Microsoft last week launched a hostile US$44.6 billion takeover bid to buy Web giant Yahoo. If the deal goes ahead it will be the latest in a line of multibillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions the tech sector has witnessed in recent years.
ZDNet Asia sister site silicon.com picks the most significant tech takeovers...
1. AOL Time Warner, US$164 billion, 2000:
Web giant AOL and entertainment company Time Warner joined forces in 2000 in a massive deal worth US$164 billion. A year after the initial bid was made the U.S. Federal Trade Commission gave its approval to the deal in January 2001.
The partnership didn't get off to a great start when the new company reported a loss of US$99 billion in 2002 after the value of its America Online ISP division fell dramatically.
2. Worldcom and MCI, US$37 billion, 1998:
Telecoms giant Worldcom bought MCI, the long distance operator, in 1998 for around US$37 billion. In the process, Worldcom had to pay BT almost US$7 billion to buy out the U.K. company's 20 percent stake in MCI.
Unfortunately Worldcom filed for bankruptcy in 2002, becoming the biggest corporate failure in U.S. history after it failed to survive a brutal consumer price war.
3. HP and Compaq, US$25 billion, 2001:
When tech services and hardware group HP bought PC maker Compaq, the move was hailed as the biggest takeover in the history of the sector. The tie-up meant the combined company could challenge the revenues of IBM. HP boss Carly Fiorina became CEO of the new company.
4. Symantec and Veritas, US$13.5 billion, 2004:
Symantec bought storage specialist Veritas Software in a US$13.5 billion deal, forming a powerhouse of security systems and storage management software with annual revenues of around US$5 billion.
5. Oracle and Peoplesoft, US$10.3 billion, 2004:
Software giant Oracle has been buying almost everything in sight over the past few years, the biggest acquisition being PeopleSoft in 2004. The company was acquired for around a 10 percent premium on its closing share price.
Other recent acquisitions by Oracle include Siebel, JD Edwards and most recently, BEA Systems.
And the rest...
Other notable deals worthy of mention include telco Lucent's acquisition of Ascend for US$20 billion in 1999 and Comcast's purchase of AT&T for a whopping US$67 billion in 2001. IBM also shelled out the relatively paltry sum of US$3.5 billion on the consultancy arm of PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2002.
Tim Ferguson of Silicon.com reported from London.
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