Thom Calandra mentioned INSP in this article about stealth buying of small companies going on, as a possible buy out candidate, at least as I took it.
cbs.marketwatch.com{83B17904-F84F-4AB3-A450-A79396DF0176}&siteid=intuit&dist=intuitmore&archive=true
>>>Mergers and acquisitions are booming. Micro-acquisitions, that is.
Scores of tiny companies, way off Wall Street's radar screen, are agreeing to cash tender offers, leveraged buyouts and stock-for-stock purchases. The wave of micro mergers and acquisitions comes in a year when many large corporate purchases are on hold because of depressed security prices or uncertainty over the economy.
Just last week, shares of digital-rights management company InterTrust Technologies (ITRU: news, chart, profile) rose 25 percent after Royal Philips Electronics and Sony agreed to ante up $453 million for the purchase. Clearly, Sony and Royal Philips see opportunity where stock-market investors did not.
The tale of the tape tells the story. Nine months ago, InterTrust's Nasdaq shares sold for less than $1. Three years ago, the money-losing company, which has more than two dozen patents on processes that protect the distribution of copyrighted music and other material via the Internet, had shares worth $80 each.
It's not just battered Internet companies getting these tiny tender offers. Hungry executives, looking to grow their sales, enter new markets or dominate existing ones, are on the prowl for cheap deals...
What's next? Take your pick. Good Guys (GGUY: news, chart, profile) operates 72 electronic entertainment stores in the Western United States. A full year's sales amount to about $800 million - or enough to make the company, which is losing money but generating cash flow, seem attractive to larger electronic chains looking for more California stores. The $2.50 shares were $1.50 just a month ago on Nasdaq.
InfoSpace (INSP: news, chart, profile) is best known for its failing strategy to dominate the wireless delivery of software and content. Yet few look at the company's payment transactions company, Authorize.Net.
The payment service has 170,000 account sign-ups and 71,000 active merchants, the company says. InfoSpace says its merchant business unit processed more than $1.7 billion in transactions in the September quarter.<<<<
wdyt? My first thought is that I don't want INSP to get sold because I think there will be more long term value in holding it. |
