Two events are supposed to be holding back the launch of mega-mergers: the UK’s exit from the European Union; and the US presidential election.
Then again, maybe not.
Last week fags maker British American Tobacco plc (LON:BATS) moved to stop wags asking when it was going to change its name to British Tobacco by launching a £38bn bid for US sector peer Reynolds America, and this week US phone giant AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) has offered US$85bn in a mixture of shares and cash for the CNN and HBO owner, Time Warner.
When it comes to Time Warner, it is best to be a bit circumspect about mergers. This is the company that pulled off – if “pulled off” is a synonym for the phrase “utterly botched” the “deal of the century” when it merged with internet colossus, as it then was, AOL (ask your grandfather), right at the height of the dot.com boom.
It was a US$164bn deal that redefined the laws of arithmetic, so that two plus two equalled one.
Microsoftness
Excitement is apparently mounting ahead of a Windows 10 press event later this week organised by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Attendees will be allowed to start a task and then told to sit around for 10 minutes or so while the event does some essential updates ...
These events do not have the level of fawning, obeisance, genuflection and puckered-lips-to-cheek action that Apple events get, some geeks are nevertheless getting excited at the prospect of a major update to Windows 10, so stand by for more “essential updates” if you are using that operating system.
The company, which recently saw its shares rise above US$60 for the first time, is not expecting to make any big announcements about hardware at the event but rumours of a new all-in-one Surface PC refuse to go away … a bit like Windows, really.
It is also expected to officially unveil its HomeHub smart speaker, because every other tech company – well, those tax specialists Amazon and Google – has a smart speaker out now.
There have been 57,200 tweets this morning using the hashtag #Mondaymotivation. I was going to make it 57,201 but could not be bothered.
Meanwhile, here’s an utterly trite observation from Tim Fargo.
Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner. - Lao Tzu #quote #mondaymotivation pic.twitter.com/fmxnC93BsP
— Tim Fargo (@alphabetsuccess) October 24, 2016
(That was a joke, BTW, Tim).
Any second now they’ll be wheeling out Mr Motivator again.
Cobham clobbering
In football, there used to be an old joke that Cowdenbeath were going to change their name to Cowdenbeath Nil, and the thought does occur that Cobham Profit Warning PLC does have a kind of familiar ring to it.
It’s pumped out its third profit warning in less than year. Its new chief executive, David Lockwood, does not take over until 1 January, giving him enough time, perhaps, to change his name to David Touchwood.