Gawker: valleywag, bain capital

Nasdaq tumble stops LinkedIn stock sale plan

Owen Thomas — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:34:45 EDT

Conventional Valley wisdom: The chaos in the public stock markets won't affect private companies, right? Wrong. In August, LinkedIn had set plans to let employees sell some of their shares to investors. Interest in the company had been keen, given its stated plans to wait to IPO rather than sell out. But the stock-sale plan was conditioned on the Nasdaq index staying above a certain level. It has since fallen through that floor, meaning employees will no longer be able to sell their shares. And we hear Bain Capital, a major LinkedIn investor who's backing the stock-sales plan, has the right to walk away if the Nasdaq doesn't recover by mid-October.

NBC Universal buys Weather Channel

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:20:00 EDT

NBC Universal and two private equity firms, Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group, acquired the Weather Channel and Weather.com from Landmark Communications over the weekend for a rumored $3.5 billion. Yes, we're not shocked either that NBC figured out Weather Plus wasn't taking over the meteorological universe. [PaidContent]

3Com buyout by Huawei falling apart

Jordan Golson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:50:56 EST

Microsoft's Yahoo bid is not the only one in trouble. The $2.2 billion offer for 3Com made by the private-equity firm Bain Capital and Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies is no longer on the table. The company has been unable to work out a compromise with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal panel which has the authority to recommend the White House block or alter terms of deals that involve national security. [AP]

And we thought that Congress was going to...

Jordan Golson — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:28:16 EDT

And we thought that Congress was going to be the main stumbling block for 3Com's buyout by Bain Capital and Huawei. Shareholders are suing 3Com, its directors, a former director, Bain Capital, Huawei Technologies, and the Easter Bunny over the "insufficient" purchase price. Just shut up and take the money. No one else is going to buy your little has-been networking-equipment company. [AP]

3Com has agreed to be acquired by Bain Capital...

Jordan Golson — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:08:07 EDT

3Com has agreed to be acquired by Bain Capital for about $2.2 billion in cash — a 44 percent premium over Thursday's closing price. Included in the deal is a minority stake in 3Com for Chinese network giant Huawei Technologies, which is getting control of H3C, the companies' joint venture. By shutting out Nortel, which also was interested in 3Com, Huawei prevents its Canadian rival from getting a foothold in its rapidly expanding home market. [WSJ]