Orange County technology companies dominated headlines last week in one of the busiest and most lucrative runs of merger-and-acquisition activity here in recent memory.
More than $3.6 billion in deals were announced by local companies engaged in business software, distribution and video gaming.
Dell Inc. edged out a pair of private equity players in the bidding war for Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc. with a cash offer of about $2.4 billion. Quest Chairman Vinny Smith is expected to cash out his 34% company stake in the deal, which has been approved by the boards of both companies.
Quest makes software that helps manage and improve other business products from various companies, including Washington-based Microsoft Corp., IBM Corp. in New York and Redwood Shores-based Oracle Corp. All had been considered prospective suitors for Quest.
Elsewhere, Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. agreed to buy wholesale distributor BrightPoint Inc. for $840 million (see related story, page 1). The cash buy is aimed at bolstering Ingram’s position in mobile services, a higher-margin sector with a customer base of more than 25,000 companies. Ingram is the largest technology distributor in the world with $36.3 billion in sales last year.
Tel Aviv, Israel-based BrightPoint has its U.S. headquarters in Indianapolis. It had $5.2 billion in sales last year with a gross profit margin of 7.2%.
Aliso Viejo-based Gaikai Inc. rounded out a trio of high-profile OC deals when it agreed to be acquired for $380 million by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
The gaming unit of Tokyo-based Sony Corp. and the maker of PlayStation plans to create a cloud-streaming service that allows users to play “a broad array of content” on a variety of Internet-connected devices, said Andrew House, president of Sony Computer Entertainment.
Founded in 2008, Gaikai has struck a string of partnerships with leading consumer electronics companies and retailers. The company, which developed a cloud-based streaming technology to deliver games directly to consumers via websites, social networking sites and most recently smart TVs, was rumored to be on the sales block for the last few weeks.
Industry Laurels
SRS Labs Inc. Chief Executive Thomas C.K. Yuen received the Life Time Achievement Award at Tech America’s 19th Annual Orange County Innovations Awards.
Yuen—who received the award at an event held last month at the Hilton hotel in Costa Mesa—took the helm at SRS in 1994, a year after it was established. He is credited with driving key designs and patents that positioned the company as a leader in audio enhancement technology.
SRS specializes in surround sound, audio rendering and voice processing. It develops and licenses its technology to consumer electronics makers, home theater builders, computer game developers, carmakers and others.
The company announced in April it was being acquired by Calabasas-based competitor DTS Inc. in a $148 million cash and stock deal. Yuen, who controls about 20% of outstanding SRS shares, is expected to join the DTS board after the transaction closes.
Yuen previously cofounded personal-computer maker AST Research in 1980, serving as co-chairman and chief operating officer of the Irvine-based personal computer maker.
Mobile P-P-V
A recent survey by Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Inc. found travelers who own mobile devices are more likely to buy pay-per-view content on their smart phone or tablets than TVs.
Smith Micro commissioned Encino-based United Sample Inc. to run the survey, which polled more than 700 smart phone and tablet users in the U.S. About 67% of respondents said they prefer to purchase content through mobile devices during hotel stays, and 75% were more likely to book a hotel if it offered services geared to such content.
“In this age of mobile and social networking, hotels and resorts are now expected to provide their guests with an interactive entertainment experience, which includes access to high-quality video content anywhere, anytime,” said Jim Mains, Smith Micro’s senior vice president of products and programs.
Smith Micro makes software for cell phones and connecting mobile devices to wireless networks.
Chip Patents
A unit of Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. acquired five portfolios with 156 U.S. and international patents from an unnamed chipmaker.
The patents relate to microprocessors, systems-on-a-chip, circuit design, packaging and chip manufacturing processes. The buy comes amid a strategic shift by Acacia, which now seeks to buy patents outright rather than licensing technology on behalf of companies.
