Earlier this week, Liberty Media offered $17 per share, or $1 billion for giant book retailer Barnes & Noble.
Shares of the company, however, jumped to $18.33 by the close on Friday, as Wall Streets expects a competing bid.
Furthermore, many believe the bid undervalues the company, which has been struggling for years now.
Liberty is bidding for the company in an effort to continue the strong sales and growth of the Nook e-reader and Nook Color e-reader/tablet.
Finally, the offer is conditional on founder and current Chairman Leonard Riggio keeping a stake in his company and staying involved in running the company.
Barnes & Noble has around 30 percent of the e-book market, has 720 superstores, and has been up for sale since August.
Result for: wall street
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Amazon.com is planning to open an applications store for the Android mobile platform. Such a store would mimic Apple’s App Store for iPhones and iPads. Google’s Android Marketplace currently has about 80,000 applications, compared to 270,000 available in the Apple Store.
An Amazon spokesman told Reuters in an e-mail reply that the company has not made any such announcement yet, while Google declined comment completely, reminding the news outlet that it does not comment on rumor or speculation.
According to the WSJ, Amazon will offer developers 70 percent of the revenue from any sales, which is the same Apple offers app developers for its own platforms.
Android is being used in mobile devices such as Motorola’s Droid and Samsung’s Galaxy S, and is quickly gaining popularity in the smartphone market.
Result for: wall street
Adobe stock jumped on Thursday following reports in the media that Microsoft has identified it as an acquisition target. The New York Times reported that Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer met with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen in San Francisco recently to talk about Apple’s dominance in smartphones.
According to the report, which cited employees and consultants familiar with the situation, the two discussed several options to deal with the situation, one of which would see Microsoft acquiring Adobe. Adobe stock rose 17 percent to a high of $30 before settling back to close up 11.5 percent at $28.69 on the Nasdaq.
A Microsoft acquisition of Adobe would cost $15 billion or more based on Adobe’s current market value. It would provide Microsoft with control of Adobe’s flash player, used all over the web for video and graphics. Wall Street analysts see it as a possible way for Microsoft to integrate graphics and video capabilities into software it develops for phones and tablet computers.
“It’s certainly possible,” said Morningstar analyst Toan Tran of a potential deal. “It may be a case of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ and both Microsoft and Adobe have a common enemy in Apple. The Flash platform in Microsoft’s hands might be an interesting competitive weapon against Apple.”
Microsoft already has its own Silverlight media platform, but it has failed to gain prominence in the market.
