Palm loses its grip

Posted Apr 10th 2007 11:30AM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Dell (DELL), Motorola (MOT), Private Equity, Nokia Corp. (NOK), Research in Motion (RIMM), Palm Inc (PALM)

Wasn't Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) supposed to be bought out already? Weren't investors supposed to make a quick hit and go to the next buyout candidate?

Well, some investors have already moved on. After reaching a high of $19.45, the stock has slipped to $17.18 per share.

The hope was that Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) would buy Palm. Or was it the Texas Pacific Group? Maybe Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL)? I really can't remember, actually.

In fact, according to a report on Bloomberg.com, the CEO of Palm, Ed Colligan, says he's not thinking of selling out. Instead, he still believes he can slay Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK).

That's a noble mission – but it's not what buyout traders want to hear.

Expect more volatility in the stock. I think we can get some more rumors out of this one.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Tags: Buyout rumors, BuyoutRumors