNBC’s David Faber said his sources are questioning The Wall Street Journal report, noting $2 billion to $3 billion would be lower than the lowest of the bids seen in the first round of bidding. He said the Yahoo sale has been a “fairly robust auction” to date and “nobody has seen numbers of that type.”
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said he couldn’t answer questions about Yahoo when the subject came up yesterday at the MoffettNathanson Media and Communications Summit. Shammo simply reminded his audience that Verizon has been focused on media platforms and that “eyeballs matter.”
Verizon is one of several companies expected to bid for Yahoo, but it may be one of the only bidders with business that could be synergistic with Yahoo’s. Most of the other groups said to be evaluating Yahoo are private equity firms.
2. A leading wireless researcher is calling for a change in the way the 3rd Generation Partnership Project predicts signal coverage as it works to define a “5G” technology standard. Ted Rappaport, founding director of NYU Wireless, published research arguing the path loss exponent parameter is a better way to predict signal coverage than the alpha-beta-gamma model used by 3GPP in the past. Rappaport worries if 3GPP uses the alpha-beta-gamma model for 5G, it will underestimate the number of base stations needed for the early phases of deployments in spectrum bands above 6 GHz.
3. Frontier Communications is offering automatic bill credits to customers who reported Internet service outages. Frontier executive Melinda White appeared yesterday before the California State Assembly’s utilities and commerce committee to answer questions about Internet service disruptions experienced by customers in California. She said the Frontier network had been unable to communicate with customers’ on-premise equipment. Outages have also been reported in Texas and Florida, which are the other states in which Frontier bought wireline assets from Verizon.
4. “Internet of Things” will be a focus for ARM Holdings. The leading developer of core technology for mobile device chips is paying $350 million for Apical, an embedded computer vision specialist. Embedded computer vision enables connected machines to use images to interpret the environment. The technology is applicable to connected cars, smart cities, robotics and security systems.
5. IT bellwether Cisco beat expectations with its earnings report this week. Revenues were $12 billion for the quarter ended in April, up 3% year-on-year. Operating income, both in general accepted accounting practices and outside GAAP, came in at $3 billion, up 2% year-on-year.
