http://newscenter.springhillgrouphome.com/2012/05/springhill-group-home-facebook-buys-650-aol-patents/
Facebook is set to pay Microsoft USD 550 million for 650 patents recently auctioned by AOL in its effort to boost its IP for the looming litigation against Yahoo.
Under pressure from its stockholders to make changes to prevent further revenue fall, AOL was obliged to sell and license over 800 patents to Microsoft on April 9. It would retain over 300 applications and patents after the auction.
Aside from the 800 patents bought by Microsoft, AOL will also give them license to 300 patents it has retained for a tag of USD 1.056 billion. Thus, Microsoft ultimately acquired 925 AOL patent applications and patents, 650 of which will go to Facebook. The 2 firms has also agreed to license their patent holdings to each other.
It is not yet clear what technologies Facebook has acquired rights to or those that has remained with Microsoft. But considering that the legal battle with Yahoo concerns messaging, social networking, etc, it looks like Facebook would want to have ammunition of its own.
According to a statement from Springhill Group Home, the deal with Facebook has allowed Microsoft to at least recoup more than half of its costs while accomplishing its goals from the auction of AOL. However, it cannot be readily said that Microsoft has really profited from the agreement as patent valuing is a complicated process.
hannah brooklyn on 21 Feb 12http://parkminho-springhillgroup.blogspot.com/ I don't know if this is related to Warren Buffett's March visit to South Korea but General Re, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is planning to bid for South Korean insurer Tong Yang Life Insurance. Tong Yang's majority shareholder private-equity firm Vogo Fund is planning to sell its up to a 60.7-per cent stake in the insurer valued at about 937 billion won ($809 million). In March, Warren Buffett visited South Korea to help open a new plant for Iscar Metalworking, which Berkshire owns 80%. At the same time, he was on the hunt for what he calls "Elephants", or large well run companies that he could potentially acquire at a good price. "We're looking at a number of big businesses in Korea, the U.S., the U.K. We hope to find good companies wherever they may be. Basically, the bigger, the better," he said at the time. About Tong Yang Life Insurance Tong Yang Life Insurance is part of the Tongyang Group which has 31 divisions across various industries such as utilities, manufacturing, and financial services to name a few. On its insurance website, Tongyang states: TONGYANG Life Insurance was founded in 1989 to provide social security and specialized insurance services. Total assets are currently 12.8 trillion won, with premium income of 3.5 trillion won. (source)
