Tech Mahindra wins bid for Satyam

Tech Mahindra has won the bid for Satyam Computer Services.

Reports say that the tech firm will pay Rs 1,757 crore to buy out 31 per cent Satyam stake.

Details awaited.

The majority stake sale process in Satyam Computer Services opened on Monday, and software firm Tech Mahindra submitted its bid. Engineering major L&T had also put in its bid to acquire control of the Hyderabad-based company.

"We have submitted the bid for Satyam Computer," Tech Mahindra's vice chairman, managing director and CEO Vineet Nayar told PTI.

BK Modi's Spice Corp has not submitted a bid for Satyam.

"We have not submitted bid for Satyam. Our board wanted e-auction and since there is no e-auction, so we decided not to participate in the process," Spice Corp Chairman B K Modi said.

According to sources, Cognizant Technologies has not put in its bid to acquire stake in the firm.

When contacted the company spokesperson declined to comment saying "it (Cognizant) doesn't comment on speculation."

The participation of private equity major Wilbur Ross could not be ascertained.

Satyam Computer is selling a 51 per cent stake (31 per cent through bidding, 20 per cent through open offer) after its founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted to fraud in January.

Conficker, IBM-Sun Redux, Italy Quakes

Security researchers have found that the Conficker worm has been updated to make it harder to fight, and it is also aiming to invade more PCs (3 million to 12 million not being enough, obviously). While security vendors work to fend off the worm, analysts say that Sun is not likely to fend off other suitors now that it has rejected IBM. A major earthquake in central Italy underscored once again how important mobile communications and the Internet are in helping survivors appeal for help and in getting out information.

1. Conficker, Internet's No. 1 threat, gets update: Conficker has been altered to make it stronger and the worm is also trying to invade more systems. Thus far, it has infected at least 3 million PCs worldwide and perhaps as many as 12 million, creating an enormous botnet and a serious security concern.

2. Collapse of IBM-Sun deal could leave Sun without a suitor, analysts say: Sun might have blown its best shot at being acquired when it rebuffed an offer from IBM that it deemed too low, analysts say.

3. After a year of bad blood, Microsoft, Yahoo talking again: Microsoft and Yahoo are once again exploring a possible business deal, according to a Wall Street Journal blog posting. The two companies are supposedly considering a search and advertising partnership. These talks come nearly a year after Microsoft's efforts to buy Yahoo ended in naught.

4. Quake has Italians reaching to YouTube, mobile services and Italian earthquake spotlights early warning systems: After a magnitude 6.3 earthquake rocked central Italy Monday, survivors turned to mobile devices to make emergency contact, and those in the region as well as outside of it turned to Facebook and YouTube for appeals for help and information. Seismologist Giampaolo Giuliani had posted a video warning on YouTube last week, predicting that an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 4.0 was imminent. He took down the video after authorities criticized him for creating panic. The earthquake was centered at L'Aquila, the region's capital, and left thousands homeless and injured, with the death toll at at least 275 by week's end. The quake sparked discussions about the need for early warning systems.

 

EBay buys Korean rival's stake for $413 million

EBay Inc has agreed to buy a controlling stake in South Korean online retailer Gmarket Inc for $413 million, at a 32.5 percent premium, news service eDaily reported on Monday.

The long-discussed deal would help U.S. online auctioneer eBay emerge as a dominant player in South Korea's customer-to-customer online market by taking control of its key competitor.

EBay would buy a 34.2 percent stake in Gmarket from its current top shareholder Interpark and the Korean firm's chairman, at $24 a share, eDaily reported, citing unidentified sources.

Spokesmen at Gmarket and Interpark could not confirm the report.

The reported price compares with Gmarket's latest closing of $18.12 a share. The final contract would be signed on Wednesday, eDaily said.

Nasdaq-listed Gmarket runs customer-to-customer marketplaces and has more than 10 million registered users in South Korea. It competes with eBay's South Korean unit, Internet Auction Co.

EBay has won conditional approval from South Korea's antitrust watchdog on the Gmarket deal. When combined, Gmarket and Internet Auction would have 87 percent of the country's online customer-to-customer market.

Shares of Interpark had risen 4.8 percent as of 0129 GMT, leading the junior Kosdaq market's 2.6 percent rise.

Conficker worm hits University of Utah computers

University of Utah officials say a computer virus has infected more than 700 campus computers, including those at the school's three hospitals.

University health sciences spokesman Chris Nelson said the outbreak of the Conficker worm, which can slow computers and steal personal information, was first detected Thursday. By Friday, the virus had infiltrated computers at the hospitals, medical school, and colleges of nursing, pharmacy and health.

Nelson says patient data and medical records have not been compromised.

"That's secured in a much deeper way because of the implications," he said.

Nelson said the virus is mainly attacking personal computers and could be siphoning login and password data, credit card numbers and banking information.

Directions for purging the virus from personal computers and equipment like thumb drives, digital cameras and smart phones has been distributed to staff and students.

Information technology staff shut of Internet access for up to six hours at some campus locations Friday so they could isolate the virus. They were expected to work through the weekend to eradicate it from the system.

Mindy Tueller of the university's office of information technology said all faculty and students should take steps to make sure they are protected. The virus does not infect Macs.

"It can do a lot of bad things," Tueller said. "Every university member should be concerned about this if they're using Windows-based devices."

Google Docs Can Doodle

Google Docs has a new feature called Insert Drawing that can be used to create and insert four-color drawings into documents, presentations and spreadsheets.

Google's talking about line drawings, freehand scribbles and text labels and is offering a bunch of shapes that that can be resized, rotated and adjusted. It says users can customize the shapes and fiddle with line widths, fill color, arrowheads and font sizes.

The widgetry initially came from the start-up Tonic Systems that Google acquired in 2007 but Google says the feature actually relies on a relatively new capability in browsers - the ability to render vector graphics - and uses the SVG (scalable vector graphics) standard.

It says "only recently has the performance and ubiquity of such technology enabled us to deliver what we hope is a delightful feature."