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FTE

France Telecom

5/19/2013, 3:01 PM ET

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Sunday, May 5, 1:41 PM Vivendi (VIVHY.PK) has offered to buy Dailymotion from France Telecom (FTE) now that the French government has thwarted Yahoo's bid, Reuters reports. In addition, a consortium headed by the founder of upstart French carrier Iliad is said to have made a bid at a "much lower price" than Yahoo's. Meanwhile, the government's actions have received plenty of local criticism, particularly from French entrepreneurs who think they could discourage foreign investment. 2 Comments [Tech, M&A]
Monday, April 29, 10:36 PM The French government has reportedly scuttled Yahoo's (YHOO) attempt to buy a $200M controlling stake in video site Dailymotion from France Telecom (FTE). A source tells TechCrunch French minister Arnaud Montebourg opposed the deal out of an unwillingness to let a "marquee" French tech company be under foreign control. Dailymotion is now expected to try and raise fresh capital (apparently FTE's plan before the Yahoo bid) in an attempt to hold its own against 800-lb. gorilla YouTube. Will Yahoo now go after another video site in an effort to obtain content and ad inventory? (previous) 2 Comments [Tech, M&A]
Monday, April 22, 9:05 AM France Telecom (FTE) has its long-term debt ratings cut to BBB+ from A- by S&P. The telco had over €39B ($50.7B) in debt on its balance sheet at the end of 2012, and (like other European incumbent carriers) has been dealing with weak demand and intense competition for both mobile and wireline services. FTE is reportedly eying an IPO for U.K. mobile JV Everything Everywhere, a move that could pare its debt load some. Comment! [Tech]
Thursday, April 4, 12:05 PM Apple (AAPL -1.2%) roundup: 1) The budget for Apple's "spaceship" HQ has soared to nearly $5B from less than $3B, BloombergBusinessweek reports. Apple has already pushed back its move-in date to 2016. 2) France Telecom (FTE) CEO Stephane Richard says the cost-sensitivity of consumers is hurting demand for the iPhone and other high-end phones. Of course, FTE and other European carriers have been up in arms over iPhone subsidies. 3) Explaining why he considers Apple a "storage company," Lazard's Edward Parker points out Apple sells flash memory on higher-capacity iDevices at an 80%-90% incremental margin. 16 Comments [Tech]
Thursday, April 4, 9:21 AM France Telecom (FTE) has hired Morgan Stanley and BofA, and Deutsche Telecom (DTEGY.PK) is expected to hire JPMorgan, to advise on a possible IPO for top U.K. mobile carrier Everything Everywhere. Meanwhile, P-E firms have reportedly been talking to banks about financing for a possible £9B-£10B buyout of EE, a 50/50 JV between the European telcos. EE claims over 27M subs, and has an early lead over rivals in 4G network coverage. Last year's adjusted core earnings totaled £1.41B. 1 Comment [Tech, M&A]
Wednesday, April 3, 9:14 AM France Telecom (FTE) -3.5% to $9.83 after UBS downgrades shares to Sell. FTE is now within striking distance of its 52-week low of $9.46. 4 Comments [Tech, On the Move]
Wednesday, March 27, 5:57 PM The ARPU for France Telecom's (FTE -3.5%) French mobile ops us expected to fall 12%-13% in 2013, a decline even greater than 2012's 10%, says CEO Stephane Richard. Perhaps hoping to score political points, Richard blames upstart Free Mobile, which has been undercutting incumbents while leveraging FTE's network. But he could just as easily blame the destructive impact Internet services are having on voice and text revenue for European carriers. 1 Comment [Tech]
Wednesday, March 27, 10:29 AM European tech and telecom stocks are underperforming as continental equities sell off on Italian concerns. STM -3.9%. ALU -2.3%. NXPI -1.4%. FTE -4.3%. TEF -2.1%. TI -4.3%. VOD -1.7%. One exception is Nokia (NOK +0.3%), which is benefiting from an upgrade to Buy from Swedbank. 6 Comments [Tech, On the Move]
Wednesday, March 27, 9:44 AM Yahoo's (YHOO) acquisition of Dailymotion (previous) and its considerable video ad inventory from France Telecom (FTE) "is as good as done," two sources separately tell BI. Another source claims the purchase is part of a strategy to lower Yahoo's original content costs, acquire user-generated content, and focus on personalized consumption. One departed Yahoo exec isn't crazy about it. "Marissa may be a product genius, but Yahoo ... is an ads-for-content company, and she has shown no sign of recognizing that or valuing the profitable, good content businesses" 3 Comments [Tech, M&A]
Tuesday, March 26, 1:58 PM The EU has an ambitious broadband agenda: It wants 50% of regional households to have 100Mbps+ connections by 2020, and all households to have 30Mbps+ connections. To deliver on these goals, the EC is now proposing every new home support high-speed broadband, and (estimating up to €60B in savings) is looking to cut permit wait times for broadband and 4G tower building permits. However, the proposals come as legislators, citing the continent's economic woes, consider slashing €50B-€70B from the digital part of the Connecting Europe Facility. 2 Comments [Tech]
Wednesday, March 20, 1:05 PM Vivendi (VIVHY.PK) is thinking of spinning off its SFR French mobile phone unit, four sources tell Bloomberg. One proposal involves SFR, which made up ~40% of Vivendi's 2012 sales, assuming most of the conglomerate's debt. The sources caution a split could take 3-5 years to pull off, and would likely happen following the sale of Vivendi's 53% stake in Morocco's Maroc Telecom. Vivendi closed up 4.4% in Paris on the news; SFR rival France Telecom (FTE +3.1%) spiked higher, and is seeing decent gains in the U.S. 1 Comment [Tech, On the Move]
Tuesday, March 19, 4:49 PM Yahoo (YHOO) is in talks to buy a majority stake (perhaps as high as 75%) in online video site Dailymotion from France Telecom (FTE), sources tell the WSJ. One source claims the site could be valued around $300M. That would represent a nice return for FTE: the carrier recently bought the 51% of Dailymotion it didn't own for $81M, while adding it's looking for a U.S. investor. Dailymotion, big in France, would bolster Yahoo's video reach (comScore ranks it the #5 U.S. video site) and provide it with a fresh source of ad inventory. Comment! [Tech, M&A]
Thursday, March 14, 2:22 PM European carriers rally as continental equities move higher and an EU summit in which budget rules are taking center stage gets underway. FTE +6.1%. TEF +3.8%. TI +5.2%. VOD +2%. BT +5.4%. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Thursday, March 14, 9:15 AM Premarket gainers: MW +15%. EBIX +14%. ARWR +8%. BLDP +6%. FTE +6%.
Losers: ANAD -8%. NBG -7%. DCTH -7%. ETFC -7%. VRA -6%. Comment! [On the Move]
Thursday, March 14, 5:31 AM Vodafone (VOD) and France Telecom's (FTE) Orange unit plan to invest €1B in a fiber-optic cable broadband network in Spain, indicating that the country's fixed-line Internet market is an area of growth despite its dire economic situation, which has caused Vodafone to write off over £16B since 2010. The company's investment appears to be part of a strategy to move into the fixed-line sector across Europe. Comment! [Tech, Consumer]
Tuesday, March 12, 5:36 PM The French government is open to letting mobile carriers France Telecom (FTE), Vivendi (VIVHY.PK), Bouygues Telecom, and Iliad share their networks. It's an attempt to help the carriers cope with slumping voice/text revenue (a problem faced by many European peers) and an intense price war triggered by Iliad's Free service. Iliad pays FTE $650M-$910M/year for use of its network in a deal that lasts through 2018. (Vodafone/O2 deal) 1 Comment [Tech]