Has Vodafone made Mannesmann AG an offer it can't refuse?
Rebuffed in its first takeover attempt last week, Vodafone AirTouch came back Friday with a record 124 billion euro (US$128.5 billion) hostile offer for the German engineering and telecom company.
Following a board meeting late Thursday, the British cell-phone giant said it was offering Mannesmann shareholders 240 euros per Mannesmann share in an all-paper bid, substantially higher than the 203-euro offer that was rejected earlier.
Vodafone received a letter from Mannesmann on Thursday asking it to withdraw its takeover proposal. Instead, the board decided to put its case directly to Mannesmann shareholders.
Swallowing Mannesmann will cement Vodafone's already dominant position in Europe's booming mobile phone market.
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Allen swallows up ZDTV: Ziff-Davis will sell its 64 percent interest in ZDTV to Vulcan Ventures, the investment firm owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, for $204.8 million, the publisher said Friday.
ZDTV, a cable network focused exclusively on computing, technology, and the Internet, reaches approximately 14 million American homes through 88 cable operators and 400 cable systems, the company said.
Vulcan, which acquired a 33 percent stake in ZDTV nine months ago, sees the network as leading the convergence of the Web and television programming.
Eric Hippeau, CEO of Ziff-Davis, said that ZDTV will continue to maintain certain business agreements with ZDNet and the parent company.
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Round Two to Disney: The Walt Disney Co. won a round Thursday in its legal battle with GoTo.com over the use of a logo on its Go Network Web site.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cleared Disney to keep using the logo, which closely resembles GoTo.com's own logo, while the case is appealed. A lower court earlier issued a preliminary injunction blocking Disney from using the disputed logo.
GoTo.com sued Disney, claiming that the green circle on a yellow background with the word "Go" inside the circle is a direct steal of its own logo.
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China piracy suit: Microsoft is suing a Chinese company for software piracy in a case that it hopes will encourage respect for intellectual property.
The suit accuses the Yadu Technology Group of using pirated products, including Microsoft Office and Windows, on its office computers.
The case is being heard in the Beijing Number One Intermediate Court and a final ruling could be handed down before the end of the year, Microsoft's corporate attorney in Beijing said.
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A boost for BOL: Bertelsmann, the German media monolith, has beefed up BOL, its European e-commerce platform, adding compact disc sales, free downloads of pop music tracks, and an online radio station.
The added features, timed to cash in on the lucrative holiday shopping season, represents the latest thrust in Bertelsmann's campaign to take on Amazon.com, the market leader.
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Successful Launch: Shares of Launch Media, which delivers music videos and news online, soared nearly 30 percent after Banc of America Securities started coverage with a "buy" rating.
Launch Media was up 5 to 22-1/2. Volume was 1.25 million shares, about 10 times the average daily volume for the company.
Reuters contributed to this report.
