Mergers and Acquisitions

BuzzFeed has agreed to acquire HuffPost, as part of a larger deal with Huffpost's owner Verizon Media Group.

"This is a real vote of confidence after years of many shocks in our industry and few success stories," so Mark Schoofs, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, in an email to staff.

Spanish banks CaixaBank and Bankia teams agreed to a merger that would create an entity with total assets of about 665 billion. Reuters reports that sources close to the deal confirmed the main shareholders greenlight the merger, to be signed in the next few days.

The new bank would surpass Santander and BBVA in the Spanish market with a combined market share of around 30%. Both Santander and BBVA would remain bigger globally, but not in Spain.

ByteDance has decided to partner with Oracle on TikTok's U.S. operations instead of selling the U.S. arm. According to Reuters, the partnership is supposed to help navigate "geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington, people familiar with the matter said."

Dialpad, the company behind the video conferencing service UberConference, announced Tuesday the acquisition of video conferencing startup Highfive. The companies did not disclose the purchase price.

UberConference does have built-in video conferencing features, but the service so far is mostly known for its voice features.

Walmart is partnering with Microsoft to potentially buy TikTok's U.S. business from BtyeDance. The news was first reported by CNBC, which was later confirmed by Walmart.

In a statement, Walmart said that TikTok's integration of e-commerce and advertising "is a clear benefit to creators and users in those markets" and that the retailer believes "a potential relationship with TikTok US in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses."

Scribd announced Tuesday the acquisition of presentation-sharing platform SlideShare from LinkedIn for an undisclosed price. According to LinkedIn, Scribd will take over operation of the SlideShare business on September 24.

Trip Adler, co-founder and CEO of Scribd said, "Our acquisition of SlideShare is a major step towards creating the world’s largest digital library."

The ride-hailing company Uber has acquired the food delivery company Postmates for $2.65 billion. In a statement on Uber's website, the company announced the acquisition, stating: "Uber Technologies, Inc. and Postmates Inc. today announced that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Uber will acquire Postmates for approximately $2.65 billion in an all-stock transaction."

"Uber and Postmates have long shared a belief that platforms like ours can power much more than just food delivery—they can be a hugely important part of local commerce and communities, all the more important during crises like COVID-19," the statement continued.

The Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos de São José dos Campos e Região, the workers' union representing employees of Embraer, filed a lawsuit on Friday seeking to dismiss the company’s board after the $4.2 billion failed merger with Boeing.

"Embraer has been treated merely as a market issue. This is a strategic company for the country and can't be at the mercy of shareholders' interests. It is necessary to hold the Administrative Council responsible for the crimes that are being committed against this national patrimony and its workers ", states union director Herbert Claros.

On Tuesday, Google announced that it has acquired North, "a pioneer in human computer interfaces and smart glasses," that was founded in 2021.

"They've built a strong technology foundation, and we're excited to have North join us in our broader efforts to build helpful devices and services," so Google's announcement. "North’s technical expertise will help as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts and ambient computing future."

North has also issued a statement on their website: "We are excited to announce today that North has been acquired by Google. [...] Over the last while, it became clear that aligning with Google would significantly advance our shared vision."

Amazon is expanding its portfolio yet again. The company acquired Zoox, a self-driving car startup located in California with almost 1,000 employees for a rumoured $1 billion deal. Zoox has been working on developing a self-driving electric car that doesn't have a steering wheel so that it can drive in either direction. Zoox CEO Aicha Evans will continue leading the company and said that "this acquisition solidifies Zoox's impact on the autonomous driving industry."

"Zoox is working to imagine, invent, and design a world-class autonomous ride-hailing experience," said Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s CEO, Worldwide Consumer in a statement on Amazon's blog. "Like Amazon, Zoox is passionate about innovation and about its customers, and we're excited to help the talented Zoox team to bring their vision to reality in the years ahead."

European food delivery app Just Eat Takeaway has agreed to buy US rival Grubhub in a $7.3 billion all-stock deal. If the takeover is completed it will create the world's biggest food delivery company outside China.

For Grubhub, the deal offers an escape from the antitrust concerns that plagued its talks with the Uber Eats division of ride-hailing firm Uber.

The new company will have more than 70 million active customers who place close to 600 million orders a year.

According to a report by Axios, Facebook is set to acquire Giphy, an animated GIF online database and search engine founded in 2013, for $400 million. Giphy will supposedly keep its branding and will soon be integrated into Instagram.

According to a report on the Wall Street Journal, Uber approached Grubhub earlier this year with an acquisition offer and the companies are still discussing a deal.

Bloomberg reports a deal could be reached as soon as this month.

Video communications company Zoom announced today is buying Keybase, makers of an end-to-end encrypted messaging and cloud storage system.

Zoom, in a press release, stated: "We are excited to integrate Keybase’s team into the Zoom family to help us build end-to-end encryption that can reach current Zoom scalability. "

The acquisition is the first one in Zoom's history.

Intel Corporation announced it has acquired Moovit for approximately $900 million ($840 million net of Intel Capital equity gain).

Intel claims "The addition of Moovit brings Intel’s Mobileye closer to achieving its plan to become a complete mobility provider, including robotaxi services, which is forecast to be an estimated $160 billion opportunity by 2030".

Techcrunch sources claim Intel is close to acquiring transit app developer Moovit in a deal estimated at around $1 billion.

Moovit — which had previously been backed by Intel Capital in a strategic investment — will become part of Intel’s Israeli automotive hub and help with Intel's overall self-driving strategy.