Tag Archives: qcom

Cisco, Sony Deals Herald Internet Of Things M&A Boom, Says Report

Cisco Systems ’ ( CSCO ) purchase of Jasper Technologies and Sony’s acquisition of chipmaker Altair Semiconductor could be the start of an Internet-of-Things buying spree in 2016, says a Strategy Analytics report. “IoT M&A activity could potentially reach the $20 billion mark in 2016,” says Strategy Analytics. IoT refers to wireless technology that connects industrial, medical, automotive and consumer devices to the Web. Cisco agreed to buy IoT software platform provider Jasper for $1.4 billion last week. Privately held Jasper’s CEO, Jahangir Mohammed, will run Cisco’s new IoT software business unit. Sony ( SNE ) in late January agreed to buy Israel-based Altair for about $212 million. Altair makes low-power, high-performance modem chips and related LTE technology, a 4G smartphone standard. In many cases, IoT involves analysis of data streams sent from sensor-equipped devices. AT&T ( T ) in January said it would partner with Cisco, Ericsson, General Electric ( GE ), IBM ( IBM ), Intel ( INTC ) and Qualcomm ( QCOM ) to expand its “smart cities” initiative for Web-connected devices. Verizon Communications ( VZ ), meanwhile, has developed software tools for IoT applications. The Strategy Analytics report says that security will be a big issue for companies deploying IoT systems. The report forecasts strong growth in IoT-related analytics software.

GoPro Wipes Out After Giving Horrible Q1 Guidance; Q4 Misses

Action camera maker GoPro ( GPRO ) late Wednesday crashed like a downhill skier making a bad turn after missing earnings views for the fourth quarter and guiding to a shockingly weak first quarter. GoPro stock was down 13% to near 9 in after-hours trading following its earnings news release. GoPro stock rose 4.6% to 10.71 in the regular session on the stock market today . GoPro went public in June 2014 at 24 and climbed as high as 98.47 in October of that year. GoPro lost 8 cents a share in Q4 on a non-GAAP basis, where analysts were expecting it to break even. Under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), GoPro lost 25 cents a share, when Wall Street was looking for it to lose only 10 cents a share. On Jan. 13 , GoPro pre-announced lousy holiday sales for its Hero action cameras and accessories. At the time, GoPro said that it expected to report Q4 sales of $435 million, down 31% from the year-earlier quarter. Analysts had been projecting $512 million. GoPro’s actual sales in Q4 were $436.6 million. But analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected GoPro to post sales of $496.1 million, down 22%. For the March quarter, GoPro said that it expects sales of $160 million to $180 million, or $170 million at the midpoint. Analysts had been modeling $298 million. GoPro didn’t give an earnings-per-share outlook, but analysts had been expecting it to lose five cents a share. GoPro expects 2016 sales of $1.35 billion to $1.5 billion, or $1.425 billion at the midpoint. Analysts were modeling $1.61 billion, down 0.7%. When GoPro made its Q4 warning last month, it announced plans to cut 7% of its workforce, or about 100 employees. Late Wednesday, GoPro also announced that Brian McGee, a 30-year finance veteran who has served as chief financial officer of two publicly traded companies and who joined GoPro last year from Qualcomm ( QCOM ), will succeed CFO Jack Lazar, effective March 11. Lazar is retiring after two years at GoPro. The next catalysts for GoPro stock are the launch of its Karma drone and the release of a next-generation action camera, the Hero 5. The steep decline in GoPro’s share price had prompted speculation on Wall Street that the company might become an acquisition target. Ambarella ( AMBA ), which makes image processors for GoPro cameras, saw its shares down 2.5% in after-hours trading Wednesday.

Alibaba Invests Big In Magic Leap, A Move Beyond Virtual Reality

The current art of virtual reality looks like a kid’s toy compared to technology by Magic Leap, which has just received nearly $800 million in a funding round led by Alibaba ( BABA ). The Florida-based company has not revealed the technology used to create its stunning video images, such as a whale leaping out of nowhere and splash landing on a high-school auditorium floor. “Absolutely not VR,” said a Magic Leap spokesman in an email exchange with IBD. “We are developing Mixed Reality.” In an interview with the Financial Times , Magic Leap co-founder and CEO Rony Abovitz, described the technology as a new kind of “hyper-personal computing” that seamlessly mixes rich digital graphics with the physical world. In the newest funding round, totaling $793.5 million, investors besides Alibaba include the venture capital arm of Qualcomm ( QCOM ) and Alphabet ( GOOGL ), through its Google unit, as well as Warner Bros. and Fidelity Management, among others. “We invest in forward-thinking innovative companies like Magic Leap that are developing leading products and technologies,” Joe Tsai, executive vice chairman at Alibaba, said in a statement announcing the funding round. “We believe Alibaba can both provide support and learn from such a partner.” Google, before it became a unit of Alphabet, was a prior investor in Magic Leap. It led a $542 million funding round in Magic Leap in October 2014. Qualcomm was also an investor. The latest investment by Alibaba, Google and others comes as Facebook ( FB ) is betting big on its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Facebook priced the headset at $600 and is expected to begin shipping next month. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2014, Abovitz said he sees Magic Leap as a new interface that could replace the PC monitors and smartphone screens that define the modern era of computing. The article said the first product in development by Magic Leaps “is a mobile and wearable device for the eyes, with the hardware and software designed by Magic Leap.” At its core, said the article, Magic Leap’s technology can project images onto the eyes, making it possible to see virtual 3-D objects as if they were part of the real world. Abovitz told the WSJ that it tricks the mind into believing that virtual objects are actually part of the physical space. In announcing the new funding round, Abovitz said “we are creating a new world where digital and physical realities seamlessly blend together to enable amazing new experience.”