Venture Capitalists May Be Left Out Of Burdensome Regulations On Private Equity

Filed Under:
private, private equity, public, reinvent

Companies:
yahoo

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Yahoo Needs To Go Private To Right Itself

from the staying-public-is-dangerous dept

Pretty much everyone now recognizes that Yahoo needs to reinvent itself these days. Its image and brand have been severely tarnished due to both poor management choices, an inability to compete successfully with search advertising and (of course) the fight concerning the possibility of a Microsoft merger. But, of course, all of this has only made the spotlight shine even more brightly on management -- which makes it much, much harder for the company to reinvent itself. So, I'm in agreement with those who think the real answer is for some private equity firms to take Yahoo private. Outside of the glare (and short-term focus) of the public markets, Yahoo might have the chance to reinvent itself for real, rather than being pulled in a different direction every few months. It can then return to the public markets later, or potentially sell itself again to another company under more favorable terms.

Failures

by Mike Masnick

Thu, Feb 14th 2008 11:56pm

Filed Under:
private equity, sco

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SCO Gets A Lifeline; Plans To Continue Quixotic Legal Quest

from the throwing-good-money-after-bad dept

Thought SCO was dead? Yup, you're not the only one. But, with big private equity firms willing to bet huge amounts on questionable intellectual property claims, it really shouldn't be a surprise that one came to SCO's rescue. Stephen Norris Capital Partners has dumped $100 million into SCO, taking the company private. Not surprisingly, a big reason for the lifeline is to continue the company's legal battles. These are the same legal battles that propped up the company's stock and allowed some insiders to cash out -- but which have yet to result in a single significant court win, while racking up numerous losses. SCO has insisted for years that it had various "smoking guns," but went into bankruptcy without revealing a single one. Why is it that suddenly these investors believe the company can actually win a legal battle?

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Dec 4th 2007 8:59pm

Filed Under:
patent hoarding, patent trolls, patents, private equity

Companies:
altitude capital

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Patent Hoarders Hiding Behind Shell Companies In Lawsuits

from the can't-admit-anything dept

While it used to be that patent hoarding companies like Acacia would file their lawsuits under their own names, more recently the trend has been to hide behind a series of shell companies. The latest is Altitude Capital Partners, a company we've discussed in the past. It's raised hundreds of millions of dollars solely to invest in patents. While officially a private equity firm, it's clear that the company is clearly just a patent hoarder. While it appears to have changed its website somewhat, it used to list "Number and Quality of Potential Infringers" as an investment criteria. It's clearly taken that to heart in its latest series of lawsuits against companies like Google, Yahoo, AOL, RIM, Palm and many others. The interesting thing, though, is that Altitude is doing its best to hide its involvement in these lawsuits, just like it tried to hide an earlier investment in Visto. Instead, it's been using a series of shell companies that are clearly formed solely for the purpose of filing these lawsuits. In the case of Altitude, it appears to be quite difficult to even track down that they're involved at all. Acacia has been doing the same thing as well. There could be a few reasons for the use of such shell companies -- but a big one might be to pretend that these really are cases of "little inventors" vs "big companies" instead of the truth, which appears to be big time investors with hundreds of millions of dollars looking to use questionable patents to squeeze money out of successful companies. Just how Jefferson and Madison envisaged things when they set out to create the patent system.

Deals

Wed, Sep 5th 2007 5:35pm

Filed Under:
credit, m&a, private equity

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Pockets Of Private Equity Still Very Much Alive

from the dealflow dept

Fears of a credit crunch have put a chill on fresh private equity activity, while several pending deals are thought to be in trouble. But there are still signs of life in some parts of the industry. There continues to be strong interest in medium-sized media deals, as funds that specialize in this area continue to raise money and make moves. Considering the challenges facing many media companies, it makes sense that private equity investors would think there's an opportunity to pick up assets at a bargain, reformulating them into something of more value. Obviously, the private equity industry isn't going to grind to a halt. Deals that are predicated on nothing more than cheap credit will become rare, but investors will always be on the hunt for undervalued companies that can be turned around.

Deals

Mon, Aug 27th 2007 4:35pm

Filed Under:
credit, private equity

Companies:
clear channel

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Clear Channel Facing Multiple Hurdles In Attempt To Go Private

from the the-sale-before-the-sale dept

Last November, radio broadcaster Clear Channel announced that it would be taken private by a group of private equity firms for $19 billion. But the deal is just one of many such deals whose status is currently in doubt, as financing and credit have significantly dried up of late. As part of the preconditions for the sale, Clear Channel agreed to dump nearly 400 local stations across the country. Now, however, that's proving to be a significant snag, as buyers of the stations are now going back on their agreements (via Deal Journal), due to the same financing issues affecting everyone else. Assuming that agreements can't be worked out, the company may be forced to slash the prices on these stations or risk imperiling its own plan to go private.

Deals

Fri, Aug 10th 2007 1:22pm

Filed Under:
m&a, private equity

Companies:
alltel, clear channel

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Market Not Buying Recent Buyout Deals

from the about-that-offer... dept

It's easy to forget that just because a buyout has been announced, there's no guarantee that it will actually go through. Pending private equity deals are particularly vulnerable at the moment, because they're all debt financed. One good way to get a sense of whether the market is expecting a given to go through is to look at the current market price of a stock compared to the buyout price. The wider the gap, the less likely it'll actually happen. These gaps are getting pretty wide on a number of deals, including a few discussed here. The purchase of Clear Channel was announced last November, but today the stock trades at 37% below the offering price. Alltel is in a similar boat, trading 22% below the buyout price, which was just announced in May. It's still possible, of course, that both of these deals will get done. But if current conditions persist, we may see them hang around in their current form for a bit longer.

Ramblings

Wed, Aug 1st 2007 7:15pm

Filed Under:
private equity, vc

Companies:
blackstone

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Is Anger At The Private Equity Industry Really Justified?

from the black-stone dept

Ever since private equity firm Blackstone came public earlier this year, there's been a strong backlash against the entire industry. Congress is looking to close a tax loophole that effects both private equity and VC firms, prompting some venture capitalists to lash out against private equity executives for drawing political scrutiny and potentially ending the party. But as Andrew Ross Sorkin points out, all of this outrage pointed at the industry (and Blackstone chief Stephen Schwarzman specifically) is a bit overdone. Plenty of executives could accused of having a big ego or of throwing big, garrulous parties in their own honor, as Schwarzman has done. Ultimately, it was the company's IPO that served as the catalyst for the outrage, so Blackstone, simply by virtue of being first to go public, has borne the brunt of it all. That being said, if things start to deteriorate economically, expect even more outrage at any executive perceived as having cashed out at the top.

Earnings, IPOs, and the like

Fri, Jul 20th 2007 10:45am

Filed Under:
ipos, private equity

Companies:
blackstone, orbitz

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Orbitz IPO Greeted With A Yawn

from the full-circle dept

Throughout its relatively short history, online travel site Orbitz has undergone quite a number of ownership changes. Last year, Orbitz' parent company was bought out by private equity firm Blackstone, which promptly decided to flip it back to the public markets. When it first filed to go public, there were many who argued that the company looked like a terrible investment for both operational and structural reasons. It looks like the market agrees with that assessment, as the IPO ended up pricing below its expected range. Private equity firms aren't infallible, and sometimes they're bound to buy companies that they can't turn into very much. But as more of these unimpressive offerings come to market, there's going to be increased skepticism over whether these firms can apply their magic touch to the tech industry.

Wall Street

Tue, Jul 17th 2007 6:51pm

Filed Under:
markets, private equity, stock exchange

Companies:
apollo, goldman