Filed under: Business, World wide web, Web services, Social Software

A few years ago a ton of sites started popping up for you to review local businesses and services in your area. The idea behind the sites such as JudysBook was that reviews were written by average everyday people like you, therefore they could be trusted more than a review you read on another site. Sites granted you to create a profile, upload a picture, and invite all your friends to join as well so you can share information.

GigPark works under the same principal, except the company assumes to some extent that the people you’re friends with on the site are your actual friends, not just people who happened to find you on the site. You can import addresses from your yahoo, hotmail, or gmail account onto the site to find people you know who are already using the service, and invite those who are not.

GigPark also has a Facebook application, so you could pose questions like “Who know a great eye doctor” on facebook and solicit responses from your friends directly on Facebook. Of course your friends would also have to add the application in order for all this magic to happen, which given the multitude of annoying facebook applications kicking around these days, is probably unlikely. You can make your suggestions public however, so even without adding the application your friends can read how excited you’re about your new plumber.

What do you consider sites like this? Would you use it to solicit suggestions, or would you rather just call a friend and ask?

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Filed under: Deals

Cadence Design Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) is the largest player in developing platforms for building integrated circuits. The company generates about $1.6 billion in revenues and has 5,100 employees.

Now, Cadence wants to get even more massive. Today, the company announced an unsolicited $1.6 billion bid for Mentor Graphics Corp. (NASDAQ: MENT). The offer is $16 per share.

Mentor is a large player in testing semiconductors, which should be a nice compliment to Cadence. And over the past couple months, Cadence has been trying to court Mentor.

But all advances were rejected. So why not go hostile?

While there are revenue synergies, it looks like the massive advantage to the acquisition might be the cost savings. This is especially important as the global revenues of the semiconductor industry trail off.

But for a company like Cadence - which has a market cap of $2.8 billion - the acquisition of Mentor is a massive deal and does carry some risk.

In today’s trading, the shares of Cadence are down 6% to $10.89.

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

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Filed under: Forecasts, Deals, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

Overnight, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) signed several cell carrier deals in Asia that will put its mobile search onto a large number of new phones. According to the company, it now reaches 600 million handset customers worldwide.

Maybe mobile search will be a massive market, but maybe it won’t. Reuters writes that “the mobile advertising market is expected to rise to $16.2 billion in 2011 up from $1.5 billion in 2006.”

Yahoo! might want to avoid counting its chickens too early. Despite the firm’s upbeat tone, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are having success getting into the same market. In China, where there are well over 300 million handsets in use, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), the county’s largest search company, does not want to give up market share to US-based companies.

If Yahoo! gets 20% of the market in 2011, it would pick up $3 billion in additional revenue. Is that a nice chunk of change? Yes, but that’s a long time for Yahoo! shareholders to wait.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Deals, XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Options

XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR) - The FCC Chairman Kevin Martin recommended approval of the Sirius Satellite (NASDAQ: SIRI)-XMSR merger. The FCC Commissioners could rule on the proposed merger soon.

XMSR and SIRI announced a merger of equals in February of 2007. XMSR shareholders will receive 4.6 SIRI shares for each XMSR share.

XMSR July option implied volatility of 76 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Deals, Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), PepsiCo (PEP), Exxon Mobil (XOM), AT and T (T), Adobe Systems (ADBE), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP)

Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of Goldman, PPI, housing data

Klausner Technology Inc, which has sued several companies for damages and future royalties, has settled the suits and reached an agreement Monday with Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL), eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY) and AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) to license its “visual voicemail” technology that sends visual alerts to computers or mobile telephones when a user has a voice message.

Meanwhile, Barron’s Tech Trader Daily gave several analysts’ assessments of the upcoming 3G iPhone: At RBC, they’re expecting “massive” shipments of the phones in Q4; this was supported by an analyst at Deutsche Bank. The Goldman analyst didn’t stop there but said he anticipates improvements in the iPod and Mac business segments as well.

And while Apple is increasing its global foot print, so is Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). The web portal company said on Tuesday that its mobile search service will be offered by six more telecom companies in Asia, bringing the total to 60 partnerships with companies reaching 600 million subscribers. A Yahoo! exec said he expects the mobile advertising market to rise to $16.2 billion in 2011 up from $1.5 billion in 2006 where Yahoo! is well poised to get a huge share.

But all isn’t rosy at Yahoo! to state the least, as is evident by the big loss of talent. The recent is Yahoo’s EVP Jeff Weiner. Yahoo’s president Sue Decker has apparently emailed employees following his resignation. TechCrunch has the surprisingly cheerful and positive email.

BP Plc (NYSE: BP) said it finally started to commission its Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico on June 14 and that the platform would be in continuous production by year-end. The field will produce a maximum of 250,000 barrels per day of oil and 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas when it reaches peak production. BP owns 75% of Thunder Horse and is the field’s operator while Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) owns the remaining 25%.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) shares are declining over 3% in premarket trading after it posted a 41% rise in fiscal second-quarter profit on strong sales.

PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) affirmed its full-year earnings outlook, but said flooding shuttered its Quaker manufacturing plant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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Filed under: Deals, Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD)

Overnight, Belgian newspaper De Standaard wrote that, based on its sources, Warren Buffett backs an InBev buy-out of Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD).

Is it any wonder? BUD can try to greatly improve its earnings on its own. With 50% of the US beer market, that might be hard. It can hope that buying the piece of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo that it does not already own will help profits. More likely it will increase debt or dilute current shareholder.

BUD’s problem is that its shares may never see $60 again. They have risen above that on the InBev offer. A look at the company’s long-term shock chart shows it has never been this high before.

If Buffett makes his backing of the InBev offer public, most of the BUD investors are apt to follow. He’ll have done all of them a favor.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Bad news

Earlier this year I was a panelist on a panel of VCs (venture capitalists) and entrepreneurs. My suggestion was: be cautious. After all, the US is undergoing a credit crisis, and if history is an accurate guide, there could be problems with the VC industry.

Well, according a piece in Reuters, it looks like VCs are indeed getting nervous. In fact, they’re urging their portfolio companies to be careful with their cash hoard.

It’s certainly good advice. Based on my experience so far this year, it seems that VC rounds are getting smaller - and the investment process is getting longer. At the same time, entrepreneurs are having a hard time getting customer traction.

Something else that’s troubling: the IPO market.

Basically, it’s horrible. There were just five VC-backed IPOs in Q1 of this year. Unfortunately, there are few signs that things are getting better.

So, with meager public markets and slowing VC activity, companies may ultimately have no alternative but to sell out. Unfortunately, the M&A market is also tepid - at least in terms of valuations.

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

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Filed under: Deals, Newspapers, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

I’m not a shareholder of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) but I know many people who are. And, for the most part, they don’t like the company’s CEO and co-founder, Jerry Yang.

Isn’t the CEO supposed to look out for shareholders? Yes, I’m pretty sure this is the goal of the public markets. Then again, when a visionary founder must ultimately manage a global operation, things can get messy.

Well, there’s an excellent piece in the NY Times on the topic by Joe Nocera.

Yang had many chances to do a deal with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), yet, Yahoo is now left with a quirky marketing arrangement with rival Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). Ironically, such a deal is further evidence that Yahoo! is languishing in the marketplace. Although the deal may not even last long, especially in light of the antitrust implications.

No doubt, I can understand that Yang has an emotional pull with his company and its employees, but unfortunately, this can actually cloud judgment. Too often founders hire friends and keep them on board too long. Yahoo! has become a bloated organization (even though Yang stated he doesn’t want to become a part of Microsoft because he thinks it will lead to bureaucracy).

Something else to consider: Look at Yang’s severance plan, which offers substantial benefits for departing Yahoo! employees (in the event of a change-of-control). It’s a ticking time bomb, which goes beyond a typical “poison pill.”

Simply put, Yang has failed his most important constituency: the shareholders. As a result, he doesn’t have much credibility on a go-forward basis. When this happens, the typical outcome is that the CEO must leave.

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

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Filed under: Deals, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Market matters, CBS Corp ‘B’ (CBS), Clear Channel Commun (CCU), Stocks to Purchase, Cramer on BloggingStocks

Too many celebrations have too much to lose to let this one go through without a fight, TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer says.

No, it isn’t over. If there is one thing we have learned about Sirius (NASDAQ: SIRI) (Cramer’s Take)-XM (NASDAQ: XMSR) (Cramer’s Take), it is that at every step of the way, people have to try to block it or at least hold it up to the point that someone goes out of business. This is a deal, now much longer in passing than Exxon and Mobil, that still has congressional meddling even right now, still has rearguard activists who might fight the merger on the commission itself even though the FCC’s staff has stated yes.

Lots of people are confusing the issue of the merger benefits with the merger itself. The benefits will be helpful down the road on both the revenue and the costs, and the caps won’t mean that much. What matters, plain and simple, is refinancing. Both companies are always in danger of running out of money.

However, if you know that three years hence — after the frozen period during which service fees cannot be increased — the two companies can begin to offer extreme cable pricing, you can go hat in hand to the Street with a good bond deal that people will no longer feel could default.

That’s why the stocks combined are good. They may turn out not to be good for all of the people playing the various games, because there’s no quick way to monetize the two companies. But you will most certainly create a dominant company that’ll pretty much destroy terrestrial radio, which may be the biggest reason radio stocks continue to trade down and CBS (NYSE: CBS) (Cramer’s Take) continues to be brought down by CBS Radio.

There’s been so much that I’ve hated about this government’s stalling of this as opposed to the serious antitrust issues that have developed in the last 20 years of laissez-faire antitrust. Everything stinks out loud, including the stalling of the deal until after Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) (Cramer’s Take), the principal target of the merger, went through. The people propounding Clear Channel, just like the people propounding newspapers, don’t and have not worked in the industry. They just know cash flows and vectors, not the reality of the endless newspaper-like decline to this medium.

In short, putting XM together with Sirius would be like creating a new Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (Cramer’s Take) with Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) (Cramer’s Take) when it comes to terrestrial radio.

And there’s a simple reason: commercials. Everyone hates them.

And you’re done with them the moment this deal gets approved, even though it isn’t a foregone conclusion.

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RELATED LINKS:
Cramer: Sirius, XM Need a Fast Wedding
AIG’s Sullivan Is Latest Credit Casualty
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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com’s sites and serves as an adviser to the company’s CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.

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