COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Microsoft in talks to acquire Discord

Microsoft Corp is in talks to buy messaging platform Discord Inc for more than US$10 billion, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Discord has reached out to potential buyers and Microsoft is one of them, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. One person said it was more likely to go public than sell itself.

Earlier in the day, VentureBeat reported that Discord was exploring a sale and it was in final talks with a party. Microsoft declined to comment, while Discord did not immediately respond to Reuters request.

Discord, which is valued at around US$7 billion as of last December, is a platform on which users coordinate group activities such as games, discussions and even virtual parties.

The Xbox maker has been seeking to strengthen its video game offerings with US$7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media last year, its biggest gaming acquisition ever.

The Covid-19 pandemic has boosted the prospects of gaming companies as people stayed at home and turned to video games for entertainment during lockdowns. - Nampa/Reuter

Synnex Corp to merge with Tech Data

IT solutions firm Synnex Corp said on Monday it will merge with peer Tech Data in a deal worth about US$7.2 billion, including debt, creating one of the world's biggest IT distribution companies and sending Synnex's shares up 6.5%.

The merger comes less than a year after Apollo Global Management took Tech Data private in a US$6 billion deal, at a time when both Synnex and Tech Data benefited from the pandemic-driven acceleration in digital transformation as more people worked from home.

Synnex shareholders will own about 55% of the combined company, which expects to generate US$57 billion in estimated annual revenue, while Apollo will own the rest and take four board seats after the deal closes in the second half of 2021.

Apollo will receive 44 million shares of Synnex common stock, and the refinancing of existing Tech Data net debt and redeemable preferred shares of about US$2.7 billion.

Tech Data approached Synnex late last year following Synnex's spinoff of its customer experience division Concentrix Corporation, according to a source familiar with the situation. - Nampa/Reuters

Rio Tinto to form Indigenous advisory group

Miner Rio Tinto Ltd said it will form an Indigenous advisory group to identify gaps in current protocols for managing Indigenous culture in Australia, nearly a year after destruction of a sacred heritage site for a mine.

The company said on Tuesday it would start work with the Indigenous advisory group as soon as it was established to review what the best practice was for management of cultural heritage sites in the mining industry.

The review will help identify gaps in the company's current protocols and provide a clear pathway to re-establish trust over time, it said.

Rio chief executive Jakob Stausholm told an investor call it was committed to better meeting community expectations and would be making additional disclosures on its heritage progress.

"Rio is at the start of a very long process of rebuilding trust," said Chief Executive Debby Blakey of Australian superannuation fund HESTA. - Nampa/Reuters

Samsung gets 5G equipment contract

Samsung Electronics Co said on Monday it has won a contract from Japanese mobile operator NTT Docomo Inc to supply 5G network equipment, as the South Korean company positions itself as a challenger in the telecoms gear business.

The equipment would also include support for open interfaces, dubbed Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN), that aim to reduce reliance on any one vendor by making every part of a telecom network interoperable.

Samsung is trying to challenge the incumbents in the 5G mobile network equipment industry, dominated by China's Huawei, Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia.

With geopolitical pressures hampering Huawei's growth outside China, the European companies were able to gain market share.

Nokia is also a 5G equipment supplier to NTT, which had earlier used equipment developed by NEC and Samsung. - Nampa/Reuters

Deliveroo eyes US$12 bln market cap

Deliveroo said on Monday that its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) in London will value the company at up to 8.8 billion pounds (US$12.19 billion).

The Amazon-backed food delivery company is set to be Britain's biggest share listing in more than seven years and has been held up by the UK government as a sign the City of London can still attract major IPOs following Britain's exit from the European Union.

Deliveroo said it had set a price range for its listing of between 3.90 and 4.60 pounds per share which will give it a market value of between 7.6 billion and 8.8 billion pounds, excluding any shares offered as part of an over-allotment issue.

In a short trading update, Deliveroo added that the total gross transaction value on its platform which measures the total value of orders it receives was up 121% in January and February this year compared to the same period in 2020.

"We have seen a strong start to 2021 and we are only at the start of an exciting journey in a large, fast-growing online food delivery market, with a huge opportunity ahead," Deliveroo's founder and chief executive Will Shu said in a statement. - Nampa/Reuters