Samsung receives $1.5 billion for Seagate stock sale

Summary: The South Korean giant is set to receive $1.5 billion after selling part of its stake back to storage developer Seagate.

Samsung will receive a windfall of $1.5 billion after accepting stock from Seagate Technology as partial payment for its hard-disk drive business two years ago.

The electronics giant sold the unit to Seagate in April 2011 for $1.375 billion, $687.5 million in cash and $687.5 million in stock. Under the terms of the agreement, Samsung owned nearly 10 per cent of Seagate and the two companies cross-licensed a number of patents. The deal closed in December 2011.

The sale also prompted the two companies to begin co-developing enterprise storage products.

While Samsung's unit was a loss maker at the time, Seagate's shares have since more than doubled, which has resulted in a substantial financial reward for Samsung, which has now agreed to sell part of its stake back to the Dublin-based firm.

According to a press release, Samsung will sell back 32.7 million shares, representing roughly nine percent of Seagate's total shares. The South Korean firm will still own approximately 12.5 million shares, which is worth just over $560 million.

Steve Luczo, Seagate Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer commented:

"Returning value to shareholders is also a top priority for Seagate and investing in our own company is one of our greatest opportunities today. Given the strength of our balance sheet and expected cash flow from operations, we remain committed to our share redemption and dividend plan.

With this transaction, we are on track to meet our stated goal of returning approximately 70 percent of operating cash flow to shareholders this fiscal year while at the same time we continue to make strategic investments in our business to extend our leadership in cloud, mobile and open source storage technology."

London-based medical anthropologist Charlie Osborne is a journalist, graphic designer and former teacher.

SAP Ventures launching new funding pool after raising more than $1 billion

 

SAP Ventures, the venture capital arm of the German software giant, has a stacked agenda -- and a pile of cash to match.

For starters, the investment firm is planning to expand its international presence and focus on big data and analytics startups with the establishment of a dedicated 10-person business development team.

Scattered across the United States, Europe, and Asia, SAP Ventures highlighted that this essentially doubles the firm's existing staff size, bringing the ratio of investors to service-oriented staff to 1:1.

The new team will be tasked with collaborating on growth and success strategies with go-to-market partners and industry experts.

That effort will be conducted in tangent with the organization's new direct investment fund: SAP Ventures Fund II.

SAP Ventures declared that it has raised more than $650 million for this particular fund.

When combined with the independent agency's original SAP HANA Real Time Fund, worth approximately $405 million, SAP Ventures boasted that it has raised more than $1 billion within the last year.

Some of the Fund I portfolio companies include LinkedIn, Exact Target, and Box.

Even though it isn't over, 2013 has been quite a year for SAP Ventures in general with 11 of its companies declaring initial public offerings, including Marin Software.

Although shares have been up and down since going public in March, Marin Software did make a smashing debut as jumped by 37 percent from $14 to $19.11 per share on the first day of trading.

Evernote CEO outlines strategy to eventually net one billion users

SAN FRANCISCO---Evernote and its ever-expanding portfolio of productivity apps has grown impressively for a startup over the last five years.

But based on CEO Phil Libin's keynote address at company's third annual developer conference on Thursday morning, Evernote isn't even close to reaching some of its goals yet -- not even close.

According to Libin, Evernote's user base totals 75 million and counting now with at least one million in 16 different countries.

That's fine and dandy, based on Libin's sentiments, but he admitted that the real target is to reach Facebook-like levels and eventually net at least one billion users.

"There's still always room for improvement, even after five years," Libin remarked in reference to updates to the desktop versions of Evernote on Mac and Windows.

Part of Evernote's strategy in gaining ground worldwide is simply stepping over the digital fence and placing physical roots around the globe.

The Redwood City, Calif-based business itself stands at 330 employees scattered across eight offices worldwide. There are also more than 30,000 developers using the Evernote API.

"This new world of connected devices completely changes the focus of how products are going to be created," Libin asserted. "It no longer makes sense creating an app for a device like for your phone."

"We have great people in many of the top centers of innovation worldwide," Libin said, who explained that the strategy is that "we want a little bit of Evernote made everywhere."

The Evernote Trunk, which used to be the showcase for third-party apps, is being retooled as the Evernote App Center.

"The name 'Evernote Trunk,' was way too clever," Libin joked. "Soul-crushingly clever."

Re-launching today, Libin admitted there are actually fewer items and tools for developers, hinting at a "less is more" mantra with a focus on improving specific resources rather than just offering "more."

Much like Nest's newly-announced developer program, Evernote has been on track with ensuring that it is as ubiquitous as possible, working to make itself available everywhere between home and work. This ranges from rounding out the portfolio with varying types of productivity apps (i.e. sketching app Skitch) to unveiling a digital marketplace stocked with high-end physical lifestyle goods.

"That's right, we're a fashion brand now," Libin joked. "No one saw that coming."

Android, in particular, is a big focus for Evernote being that Libin cited Google's mobile operating system as Evernote's launchpad for its interest in wearable technology.

"This new world of connected devices completely changes the focus of how products are going to be created," Libin asserted. "It no longer makes sense creating an app for a device like for your phone."

"The name 'Evernote Trunk,' was way too clever," Libin joked. "Soul-crushingly clever."

Describing it as "probably the biggest revolution that the technology world has seen in decades," Libin explained that the growing interest in wearables reflects that the design focus is shifting from a device-centric model to user-centric.

Libin said simply that for Evernote, that means "we have to make the app for you," not individual phones, tablets, refrigerators, or cars.

Evernote leadership seems to have also realized that its apps can't just try to knock out and replace certain tools -- namely paper.

"Paperless is not the goal. Great experience is the goal," Libin emphasized. "We want to eliminate the stupid uses of paper."

Also introduced on Thursday morning and following the path of its partnership with Moleskine, Evernote has teamed up with 3M for digitally archiving Post-It Notes and making them searchable on Evernote's cloud service.

Libin asked, "What better way to reach exactly the right people -- mainstream people?"

Image via The Evernote Blog

Microsoft: Office 365 at $1.5 billion annual run rate

Summary: Office 365 deployed seats are expanding and leading Microsoft's transition from a business model based on licensing to subscriptions.

Microsoft on Thursday made the case that it could navigate the transition from software licensing to cloud-based services and its primary example was Office 365.

The Evolution of Enterprise Software: An overview

Enterprise software is evolving under selection pressure from challenging economic conditions and the adaptive possibilities afforded by cloud computing, mobility, big data analytics and social engagement.

Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft, said that Office 365 is at a $1.5 billion annual run rate. In April, Microsoft said Office 365 was poised to hit a $1 billion annual run rate.

Turner said:

This past year we grew Office 365 deployed seats over 350 percent in FY13 alone. It's still accelerating. We're only at the tip of the iceberg of this particular opportunity.

Office 365 is being closely watched by Wall Street. Some analysts have argued that Microsoft should ramp Office 365 as well as unleash Office completely on platforms such as Android and Apple's iOS. The argument for this Office unleashed case is that Microsoft can offset declining Windows revenue in the future. For now, Office is positioned to mostly protect Windows, according to some analysts.

Like other software companies, Microsoft is trying to handle the revenue curves as it transitions from a licensing model to one based on continual revenue and subscriptions. Adobe has handled the transition well and other enterprise software players such as Oracle and SAP are have acquired their way to cloud computing.

Microsoft also appears to have made the transition well, but there's more work to do. Turner's big argument was that the cloud doesn't mean less revenue growth.

He took four accounts and outlined the revenue changes with cloud computing over a licensing model. He said:

You see Microsoft has never been considered a mission critical IT service provider in the enterprise. Today we are. That's the new Microsoft. The new Microsoft says we're getting a much richer and deeper share of wallet from those customers who go to the cloud with us. And we see this over and over again. We have a great opportunity to be able to leverage that.

In other words, Office 365 is the most visible cloud effort, but it's part of the larger product pie that includes everything from Azure to Dynamics. What remains to be seen is whether Microsoft can grab enough cloud wallet share to offset the revenue hit from transitioning away from a licensing model.

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Google readies Android 'KitKat' amid 1 billion device activations milestone

Google has reached into the candy jar once again for the latest moniker of its Android mobile operating system.

In a surprise move amid the start of the annual consumer tech trade show IFA in Berlin this week, Google's SVP of Android and Chrome Sundar Pichai touted in a Google+ post on Tuesday that there have been more than one billion activations of Android-based devices worldwide. That's both smartphones and tablets.

Following that milestone and nary a peep at Google I/O in June, it's safe to say that a new version of Android is in order.

Following the firmly set patterns of matching up sweets with the alphabet, Android 4.4 has been officially dubbed as "KitKat."

Given that the American chocolate bar brand is owned by Hershey's, it was quickly questioned as to how and why Google went in this direction. (Clarification: The brand KitKat is owned by Nestle worldwide, but the name is licensed for use and manufactured by Hershey's in the United States.)

Previous Android OS iterations have been referred to by more generic dessert terms, including Cupcake, Eclair, and Donut. (There have been a few odd balls, such as Honeycomb and the absurdly long -- in editorial terms -- Ice Cream Sandwich.)

But naturally, there is a partnership (and a Willy Wonka-like promo deal) in place catering to both parties, as confirmed by the Android team in a blog post on Tuesday.

KitKat has been a favorite candy on the team for some time, so for the K release, we asked if they’d be willing to lend their iconic candy bar to its name. Be on the lookout for limited edition Android KitKat bars coming soon to a candy aisle near you. For a lucky few, your KitKat bar might contain a winning ticket for a new Nexus 7 tablet or Google Play credits.

Chocolate is nice and all, we all want to know more about how Google will have mobile users salivating for the next installment when it comes to improved features and functionality.

Unfortunately, beyond a hefty new statue for the lawn in Mountain View alongside a giant Gingerbread man and an Android stuffed with Jelly Beans, we'll all have to wait and see.

That wait could also be awhile considering Google hasn't revealed a timeline as to when KitKat might break. (Terrible pun intended.)

Image via Sundar Pichai/Google+