Salto Partners

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Dell – EMC Merger

Dell on Monday announced it would acquire EMC in a deal valued at $67 billion, maintaining VMware as a publicly traded company. EMC shareholders will get $24.05 per share in cash, as well as 0.111 shares of new tracking stock per share of EMC linked to the company’s economic interest in the VMware business. Here is what I said in an interview with E-Commerce Times.

“Competition from the cloud could be a major threat as Dell and EMC are viewed as old-world companies. It feels like the marriage of a couple that met in a retirement home, and the groom is clearing out his 401K and selling off his assets to pay for the wedding.”

You can read the entire article here.

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Alphabet

Google on Monday announced a restructuring that will make it a wholly owned subsidiary of a new umbrella company called “Alphabet.” Product Chief Sundar Pichai will take over as CEO of Google, while Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergei Brin will be CEO and president, respectively, of Alphabet. Here is what I said in an interview with E-Commerce Time.

“Google became every bit of what it promised to be when it was incorporated in 1998. That is, it became a well-oiled machine of global significance that continues to grow and produce cash. The reorganization will let Page and Brin focus on the next big thing under the Alphabet umbrella, while the day-to-day business of Google remains in strong hands.”

You can read the entire article here.

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Spotify raised $526 million

Spotify has raised US$526 million in its latest round of funding, according to reports that surfaced Wednesday. Spotify has raised US$526 million in its latest round of funding, according to reports that surfaced Wednesday. Here is what I told E-Commerce Times about this news, “The combination of Spotify’s free service, which carries ads, and a premium paid version that’s ad-free, has let the company gain significant traction. On the other hand, Apple is leveraging its brand recognition to simply convert its global customer base into paying subscribers of its new streaming service.”

You can read the entire article here.

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Apple Maps

E-Commerce Times interviewed me about whether Apple has plans to further improve its Maps app, possibly by strengthening local listings, which are increasingly important to businesses. Here is what I told them, “Apple’s launch of its Maps app had a rough start in 2012. Since then, the application has gained significant traction. Apple Maps has the potential to be embedded in a variety of e-commerce services leveraging geographical context information. The application could open up new partnership models and revenue streams.”

You can read the entire article here.

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Promoted Tweets

On Tuesday, Twitter launched a new advertising initiative that aims to boost revenues and add to its more than 284 million members. The initiative aims to expand the reach of “Promoted Tweets” on Twitter. Promoted Tweets are ads that Twitter inserts into its members timelines. Currently, promoted Tweets are only seen on Twitter, but the company wants them to be seen elsewhere, too. Here is what I said in an interview with E-Commerce Times, “The concept of running Promoted Tweets on other people’s apps and sites makes a lot of sense. It essentially gives Twitter the opportunity to grow its reach and generate revenue well past beyond its own user base. This announcement might be calming down some investors who are worried about Twitter’s ability to organically grow its user base. Now, the company is still reporting net losses on a quarterly basis. Very soon, these kinds of business ideas have to shed some real profits for Twitter to continue to command a premium on its share price.”

You can read the whole article here.