"The Wall Street Journal" reported that Samsung is eyeing Everything.me and Rounds.
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (KSX: 5930; LSE: SMSN), which acquired Boxee for a sum believed to be about $30 million in July, is interested in acquiring more Israeli companies. "The Wall Street Journal" cites a Samsung document which mentions mobile search engine developer Everything.me as a possible target and video-chat app Rounds. The newspaper says that an acquisition of Rounds would help Samsung compete with Apple's FaceTime and Google's Hangouts.
"The Wall Street Journal" says that Samsung is stepping up its hunt for acquisitions and building out its presence in Silicon Valley to try and overcome its key weakness - software - and is aiming to become a software power in its own right.
"The Wall Street Journal" says, "Earlier this year, Samsung was among the bidders for Israeli mobile-mapping service Waze Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. Google eventually bought Waze for about $1.1 billion in July, a deal that is under review by the Federal Trade Commission. According to one person, Samsung had approached Waze in hopes of making a large investment and forming a partnership, before acquisition talks kicked off."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 10, 2013
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