Pfizer eyes AstraZeneca for $100 billion acquisition

After making a failed bid for AstraZeneca in January, pharmaceutical heavyweight Pfizer is again pursuing a deal for its British rival that would rank among the largest in industry history.

Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) said it made contact with AstraZeneca (AZN) on Saturday to renew acquisition discussions, the latest potential pairing in an industry gripped by a new wave of consolidation.

U.S.-based Pfizer said that AstraZeneca declined to engage when contacted over the weekend.

If a transaction is executed, Pfizer said the resulting company would be incorporated in Britain, but headquartered in New York and listed on the NYSE.

"Pfizer is currently considering its options with respect to AstraZeneca," the company said in a statement. "Pfizer believes the strategic, business and financial rationale for a transaction is compelling."

Related: Botox maker gets $46 billion bid

The proposal floated in January would have paid AstraZeneca owners £46.61 ($76.62) per share, a premium of around 30% over the company's stock price at the time. At that price, the deal would have been worth £58.7 billion, or around $98.6 billion.

A deal of that scale would represent the biggest foreign takeover of a British company. It would also be the second biggest pharmaceutical deal after Pfizer's $112 billion purchase of Warner Lambert in 2000.

AstraZeneca said Monday that the January proposal "very significantly undervalued" the company and its prospects, and in the absence of a new "specific and attractive" offer it was not ready to resume talks.

Pfizer said Monday it remains willing to pay a "significant premium" over the company's closing share price on April 17.

It now has a month to announce its intention to make an offer, or walk away.

Vodafone New Zealand Activates Millionth M2M Connection

                                        

With the recent signing of a five year global agreement with New Zealand based International Telematics Limited (ITL) Vodafone New Zealand says that it has reached over one million Machine to Machine (M2M) connections.

As part of the contract signed last week, Vodafone will use its global platform to provide services in markets where International Telematics is established, including Australia and North America.

International Telematics uses M2M technology to provide asset location monitoring and security, driver behaviour reports and environmental impact assessments. They are one of only two providers in New Zealand that are NZTA-approved to collect electronic road-user charges.

Global CEO of International Telematics, Guy Colglazier, was in New Zealand for the signing.

"In the past, it has been very difficult to penetrate a new international market. Vodafone's reliable network will help us remove the traditional barriers for expansion offshore," Guy explains. "Now, with Vodafone's global M2M platform, we can ship our product straight from our warehouse and know that whether the box is opened in Adelaide or Albuquerque, it's going to work in the same way without any adjustments."

Tony Bacon, Head of M2M at Vodafone New Zealand, added that the global M2M platform removes the complexity for businesses expanding internationally.

Microsoft warns of Internet Explorer flaw

Microsoft has warned consumers that a vulnerability in its Internet Explorer browser could let hackers gain access and user rights to their computer.

The flaw affects Internet Explorer (IE) versions 6 to 11 and Microsoft said it was aware of "limited, targeted attacks" to exploit it.

According to NetMarket Share, the IE versions account for more than 50% of global browser market.

Microsoft says it is investigating the flaw and will take "appropriate" steps.

The firm, which issued a security advisory over the weekend, said the steps "may include providing a solution through our monthly security update release process, or an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs".

XP impact

However, the issue may be of special concern to people still using the Windows XP operating system.

That is because Microsoft ended official support for that system earlier this month.

It means there will be no more official security updates and bug fixes for XP from the firm.

Alerts over faulty Apple and Samsung handsets

Apple and Samsung have issued alerts about faults on some of their phones.

Apple has begun a replacement programme for some of its iPhone 5 handsets that have a faulty sleep/wake button.

Separately, Samsung has revealed that some of its flagship Galaxy S5 handsets have been shipped with a non-functioning camera.

It said anyone who bought an S5 with a faulty camera should contact Samsung's customer service or their mobile operator to get the phone replaced.

Serial numbers

Samsung said it had found a "very limited" number of handsets had been shipped with the fault. It said it had traced the cause of the problem and had taken steps to ensure it did not re-occur in future production runs.

"We have discovered that the issue has been seen in a very limited portion of early production Galaxy S5 units, and was caused by complications in the Read Only Memory component which stores the information necessary to operate the camera," Samsung said in a statement.

Samsung declined to say how many handsets were affected but did say that the faulty handsets had been reported in the US and several other countries.

Apple said a "small percentage" of iPhone 5 handsets were affected by manufacturing problems that meant its sleep/wake button stopped working or only worked intermittently.

It said it would replace the sleep/wake mechanism in affected phones free of charge. To help customers it has set up a webpage on which they can enter the serial number of their phone to see if it is in the affected batch.

The faulty button is believed to affect iPhone 5 handsets manufactured before May 2013.

The replacement programme begins in the US on 28 April and rolls out worldwide on 2 May. Customers with affected handsets can either post their device to an Apple repair centre or drop it off in person.

It is not a new post!!

                                         
Dear all,

It is now almost 500 posts and I just wanted to know, do you see it useful and helpful to share with you latest Business/Technology news? do you see anything needs to be done to make it much more useful?
Even if you don't see a value just let me know.

Wish you all a lovely day.

Looking forward for your participation.

Kind Regards,
Nader

Microsoft’s Nadella faces handset dilemma

Microsoft’s new chief executive officer is about to face his first big dilemma. Should he set his new mobile handset division demanding profit goals if it is to remain part of the world’s biggest software company?

Or should he give it some leeway, treating it instead as part of a broader strategic imperative as Microsoft tries to claw back lost ground against Apple and Google in the all-important mobile computing market?

The completion on Friday of Microsoft’s €5.44bn purchase of the Nokia handset business presents Satya Nadella with the kind of business headache new bosses dread.

Former CEO Steve Ballmer announced the deal eight months ago to a collective groan on Wall Street, where it was seen as a severely margin-diluting move that had little bearing on the company’s core business of supplying software and services to business customers.

It may be that he felt Microsoft had no alternative. As the producer of around 90 per cent of the handsets carrying Windows Phone software, Nokia was too important to Microsoft to risk losing: had it followed other handset makers into the Android camp, it might have dealt a fatal blow to Microsoft’s hopes of becoming a force in smartphones, the dominant computing platform of the day.

But Nokia has struggled to make headway and now it is up to Mr Nadella, Mr Ballmer’s successor, to make the deal work – which means either forcing the handset business to prove it can pay its way, or convincing investors to view smartphones as an essential part of a broader strategic bet.

“The big danger for Microsoft is that it gets caught in two minds between these two options,” says Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight.

There is no question which way Wall Street wants Mr Nadella to jump.

The departure of Mr Ballmer has stirred up hopes among investors that the Nokia deal will be rethought. Microsoft’s board went along with it reluctantly at the insistence of the former CEO, according to close observers: under new leadership, things may now look different.

Mr Nadella’s stance has added to the hopes for a rethink. Whereas his predecessor talked of a new strategy for Microsoft based on “devices and services”, the new Microsoft boss pointedly stressed only services in his first public comments as CEO last month. He has also subtly shifted the company’s strategic focus towards “mobile and cloud” – a formulation that keeps the emphasis on mobile computing without requiring Microsoft to be in the hardware business

Scottish independence: Clash over costs of 'Yes' vote

Danny Alexander has called on Scottish ministers to produce "realistic analysis" of the cost of independence.

It comes as the Treasury prepares to publish detailed findings on the financial impact of a "Yes" vote.

In a speech in Edinburgh on Wednesday, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury will attack "over-optimistic assumptions" about oil revenues.

A spokesman for the first minister said Scotland had the "financial resources to be a successful independent nation".

Mr Alexander's attack on the Scottish government's white paper on independence comes a few weeks before the Treasury's most detailed fiscal analysis is due to be published.

Chancellor George Osborne and Mr Alexander asked the department's economists to calculate "in detail the figures that illustrate the benefits of the UK and the cost of independence".

The UK government said economists had spent months analysing data and forecasts, and consulting with independent bodies.

It said the analysis would set out "in more detail than ever before the impact of having to absorb the higher spending and lower tax caused by declining oil revenues, an ageing population, the Scottish government's uncosted policy pledges and the set-up costs of independence in a much smaller budget".