• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

"Microsoft Has Acquisition Deal With Nvidia" - a sensationalist headline or....?

subversus

I've done nothing with my life except eat and fap
I think it goes to the gaming site but if not move it to OT, please. Lock if old.

I'm trying to understand what they meant in this article but my poor knowledge of the stockmarket doesnt' help.

Microsoft and Nvidia have an agreement in place that spells out terms relating to a possible acquisition of the graphics and mobile processor manufacturer, regulatory documents indicate.
The deal gives Microsoft the exclusive right to match any offer for 30% or more of Nvidia's outstanding shares by a third-party, according to an SEC filing reviewed by InformationWeek
.

At Cloud Connect 2011 in Silicon Valley, TechWeb's David Berlind gets a demonstration of CA's recently acquired 3Tera AppLogic graphical private cloud deployment tool.
"Under the agreement, if an individual or corporation makes an offer to purchase shares equal to or greater than 30% of the outstanding shares of our common stock, Microsoft may have first and last rights of refusal to purchase the stock," Nvidia said in the filing, dated May 27.

The pact puts Redmond in a position to effectively veto attempts by any of its rivals to snap up Nvidia, which makes key components for the red-hot tablet market, which includes forthcoming Windows 8 slates.

The full article is here - http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/229900137

As far as I understand if somebody decides to buy Nvidia, Microsoft can veto this offer and buy Nvidia instead? Am I right? Sounds a bit ridiculous.
 

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
[Nintex] said:
First Elop at Nokia and now Nvidia, if you can't beat them, buy them?
Not that MS was trying to beat any of these companies.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Does this mean MS goes back to Nvidia graphic chips on the 720?

360 breaking BC like X-box BC broken on 360, confirmed?

But also confirmed is that X-box BC comes back 100% and they re-update XBL for Phantom Dust. *eyes sparkle and dreams*
 

TheOddOne

Member
Thats kind of crazy.

TheSeks said:
Does this mean MS goes back to Nvidia graphic chips on the 720?

360 breaking BC like X-box BC broken on 360, confirmed?

But also confirmed is that X-box BC comes back 100% and they re-update XBL for Phantom Dust. *eyes sparkle and dreams*
You jumped the gun a tad to fast :p
 
DSN2K said:
Starting to think MS are bit bored, and are simply buying again because they can.
Not being under the judicial gun anymore gives them room to start using that warchest of theirs. I have no idea what to make of this rumor/news since it doesn't seem to make any sense to me why they'd want to buy into someone they could just work with.
 

[Nintex]

Member
DSN2K said:
Starting to think MS are bit bored, and are simply buying again because they can.
Remember that Nvidia Tegra and Android are quite competitive against Apple's devices. If MS cuts Nvidia's support for Android short their Windows Phones/Tablets would be leading the pack from day 1. They want to take the phone/tablet market by storm and honestly this is the best possible strategy you could come up with unless it fails and they hand the market to Apple.
 

fernoca

Member
TheSeks said:
Does this mean MS goes back to Nvidia graphic chips on the 720?

360 breaking BC like X-box BC broken on 360, confirmed?

But also confirmed is that X-box BC comes back 100% and they re-update XBL for Phantom Dust. *eyes sparkle and dreams*
Yep, that exactly. They'll even include Phantom Dust on each unit.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
MS: If you can't kill PC gaming, buy the biggest component maker.

If true, I have to wonder if it's about the mobile space. It still gives me shivers though. Do not like the prospect here.
 
Is it only me that the thought of having the makers of Windows, which accounts for majority of the world's OS, own one of only two major GPU makers NOT a good idea?
 

dionysus

Yaldog
MightyHedgehog said:
Not being under the judicial gun anymore gives them room to start using that warchest of theirs. I have no idea what to make of this rumor/news since it doesn't seem to make any sense to me why they'd want to buy into someone they could just work with.

Doesn't sound like they want to buy Nvidia, but it does sound like that if one of their big competitors wanted to buy Nvidia, they would try to step in. Like if Apple wanted to go even bigger in the chip game.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
[Nintex] said:
Remember that Nvidia Tegra and Android are quite competitive against Apple's devices. If MS cuts Nvidia's support for Android short their Windows Phones/Tablets would be leading the pack from day 1. They want to take the phone/tablet market by storm and honestly this is the best possible strategy you could come up with unless it fails and they hand the market to Apple.

:headspin:
 

notworksafe

Member
[Nintex] said:
First Elop at Nokia and now Nvidia, if you can't beat them, buy them?
Well I don't think they were trying to beat these companies, but I'm of the opinion that MS should be buying plenty of companies. They have an astronomical pile of cash laying around that they should put to use. Nokia, Adobe, RIM, and Twitter would all be good ideas. Keep buying until the FTC comes knocking, MS.
 
dionysus said:
Doesn't sound like they want to buy Nvidia, but it does sound like that if one of their big competitors wanted to buy Nvidia, they would try to step in. Like if Apple wanted to go even bigger in the chip game.
Yeah, I can see that, but I guess I just don't see why they'd feel that was a move worth making. Guess I'm not all that up on their wheeling and dealing in the mobile scene.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
fernoca said:
Yep, that exactly. They'll even include Phantom Dust on each unit.

Oh how I wish. ;____; I'm still sore there isn't a Phantom Dust 2 on the 360. Would make me break down and rebuy the system.
 

Raistlin

Post Count: 9999
[Nintex] said:
Remember that Nvidia Tegra and Android are quite competitive against Apple's devices. If MS cuts Nvidia's support for Android short their Windows Phones/Tablets would be leading the pack from day 1. They want to take the phone/tablet market by storm and honestly this is the best possible strategy you could come up with unless it fails and they hand the market to Apple.
Except Tegra isn't by any means the only player in the market. It isn't evening the leader.
 

Lucis

Member
not happening

and i work at nvidia (actually im at work now, what a great way to spend a rainy saturday)
 

Xyphie

Member
[Nintex] said:
Remember that Nvidia Tegra and Android are quite competitive against Apple's devices. If MS cuts Nvidia's support for Android short their Windows Phones/Tablets would be leading the pack from day 1. They want to take the phone/tablet market by storm and honestly this is the best possible strategy you could come up with unless it fails and they hand the market to Apple.

There are so many SoC vendors in the ARM space it would be kind of a useless move, OEMs would just move to TI, Qualcomm, ST-Ericsson etc, the Tegra family isn't even that good compared to some of the other offerings.
 

Gouty

Bloodborne is shit
Megadragon15 said:
What can this mean for the PS4?

Kinda what I was wondering. I never really thought about the possibility of MS buying Nvidia but if they have the cash, why not? Hell buy ati while they're at it, lol. What would Nintendo and Sony do?
 

DopeyFish

Not bitter, just unsweetened
if microsoft makes a push for nvidia....

microsoft is quickly setting itself up to become a far more powerful and scary company than when they were nearly torn apart by the DOJ

instead of pushing to monopolize one category, they're aggressively expanding their reach.

skype was a bit of an oddball... but nvidia would be incredibly smart... the amount of money they could save on cpu/gpu design for their next console alone would be worth it short term. they'd be able to aggressively capture the console market due to aggressive pricing. windows phones... tablets... potential computers and set top boxes (for their IPTV solution)

it opens up so many avenues for them...
 

JADS

Member
Gouty said:
Kinda what I was wondering. I never really thought about the possibility of MS buying Nvidia but if they have the cash, why not? Hell buy ati while they're at it, lol. What would Nintendo and Sony do?

ATI has already been bought by AMD
 

obonicus

Member
Gouty said:
Kinda what I was wondering. I never really thought about the possibility of MS buying Nvidia but if they have the cash, why not? Hell buy ati while they're at it, lol. What would Nintendo and Sony do?

MS once got into bit of trouble for engaging in what some would call anti-competitive practices.
 

[Nintex]

Member
obonicus said:
MS once got into bit of trouble for engaging in what some would call anti-competitive practices.
Ballmer is somewhat under fire by some of his shareholders so MS is going to make some agressive moves in the future.
 

clav

Member
obonicus said:
MS once got into bit of trouble for engaging in what some would call anti-competitive practices.
Speaking of which, doesn't that anti-monopolistic practice sentence expire this year? 2011?

Seems why Microsoft is buying a lot of things lately.
 

gillty

Banned
Makes sense since Windows8 supports arm, and Nvidia is now designing custom arm chips.

Also tegra is hot in mobile right now, so make sense for a serious windows phone push.
 

Lucis

Member
the day jensen will ever allow such a thing happen is when nvidia is on it's deathbed

obviously acquisition is approved by board/shareholder instead of the ceo, but as a funder ceo, i have to say jensen have incredible power in the company. whatever he says yes will happen. and everything he says no doesn't happen.

it's not like some other company haven't tried to take over nvidia in the past years, with great premium, all of them blocked by jensen.
 
I wonder if they could so something like make sure all of their games for their new platform (720 or whatever) would work with Nvidia cards.

Thus, if you have a PC with one of these new Nvidia cards, you could play any of the console games w/ full Xbox Life functionality via Windows 8.

I'm not sure about the feasibility, but would be interesting to see them try to merge the markets and it would definitely help to fix the abysmal support for GFWL.
 

squatingyeti

non-sanctioned troll
I think people are taking this news way overboard. It seems MS has just positioned themselves to not get screwed if someone else swept in trying to buy Nvidia. MS apparently sees that as a threat to their business, so they have made it so they would have the option of blocking someone else from buying Nvidia. It doesn't seem like this is a move by MS to actually buy them though.
 

Hawk269

Member
From reading that, all it says to me is that MS has the 1st rights to purchase up to 30% of Nvidia if someone else comes in a tries to buy that 30%. So let's say, Sony tries to buy the 30%, MS can say go for it or fuck you we are going to buy it. It is not that they are buying Nvidia outright, but I would assume 30% stock holding would give them pretty much a majority ownership depending on who/how many own the 70%.

Interesting.
 
Top Bottom