$1.2bn Opera takeover gets go ahead

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by zfactor, May 25, 2016.

  1. zfactor

    zfactor Registered Member

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    http://www.zdnet.com/article/1-2bn-opera-takeover-gets-go-ahead-from-shareholders/


    The Chinese consortium has secured enough support for its Opera offer to proceed with its $1.2bn takeover of the Norwegian browser maker.




    Opera's Chinese suitors have secured the minimum level of shareholder support they demanded to proceed with their $1.2bn offer for the Norwegian software firm.

    Opera announced today that a preliminary tally of acceptances had passed the threshold set by the Chinese consortium, which is led by Chinese investment Golden Brick Silk Road (Shenzhen) Equity Investment Fund II, along with limited partners, gaming firm, Kunlun, and search and security firm, Qihoo 360, and Yonglian Investment.



    The consortium announced in March that the offer would only stand if it had gained an acceptance rate of at least 90 percent of the total number of shares in Opera.

    Following an extension in April, that offer expired on Tuesday afternoon. Opera said today that based on the preliminary count, the condition had been met but that a final deal was still subject to further conditions.



    "The preliminary result of the offer indicates that the minimum acceptance condition ... has been met. The final result will be published as soon as it is available," Opera said.

    Opera said the consortium had received acceptances for a total 132,91,316 Opera shares, representing approximately 90.6 percent of the outstanding share capital and 90.9 percent of the votes.



    The consortium still needs approval from relevant US and Chinese regulators, which it expects to have in place by June.

    Despite board support for the deal from the outset, the offer had only achieved a 72 percent acceptance rate. Last week it was still well short of the 90 percent acceptance mark, and investors were warned that the offer would be withdrawn if it wasn't reached.


    An independent assessment by Carnegie AS in April estimated the offer of 71 NOK per share represented an approximately 53 percent premium on the closing price on 4 February.

    Opera began scouting for potential buyers last August, which culminated in the February offer by the Chinese consortium.

    The deal is expected to open up Opera to the Chinese market and help members of the consortium expand beyond China.



    Though Opera's share of the desktop browser market is minor compared with Chrome, Mozilla, and Internet Explorer, it does count over 120 million users of its mobile browser products. Moreover, Opera has shown a willingness to experiment with its browsers, recently introducing a built-in ad blocker, a built-in VPN for its desktop browser, as well as a new power-saving mode.
     
  2. Jadda

    Jadda Registered Member

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    90.9%. So close to falling through. What a shame.
     
  3. Trooper

    Trooper Registered Member

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    Glad I don't and won't be using Opera anymore.
     
  4. yeL

    yeL Registered Member

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    I guess this just dictated Opera's end.
     
  5. NWOAbschaum

    NWOAbschaum Registered Member

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    So much "i will not use it, that is operas end" blablabla. This move is just aiming to get opera more into the chinese market. I dont know why all this hate? I dont thing anything much will change on the international markt and the international version for opera. It is still Opera. When its happens, its just chinese firms behind it, and? Thats just business. Still a exellent browser. And the normal volk will just use it and maybe will never known that is have a new owner so they will still use it as normal. nothing will change, realy.
     
  6. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    A lot of people don't trust Chinese software companies. And besides, Vivaldi is way better IMO.
     
  7. NWOAbschaum

    NWOAbschaum Registered Member

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    Alot of ppl dont even know the owner of opera or will ever notice that the owner has changed. and sure, vivaldi is outstanding when it comes to costumizazion. that doesnt make the browser better. its still slower than opera or chrome, still isnt bugfree and need still alot of finetune. just because it have so much more to change in settings doesnt mean its way better. stability, security and speed are a fact too to make a browser good. and in this, vivaldi need still alot of work.
     
  8. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    Yes, but the more tech savvy people do know, and that's why you see so many people on this forum being unhappy with this move. And yes, Vivaldi needs a lot of work, but at the moment it's already better than Opera, at least when it comes to my criteria.
     
  9. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    I'll have fond remembrances of the old Opera. I had dialup & it was painfully slow loading pages in IE. There was no FF. But along came Opera & pages loaded 10x faster than IE.

    Good riddance to the new Opera. They won't but I wish the owners would fold the Opera name & just use the tech.
     
  10. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    1.2 billion...
    I don't think even Amazon is worth that ..

    when does money loose significance ?
    when you print it
     
  11. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    Opera renegotiates its $1.2B sale down to $600M for its browsers, privacy apps, Chinese JV

     
  12. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    Amazon has a market cap of over $350 billion.
     
  13. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    I'm surprised they are even buying something rather than steal it which is their usual method of acquiring tech.
     
  14. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    I was talking of worth, not market valuations.
     
  15. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    Market valuation is worth in the real world.
     
  16. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    That's a contradiction in terms but I'm not wasting my time with you,
    go and try to understand the Gold Standard, fiat money, banking fractional reserve...
    maybe you'll eventually get that market valuation is by definition a hollow concept.
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2016
  17. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I think that applies to a lot of companies though. Particularly in the Pacific Rim, where they see technology freely available on the market as fair game. Patent laws specific to one country don't always apply to another.
     
  18. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    China stole ideas from Nortel for more than a decade and put them out of business. That's where I worked so my viewpoint on them is a bit jaded.

    http://www.afr.com/technology/web/s...telecommunication-giant-nortel-20140526-iux6a

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203363504577187502201577054

    http://business.financialpost.com/fp-tech-desk/nortel-hacked-to-pieces
     
  19. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    I'm crushed.
     
  20. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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  21. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Unfortunately, these things happen. No country is innocent of these kinds of shenanigans, the Chinese were careless enough to leave clues.
     
  22. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    Two corrections:
    first, no country does it on the scale that China does, nor as brazenly
    second, Europe and North America may eventually snoop but they essentially produce innovation
     
  23. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    China does nothing that Europe and the US doesn't. It's just that Europe and the US are in denial about it. China is demonised as the 'new enemy' basically because the rest of the world are in financial debt to them. That and they are the new emerging superpower.

    Every dog has its day. Tomorrow is China's.
     
  24. Joxx

    Joxx Registered Member

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    Let me laugh extensively, until I can't breathe no longer.
    Dave, China is as bankrupt as the rest, there is no solvency anywhere, this is the Great Fiat Orgy .
     
  25. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Laughing won't pay the national debt back to the Chinese banks. ;)
     
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