Palm shares rise on takeover talk

Palm Inc. shares started on Monday on persistent speculation that the mobile phone manufacturers to explore the possibility of selling itself to the buyer.

Although the company declined to comment, put the population more than 16 per cent to more than $ 6 on the Nasdaq on Monday. Monday 's rise comes after the Palm shares gained more than 30 percent last week on the same speculation

Other reports show a company had the investment bank Goldman Sachs Inc. and takeover specialists hired to advise Qatalyst strategic partner companies.

Alternatives to direct sales, the new investment or to seek to license its operating system WebOS
Palm has a market value of around 900 million dollars, but the company 's has been in almost 70 percent in the last 12 months

The shares were offered by hard underwhelming sales of its latest smartphone, before hit. Although the Palm Pilot is a pioneer in personal digital assistant sales of smartphones Palm after bad next to the BlackBerry and iPhone option from Research in Motion and Apple Inc., and in recent years.

Palm smartphones adds 960,000 during its last quarter. For purposes of comparison, Research in Motion shipped about 10.5 million BlackBerry during its last fiscal quarter, Apple sold 8.7 million iPhone

The two most likely candidates would be based in the Asia-electronics manufacturer HTC Corp. and Lenovo Group Ltd. is currently building phones Taiwanese company HTC Google's Android platform, while the Chinese company Lenovo is primarily a computer manufacturer

Private-equity firm Elevation Partners - by U2 frontman Bono LED controls - more than 30 percent of population in Palm '. Investment Challenge Paper 24 / 7 Wall Street in the name of Bono, the worst investor in America last month, largely by the company 's at stake in Palm.

Palm hired consultants, researched options: source

Palm, whose stock jumped more than 20 percent Monday, working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. investment banker Frank Quattrone and the's Qatalyst Partners.According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process has not been published.

Alternatives include the monitoring of additional investments or trying to reach a licensing agreement for its WebOS mobile phone operating system software, the source said.

Report that Palm had hired Goldman and Qatalyst first was reported in Bloomberg, and after a few days last week, when the company's population of wild violent takeover speculation.For the week the shares rose by 32 percent.

Suitors would probably pay more than $ 1 billion for Palm, due to its market value than 870 million U.S. dollars to close Friday's, and the average trading volume by 30 percent premium for a technology company, said bankers. Buyers with additional costs of integration

However, the price tag is likely to be much lower than what could bring Palm last year after the introduction of the preliminary telephone. In the past six months decreased minus business company's stock, which fell by 69 percent and the market capitalization of about $ 2.4 billion.

Currently, control Elevation Partners, a private equity firm that U2 singer Bono among its partners are about 30 percent of Palm

A spokesman for the Palm in Europe, Goldman Sachs and the amount of each declined comment. A spokesman for the Palm in the U.S. and not immediately return requests Qatalyst comment

For years, the company was to enter as a target for larger companies in the hope or expand in the mobile market. Analysts say the most valuable asset is the operating system WebOS, which brought rave reviews, but lackluster sales.

Palm smartphones shipped a total of 960,000 in the quarter in February, but only 408,000 of them were sold to the consumer

Speculation about the sale of palm has increased, as sales of powered pre-and Palm Pixi phones flag under fears that it could not compete with Research In Motion's BlackBerry'Apple' s iPhone and mobile phones with software from Microsoft and Google

to take Palm limited scope, distribution and the weak global brand outside the United States point S, as the next chapter in the history of Palm,"said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blab.

The company has developed a very valuable asset in the WebOS. The challenge for Palm is a buyer willing to a premium for immature platform, where many potential candidates have already invested heavily in Android,can be paid has Blab.

CL King analyst Lawrence Harris & Associates found that Verizon's recent disappointing debut Palm's mobile phone, which was then just selling Sprint, and the iPhone and Microsoft's mobile phone can improve, spurred to act Palm.

Because where we're at it with a"a good day, like, not only because I't see immediate sales, he said.

HTC Corp, the world's No. 5 smartphone manufacturer had "a lively debate about the intention," get Palm, Taiwan' s Economic Daily News on Friday. Earlier this week, rumors about a possible takeover bid by Lenovo Group and Microsoft Corp and mobile phone manufacturers Nokia and Motorola Inc. were put into circulation in the past, all named as potential candidates.