IBM Flexes M&A Muscles: Tech Weekly Recap
NEW YORK (TheStreet) - IBM (IBM) flexed its M&A muscles again this week, announcing a $1.3 billion deal to buy talent management specialist Kenexa (KNXA).
IBM sees Kenexa as a way to bolster its social business offerings, technologies for connecting workers across their organizations. IBM also views the acquisition as feeding into its massive business analytics push.
Kenexa is also the latest in a string of companies snapped up by tech heavyweights eager to boost their cloud credentials. Earlier this year, for example, SAP (SAP) announced a $4.3 billion deal for Ariba (ARBA), which followed its $3.4 billion purchase of SuccessFactors last year.
Elsewhere, Oracle (ORCL) grabbed cloud-based HR solutions provider Taleo in February, while IBM acquired DemandTec late in 2011.
> > Bull or Bear? Vote in Our Poll IBM, as part of its five-year roadmap announced in 2010, has said it plans to spend $20 billion on acquisitions by 2015. Over the past three years, the company has made 25 purchases, and it has closed eight acquisitions this year. Shares of IBM closed the week down 1.48% at 194.85.Apple (AAPL) also grabbed its share of headlines this week as Wall Street digested the company's victory in its patent battle against Samsung. The iPhone maker, however, may be prepared to bury the hatchet in a separate patent dispute with Google (GOOG), according to a media report. Reuters reported on Thursday that Apple CEO Tim Cook and his Google counterpart Larry Page have been in talks discussing the intellectual property issues between the companies. Citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that talks were held last week. One source told Reuters that the executives agreed to continue talking. Rumors about an iPad Mini continued to swirl this week. AU Optronics (AU) and LG Display are making the touchscreens for the device, according to Chinese Web site Donews, by way of BrightWire. Apple shares ended the week up 0.3% at $665.24. Google's stock closed up 0.95% at $685.09.
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