Wall Street Beat: Hardware, IT M&A in spotlight

28.05.2009
With vendors maneuvering for an edge in a down market, the tech mergers-and-acquisitions arena is staying hot this week while the hardware sector comes under scrutiny as server and chip sales founder.

Turbulent credit markets have prevented private capital from being a big factor in IT M&A this year, but some cash-rich tech companies are tapping their coffers to make acquisitions and broaden their market share or product portfolios. For example, storage giant EMC Wednesday said it would acquire ConfigureSoft, which makes server configuration, change and compliance management software. EMC said the deal, for an undisclosed sum, would expand its management offerings.

Also on Wednesday, virtualization software maker VMware said it invested US$20 million in cloud computing partner Terremark. Terremark uses VMware software to offer an enterprise cloud platform that lets users buy processing power, memory and storage.

On Tuesday, Facebook said it had sold a 1.96 percent equity stake in the company to Russia- and U.K.-based investment firm Digital Sky Technologies for $200 million. That gives Facebook a $10 billion valuation,

a third less than what it was valued at when it sold a 1.6 percent stake for $240 million to Microsoft in 2007. Though Facebook officials insisted the company is not strapped for cash, it said the money would

"facilitate liquidity" for employee share options.