Read the article below….
Just so you know….Baidu and NQ Mobile share a common Board member and Baidu recently raised $1.5 billion to make acquisitions in the mobile space. Wonder if Baidu + NQ Mobile are a marriage waiting to happen.
Also….NQ Mobile’s Feiliu division is a leading mobile game operator and operates several of TenCent’s mobile games exclusively. TenCent is also a likely acquirer of NQ Mobile.
I don’t own NQ based on a M&A investment thesis. That said, NQ is growing revenue over 100% year-over-year, just signed a game-changing deal with American Movil, is trading at just 4.2x EV/EBITDA 2013. NQ seems destined to trade much much higher. $30/ADR for NQ is not unreasonable.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/baidu-open-to-acquisitions-ceo-li-says-2013-03-06?source=email_rt_mc_body
Baidu open to acquisitions, CEO Li says
March 6, 2013, 2:29 a.m. EST
BEIJING--Baidu Inc. BIDU -1.05% Chief Executive Robin Li said Wednesday that the company was "very open" to acquisitions of companies that make products for smartphones, though he wouldn't say whether Baidu was currently in talks with any companies.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, at which he is a delegate, Mr. Li said the company was focused on attracting more users to its mobile products and believed it would make money on the products later.
Though Baidu remains the most popular search engine on smartphones and also has a widely used map application, some analysts have worried the company is lagging behind other Chinese Internet companies like Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sina Corp. SINA -2.55% in the race to attract users to its smartphone services.
"Whenever we can find some company that already has what we want to own, we prefer to buy rather than build it," he said.
Mr. Li's statement also highlights how China's largest Internet companies are increasingly looking to acquisitions to expand. In the past, many companies would opt to compete with smaller start-up companies by building their own rival product.
On Tuesday, Tencent Chief Executive Pony Ma also said his company is open to acquisitions.
