Ties Between 3Com and Bain Prove Beneficial

University ties may have been significant on Friday as 3Com Corp agreed to sell itself to Bain Capital Partners LLC and Huawei Technologies Co for $2.2 billion (see article from MarketWatch.com). We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to determine if any relations existed that could have played a role in this deal and discovered that the corporate network equipment maker and the private equity firm have ties through Stanford University and Stream Holdings Inc.

Strong Ties Help Motorola and Emerson Seal Deal

Was Emerson Electric Co the early favorite when Motorola Inc offered to sell its Embedded Communications Computing business? According to the information from this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map the answer seems to be a resounding “yes”. Emerson agreed to buy the business for $350 million on Friday (see article from MarketWatch.com). We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to determine if the two companies had any ties and were surprised by just how strong the ties were.

Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ties May Prove Useful in Emergency Restructuring Plan

Patricia Russo, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, is feeling the heat as the company’s board has given her one month to formulate an emergency restructuring plan. Rumors are circulating that the fate of her job depends on her ability to make this happen (see article from Barron’s). We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of her past and current connections, and it looks like she may be able to take advantage of some of these ties in coming up with her plan of action.

Ties Between DreamWorks and Universal Could Preclude Future Deal

Rumors continue to fly that Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks are unhappy at Paramount Pictures and plan to leave the motion picture company once their three-year contract is up ( see story from NPR). This is possible because DreamWorks Animation is a separate independent entity from DreamWorks Studio and owns the rights to the DreamWorks name. Universal Studios has consistently been mentioned as a future destination of DreamWorks and a personal favorite of Spielberg. Universal was also considering buying DreamWorks in 2005 when Paramount stepped in with a higher offer. Any Hollywood studio would jump at the chance to land DreamWorks and Spielberg, the top Director in Hollywood today. We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to determine if any connections exist that could make Universal an early favorite to lure DreamWorks.

Buffett’s Connections to Bear Stearns Runs Through Kravis

Shares of Bear Stearns jumped on Wednesday amid speculation that the firm is in talks to sell a minority stake to billionaire investor Warren Buffett (see article from The Wall Street Journal). Other firms that have expressed interest include Bank of America, Wachovia, JPMorgan, and China Construction Bank. IntellectSpace created a Knowledge Map to see if Warren Buffett has any ties to Bear Stearns that could play a role in this possible deal.

Del Monte May Eye Spectrum Brands Business with Significant Connection

Could Del Monte Foods be willing to shell out $1 billion for Spectrum Brands’ pet supply business? Potential buyers have until the end of September to propose their bids, and Del Monte is rumored to be one of the interested parties (see article from DealBook). An IntellectSpace Knowledge Map reveals that John A Heil, Spectrum’s President of Global Pet Supplies, has a strong link to a Del Monte Director. This key tie could definitely factor into takeover.

Former Senator’s Ties With Moody’s Valuable in Appearance Before Congress

As the subprime mortgage crisis continues to plague the US, Moody’s Corp and Standard & Poor’s are scheduled to speak at hearings today and tomorrow in front of the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capitol Hill regarding their downgrades of mortgage-bond ratings over the summer. Congress is expected to ask the credit-rating firms why they did not act sooner to rectify problems in the credit market (see article from The Wall Street Journal). To determine what answers or recommendations Moody’s and S&P might present to Congress, we created IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps of the ties Moody’s and S&P share with Congress. After reviewing the Knowledge Maps were surprised to find that Moody’s has very strong ties to Congress.

Ties Help Delta, United Land New China Routes

The Department of Transportation today announced the approval of two new US – China routes by Delta Air Lines Inc and UAL Corp’s United Airlines. Delta won approval to offer nonstop flights from Atlanta to Shanghai while United won the right to offer direct flights between San Francisco and Guangzhou (see article from The Wall Street Journal). Since US – China routes produce high revenue due to the booming Chinese economy, we created two IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps to determine if either Delta or United had significant connections with the Department of Transportation and found that both had ties.

Smiths Group May Find Advantage in New CEO Connections

In the hopes of combating rumors of a break-up, Smiths Group announced that it has appointed Philip Bowman as its new CEO. Bowman is well-known for his involvement in company selling and takeovers, though Smiths denies that such actions will occur (see article from Reuters). An IntellectSpace Knowledge Map reveals not only how Bowman may have landed this latest gig, but it also illustrates some of his corporate connections that Smiths may use to its advantage in future operations.

Multiple Ties Precede Amazon Vivendi Deal

Amazon.com launched its long-awaited digital music store today at prices cheaper that Apple Inc’s iTunes, with songs costing $.89 to $.99 each. Major music labels such as Universal Music Group (a unit of Vivendi SA) and EMI Music, as well as thousands of independent labels, have signed on to sell their tracks on Amazon ( see article from The Wall Street Journal). To determine if any connections played a role in why some major music labels signed with Amazon, we created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map between Amazon.com and Vivendi Universal SA and found strong ties between them.

As clearly seen in the Knowledge Map, the strongest ties are between Jonathan Miller and Barry Diller. Miller, a former Chairman/CEO of AOL, is a large investor in Amazon. Diller is the former Chairman/CEO of Vivendi Universal Entertainment, and both share connections through four different companies:
· Miller was the President/CEO of USA Information Services, the predecessor of IAC; Diller has been Chairman/CEO of IAC since 1995
· Miller and Diller also shared directorships at Ticketmaster and Expedia, where Diller has been Chairman since 2006
· Miller held a number of Executive positions with Paramount Pictures early in his career, where Diller was the former Chairman/CEO.

Another noteworthy connection can be made through Electronic Arts Inc. William Gordon (Director at Amazon) is a Co-Founder of EA and currently serves as Executive Vice-President and Chief Creative Officer, and Warren Jenson (former Senior Vice-President and CFO at Amazon) is currently Executive Vice-President and CFO at EA. Both men work with Hubert Larenaudie, who formerly served as President of Asia-Pacific for Vivendi Universal Games and currently serves as President of Online-Asia for EA.

It is quite possible that these ties played a role in facilitating this important deal for Amazon and Vivendi Universal.

Click here for an interactive version of this IntellectSpace Knowledge Map (Internet Explorer browsers only): http://nv.intellectspace.com/ispace/GuestMonitor.aspx?id=8b0846fe-f6f9-4e01-810e-2c305b9d959d

Union and Executive Ties Could Have Impact on UAW Strike

The latest auto strike by the United Auto Workers union came as a surprise on Monday, as General Motors was eager to avoid a strike in its current negotiations with the UAW. A strike lasting longer than a week or two could cost GM billions of dollars and cripple the auto giant for years to come ( see article from Yahoo! Finance). We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to determine if any common connections exist between GM and the UAW that could help bring the strike to an end.

Former General Could Be Key to NRG’s Nuclear Deal

NRG Energy Inc will file papers on Tuesday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate two new nuclear reactors in Texas ( see article from The Wall Street Journal).  This is the first such application filed in thirty years, and given the fact that oil is expected to stay over $80 per barrel, this could signal the start of a nuclear energy revival in the US. To determine how common connections may play a role in this deal, we created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to see if there are any connections between NRG and the federal government.

Microsoft Ties to Time Warner and AT&T Could Prove Beneficial In Google Opposition

Software giant Microsoft Corp has recently been carrying out a quiet campaign through its Executives and a public-relations firm to convince Internet companies, advertisers, and regulators to oppose Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising company DoubleClick Inc ( see article from The Wall Street Journal). Microsoft fears the deal would strengthen Google’s online advertising and in recent months has been urging advertising firms, Time Warner, and AT&T to not support the deal. We created three IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps between Google and DoubleClick, Microsoft and Time Warner, and Microsoft and AT&T to determine if any strong connections could play a role in these “behind scene” deals and discovered that Microsoft has strong connections to both Time Warner and AT&T that it can leverage.

Buffett, Gates Top Forbes List of Wealthiest Americans

Forbes magazine released its list of wealthiest Americans today, with Bill Gates ranked #1 for the fourteenth straight year with a wealth of $59 billion and Warren Buffett in second place with $52 billion. Mr. Buffett, however, has been on the list every year since its inception twenty five years ago ( see article from USA Today ). The overwhelming majority of Mr. Gates’ wealth is from Microsoft, the company he founded and served as Chairman and CEO. On the contrary, Mr. Buffett’s source of wealth is much more diverse. We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of Warren Buffett's corporate connections to determine what companies he has been involved with both in the past and present.

Bausch & Lomb CEO Directly Tied to Warburg Pincus Co-President

Shareholders of Bausch & Lomb Inc today approved a $3.7 billion buyout by private-equity firm Warbug Pincus LLC (see article from The Wall Street Journal). This comes after Advanced Medical withdrew a $4.3 billion offer in August after Bausch’s board rejected the higher offer. We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to determine if any connections played a role behind Bausch’s acceptance of the lesser offer from Warburg.

Arrow and Teleflex Connection a Possible Factor in Merger

On Thursday shareholders for Arrow International Inc overwhelmingly approved the company’s anticipated merger with Teleflex Incorporated (see article from Yahoo! Finance).   We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the ties between these two companies and discovered one particular connection that may have been instrumental in finalizing this deal.

Bear Stearns Board Shows Promise of New Growth Opportunities

Bear Stearns posted its unsuccessful earnings today, blaming the significant losses on the suffering mortgage loan markets (see article from DealBook). Yesterday we published an article that illustrated how Goldman Sachs may have been able to take advantage of its diversified interests to rise above the sub-prime mortgage mess (see September 19 NewsVisual Article). We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the board ties of Bear Stearns to get a better understanding of how it too can take advantage of its own connections and market new strategies to recover from its losses.

AOL Deal with ABC Marked By Strong Ties Between Disney and Time Warner

In its latest effort to revive AOL, Time Warner Inc has finalized a deal with Walt Disney Co’s ABC that will allow viewers to watch full-length prime-time shows from the network for free on AOL (see article from The Wall Street Journal). ABC shows will be available beginning from today, along with CBS shows, which are already available on AOL. To determine if any company connections played a role in this deal, IntellectSpace created a Knowledge Map of Walt Disney and Time Warner that exposes some strong connections between the companies.

Are Connections Enough to Entice Sallie Mae Buyers?

The proposed $25 billion sale of Sallie Mae is reportedly on the rocks as the consortium leading the buyout plans to negotiate a lower price (see article from DealBook ). To see if Sallie Mae had any common connections to take advantage of during the deal-making process, we mapped the ties between its parent company, SLM, and JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, two of the buyers included in the consortium.

AOL and HP in Deal to Realign Advertising

AOL expanded a deal with Hewlett-Packard Co in a move to take AOL’s properties and services to over thirty countries in two years (see article from Reuters). We created two IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps to determine if Time Warner had any special connections to HP over rival Internet portal Yahoo! and found that both Time Warner and Yahoo have strong connections to HP.

Ties to Congress Could Help Carlyle’s New Lobbyist

The Carlyle Group announced today that it hired David Marchick as its first in-house lobbyist (see article from DealBook). As the Carlyle Group and other buyout firms face the possibilities of tax increases and greater scrutiny on the basis of national security, it is expected that other large private equity firms will follow suit. The results of an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the connections between The Carlyle Group and the United States Congress suggest that Carlyle’s ties to Congress and other seats of government could be beneficial to their newly hired lobbyist.

Board Connections Give Goldman Sachs the Advantage in New Buyout Strategy

Goldman Sachs is setting big goals for small deals as it has raised $20 billion for its latest buyout fund (see article from Reuters). In order to examine how common connections may give Goldman Sachs the upper hand in its business dealings, we quickly created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of the board connections of the private equity giant.

Lehman Brothers Board Creates Valuable Industry Network

With Lehman Brothers posting less than expected profit losses from the third-quarter, the potentially bad news turned into a positive note today as Lehman Brothers stock rose over 4%(see article from DealBook). We created a two-degree IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of Lehman Brothers’ Board of Directors to get a better idea of how its corporate network has a reach into multiple industries.

Close Ties Precede Paetec Acquisition of McLeodUSA

Paetec Holding announced that it would purchase McLeodUSA for $492 million to compete with Verizon and AT&T in the business market for phone and data service (see article from DealBook). We created an IntellectSpace Knowledge Map to determine if any close relationships played a role in this acquisition.

Merger Rumors Between Yahoo and AOL Strengthened by Common Connections

The buzz about the possibility of Time Warner selling AOL has once again picked up steam, and Yahoo is rumored to remain at the top of the list of potential buyers (see article from DealBook). When the merger talk first started to circulate in July, we mapped the connections between Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons and Yahoo Chairman and former CEO Terry Semel, and found that Semel had previously been Chairman and Co-CEO of Time Warner’s Warner Bros. division (see NewsVisual article ).

Common Connections Valuable as Idearc Strikes a Deal with InfoSpace

Newly independent from Verizon Communications, Idearc Inc has entered into a $225 million deal with InfoSpace Inc to purchase its online directory business (see article from Corporate Dealmaker Forum). An IntellectSpace Knowledge Map reveals some noteworthy connections that could have had an impact in this sale.

Finish Line, UBS Connections Could Play a Role in Genesco Deal

Finish Line’s planned acquisition of shoe and hat retailer Genesco was reexamined after UBS, the bank providing the funds for the purchase, said it was taking another look into the financial health of Genesco (see article from DealBook). To determine if any connections could play a role in this deal, we created IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps of Finish Line’s connections to both UBS and Genesco and found that the shoe retailer has connections to both entities.

Madison Dearborn Chairman Eyes Tribune’s Chicago Cubs; Connection Could Lead to Sale

The Tribune Company has put the Chicago Cubs up for sale and John Canning Jr., the Chairman of Madison Dearborn Partners, is said to be interested in making an offer (see article from DealBook).

Ties Could Allow Campbell Room To Maneuver in Godiva Sale

Campbell Soup Company announced that they are seeking up to $1.5 billion for their Godiva Chocolate division. Possible bidders include Hershey, Mars Inc, and Cadbury Schweppes (see article from DealBook ).
We created IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps to determine if Campbell’s connections to these companies could play a role in a future deal.
From the Knowledge Maps we found that Campbell’s strongest connections are to Hershey and Cadbury Schweppes.

Amid Takeover Speculation, Build-A-Bear May Find a Buyer in Gymboree

Build-A-Bear’s stock took a leap yesterday amid speculation that the company could soon be up for sale, potentially by Mattel or Gymboree (See article from The Wall Street Journal). We mapped Build-A-Bear’s connections to the WSJ’s top picks for buyers with IntellectSpace Knowledge Maps and it looks like Gymboree might have the best shot at securing a deal.

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs to Acquire Bank of America Unit with Solid Connections

Hilb Rogal & Hobbs Company (HRH) has announced its intent to purchase Banc of America Corporate Insurance Agency from Bank of America (see article from Yahoo! Finance ).

Unilever and Viacom’s MTV Team Up with ‘Branded Entertainment’

Advertising techniques are getting a bit sneaky as Unilever uses “branded entertainment” within the MTV show ‘The Gamekillers’ to promote its Axe antiperspirant. The method implements subtle product promotions in such a way that the viewer doesn’t recognize that what they are watching is essentially an ad (see article from The Wall Street Journal). An IntellectSpace Knowledge Map of Unilever’s ties to Viacom (parent of MTV) shows some of the connections that may have been useful in creating this potentially lucrative partnership.

Ties Could Improve Citigroup’s Bid for Aeromexico