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Virgin Mobile USA In Merger Talks With Helio; Other Options Still Being Considered

By Rafat Ali - Thu 08 May 2008 11:30 AM PST

imageVirgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM), the MVNO which just reported its Q1 earnings earlier this week, is in talks with the much smaller and troubled MVNO Helio, we have learned, even as other PE and strategic players are still circling both the companies. Helio is now controlled by SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM), after Earthlink (NSDQ: ELNK) stopped making further investments, and has been looking at options to either exit or grow. For VMUSA, as we have mentioned, some PE players have been looking at investing in the company or buying it outright, and even if the VMUSA-Helio deal comes through, the two could use some extra cash.

Under one scenario that has been discussed, SK Telecom would buy out VMUSA and do a cash infusion; then Virgin Mobile would buy Helio in an all-stock transaction. Both of the MVNOs run on the Sprint (NYSE: S) network, so at least both run on the same network. But the merger of two won’t solve any problems of scale or distribution for either of them, but at least would give the bigger partner VMUSA a high powered post-paid plan, and better handsets and phone UI.

SKT, South Korea’s largest mobile operator, has been looking to expand its operations in U.S. Cyworld USA, SKT’s social networking subsidiary here, hasn’t done as well as it expected, and we know Helio’s troubles. Previous reports have also said that SKT was looking at buying the troubled operator SprintNextel, along with PE firm Providence Equity. Sprint rejected the $5 billion bid.

As for VMUSA, when we asked CEO Dan Schulman to comment on rumors, he told us this earlier in the week: “We don’t comment on any rumors out there, but we have said that we believe that there are opportunities for us in terms of non-organic growth, such as another MVNO, or capability set that we might be able to avail ourselves of...Certainly there are a lot of opportunities that we see, and we think some of them are intriguing for us, but it’s a matter of what makes the most sense.”

Posted in: Companies, Operators, MVNO, Helio, Virgin, Money, VC M&A, Mergers & Acquisitions

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Registration Open For EconAds Seminar: June 3rd NYC; Confirmed Speakers

By Rafat Ali - Fri 09 May 2008 12:17 AM PST

Ticket sales are now open for our upcoming EconAds seminar on June 3rd in NYC. As we have done with our previous seminars, this will be a smaller, more intimate experience. The in-progress program is here.
The seminar will focus on key sectors in the online advertising market. We will look broadly at the marketplace to see what disruptions lie ahead and where the investors are focused and where VC and M&A activity is heating up. The program is specifically targeted towards leading media, advertising and investment executives and is designed to promote knowledge sharing and encourage networking.

Confirmed Speakers

Doug Anmuth Analyst, Lehman Brothers
Samir Arora, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO, Glam Media
Lynda Clarizio, President, Platform-A, AOL
Peter C. Horan: CEO, IAC (NSDQ: IACI) Media and Advertising
Lance Maerov, SVP, Corporate Development, WPP
Dave Morgan, Founder, Tacoda
Nancy Peretsman, EVP, Managing Director, Allen & Co
Mike Walrath, SVP, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Advertiser Marketplace Group; Former CEO, Right Media

Sponsors: Platinum: IAC. Gold: Wall Street Journal Digital Network. For underwriting the event, e-mail our business side at advertising AT contentnext.com.

Thanks to Digital Hollywood for helping us co-locate our event there along with the bigger Advertising 2.0 conference on June 4th and 5th. This is part of the Internet Week.

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Mobile Content Bits: Navteq Verizon Navigator; Chaka-Uta Full R Hits 200 Million;

By Dianne See Morrison - Fri 09 May 2008 06:02 AM PST

— NAVTEQ (NYSE: NVT) Powers Revamped VZ Navigator: Digital map provider NAVTEQ has signed a deal with Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), to use its NAVTEQ Traffic Mobile to power the network operator’s new traffic application on its upgraded VZ Navigator service. Subscribers will be able to access NAVTEQ’s live traffic data on their mobiles and get real time traffic information in more than 75 cities across the country. VZ Navigator costs $9.99 a month, or $2.99 for 24-hour access (release).

— 200 Million Full Track Downloads for Chaku-Uta Full R: Japanese full track mobile download service Chaku-Uta Full R has hit its 200 millionth download as of April 30, reports Billboard. The service, created by Label Mobile, a Tokyo-based mobile content provider, owned by Japan’s top record labels, launched in 2004 and hit its 100 millionth download in May 2007. Label Mobile said that the 11 months that it took to add another 100 million downloads “shows that the Chaku-Uta Full R service is steadily increasing in popularity.” The site boasts over 120,000 songs from over 50 record labels. Yesterday, WMG CEO Edgar Bronfman said in a conference, that the record label believed that the popularity of full track mobile downloads in Japan would be mimicked elsewhere around the world.

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dotMobi Acquires Assets Of Shuttered Mowser Service

By Joseph Weisenthal - Fri 09 May 2008 04:50 AM PST

dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi suffix, has acquired the assets of Mowser, the mobile rendering service that got more attention for closing down than for being open in the first place. In April, its founder Russell Beattie announced he was shuttering the service after about one year, noting that it had failed to get traction or raise VC money—he also used it to argue that the mobile web was dead, prompting a lot of debate for about a day. Deal terms were not disclosed, though it’s safe to assume it wasn’t for very much. dotMobi says it will integrate Mowser’s technology into its mobile development tools. Release.

A post on a dotMobi blog by VP of Technology James Pearce (no relation to our James Quintana Pearce) notes that Beattie and his partner Mike Rowehl will be joining the company, making it an acq-hire: “At long last we can announce some great news! dotMobi is acquiring the well-known Mowser service that provides content adaptation services for mobile. We’re very excited about this. Russell Beattie and Mike Rowehl are both very talented mobile gurus and they’ll be joining the dotMobi team to help us do cool things with their technology. We did this deal because Mowser fits really well into lots of our current projects. Firstly, the Mowser directory, search and listings will be integrated straight into our newly launched find.mobi service. Secondly, the mobile formatting technology will help us provide more ways in which you can use DeviceAtlas for creating device-adapted content.”

Posted in: Money, VC M&A, Mergers & Acquisitions