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Filed under: Deals, Microsoft (MSFT)

In what could be seen as yet another “me too” partnership, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has joined larger-than-large HMO Kaiser Permanente to work on a joint medical records exchange that would enable consumers “to have more control over their health records.” Not sure if access equals control, but it’s not my partnership so it is what it is.

Now, mind you, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)’s Google Health was just born to a massive degree, and already Microsoft is on the same bandwagon. Both systems appear to grant ordinary consumers to upload their digital medical information from a central database comprised of multiple medical providers. Data describing prescriptions, tests, immunizations and other conditions would be the focus of the Microsoft-Kaiser Permanente pilot program here.

Kaiser’s own 156,000 employees will actually pilot the program to see if it is worthy to roll out to Kaiser’s consumer rolls of 8.7 million. Are consumers ready to give up all their sensitive medical information just to ensure the access to that information will be easy from that home or work laptop computer?

Ease seems to trump privacy in many cases, so why not? The part about using this information to grant medical consumers to make “more informed choices about their health care” seems odd, though. Physicians and pharmacists are in control (and always have been), and I doubt access to a blitzkrieg of medical information is instantly going to make the majority of consumers more intelligent about their own health care.

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Filed under: Deals, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Oil

XTO Energy (NYSE: XTO), a major oil and natural gas producer, has agreed to shell out $4.2 billion for privately held Hunt Petroleum. The deal is expected to add about 1.052 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, located primarily in Texas, Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, to XTO’s supplies.

XTO has been quite acquisitive lately. Only in late May, XTO agreed to pay $1.85 billion for Headington Oil Co., which might have 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Yes, such deals are a wonderful way to bulk up for growth. Actually, XTO is projecting production growth of 28% to 30% for this year.

As for Hunt Petroleum, it’s a legend in the oil business — going back 80 years. But late last year, the board retained Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to seek out a buyer (I’m sure the Hunt family was looking for some liquidity, especially in light of the surging energy market).

And so far, Wall Street likes the deal. In today’s trading, XTO’s shares are up 3% to $69.93.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

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