Registering details of M&As Best answer on the web

  • If a publicly listed, California-based company buys another US company (not listed), do they have to declare that somewhere (where?)? How soon?
    Assume it is not in their latest quarterly report.


  • Yes, I am asking about companies listed on a major exchange.


  • Inconclusive answer, would rate a 3, but I don't think it was possible to get a conclusive answer, so upped to a 4.


  • If you're talking about a publicly listed company that is traded on a major exchange (NYSE, Amex, etc) then I'm pretty sure the answer is yes, they have to report the purchase of another company.
    However, small public companies, such as pinksheet companies, probably do not.

    Is your question focused on the larger public firms?


    pafalafa-ga


  • For another $25, do you want to find the SEC filings for Yhoo's purchases of blo.gs and Dialpad?


  • The Ebay submission regarding the Shopping.com plans is here:


    http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065088/000129993305002650/htm_5053.htm
    FORM 8-K
    June 1, 2005
    eBay Inc.

    ...On June 1, 2005, eBay Inc. announced that it had agreed to acquire Shopping.com Ltd., an online comparison shopping company. The press release announcing the transaction is attached as an exhibit to this Current Report on Form 8-K.


    In order to find this, I headed to the EDGAR search site:


    http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html
    EDGAR Company Search


    and in the "Company name" field, I entered [ ebay ]



    Clicking on the [ Find Companies ] button, brings up a list of eBay's recent filing, and the second filing on the list is their recent 8-K for the shopping.com acquisition.

    Hope that fully explains things, but if there's anything else you need, just let me know.
    paf


  • You know, the more I look into this, the stranger it gets.

    Here's the Yahoo press release page:


    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/pr/releases.html


    and as you can see, there's not a peep about either Dialpad or blo.gs.


    Yet, this AP story here:


    http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050614/yahoo_dialpad.html?.v=4


    begins by saying "Yahoo Inc said Tuesday...", and then goes on to describe the Dialpad deal. But just WHAT Yahoo said, and in what context they said it, is not clear at all. Normally, a company "says" things in their press releases.
    Let me try and turn over a few rocks on this to see what shows up.


    Stay tuned....


    paf


  • Thanks for asking.

    Oddly enough, there does not appear to be an 8-K for either of these recent events. It's hard to say for sure why that is, but one possibility is that the acquisitions themselves have not yet been finalized (the 8-K is to be submitted only after the event is completed).
    Most of the press reports I looked where a bit ambiguous as to whether the deals are actually closed or not. although the blo.gs site certainly seems to indicate that it's a done deal already.
    Strange...


    I did not see any formal announcements from Yahoo regarding either event...if you are aware of any, let me know, and I'll try to track them down further.
    paf


  • Hi there. Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten you.

    I have communications in with both Yahoo and the SEC on this. Hopefully, I'll hear something back from one or both of them (probably not this week, though) and when I do, I'll let you know what I learn.
    paf


  • OK, I guess we should close the question here. You can see where my doubts arise - I wanted to assume that if an acquisition was made, it would appear on the SEC website but, for whatever reason, that is not the case.


  • webuserid-ga,


    A public company must file an SEC Form 8-K within four days of any significant financial event such as an acquisition of another company:

    -----
    http://www.sec.gov/answers/form8k.htm

    Form 8-K

    ...In addition to filing annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, public companies must report material corporate events on a more current basis. Form 8-K is the ?current report? companies must file with the SEC to announce major events that shareholders should know about.
    ...The instructions for Form 8-K describe the types of events that trigger a public company's obligation to file a current report, including any of the following:

    Section 1 -- Registrant's Business and Operations
    Item 1.01 Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement
    Item 1.02 Termination of a Material Definitive Agreement
    Item 1.03 Bankruptcy or Receivership

    Section 2 -- Financial Information
    Item 2.01 Completion of Acquisition or Disposition of Assets


    ...Companies have four days to file a Form 8-K for the events specified in the items in Sections 1-5 and 9 above. -----



    The instructions for 8-K itself can be found here:


    http://www.sec.gov/about/forms/form8-k.pdf


    and include a good deal of language on the acquisition of assets and the reporting requirements:

    -----
    FORM 8-K

    Section 2 - Financial Information

    Item 2.01 Completion of Acquisition or Disposition of Assets.

    If the registrant or any of its majority-owned subsidiaries has completed the acquisition or disposition of a significant amount of assets, otherwise than in the ordinary course of business, disclose the following information: (a) the date of completion of the transaction;
    (b) a brief description of the assets involved;
    (c) the identity of the person(s) from whom the assets were acquired or to whom they were sold and the nature of any material relationship, other than in respect of the transaction, between such person(s) and the registrant or any of its affiliates, or any director or officer of the registrant, or any associate of any such director or officer;
    (d) the nature and amount of consideration given or received for the assets and, if any material relationship is disclosed pursuant to paragraph (c) of this Item 2.01, the formula or principle followed in determining the amount of such consideration; and (e) if the transaction being reported is an acquisition and if a material relationship exists between the registrant or any of its affiliates and the source(s) of the funds used in the acquisition, the identity of the source(s) of the funds unless all or any part of the consideration used is a loan made in the ordinary course of business by a bank as defined by Section 3(a)(6) of the Act, in which case the identity of such bank may be omitted

    ...2. The term acquisition includes every purchase, acquisition by lease, exchange, merger, consolidation, succession or other acquisition, except that the term does not include the construction or development of property by or for the registrant or its subsidiaries or the acquisition of materials for such purpose. The term disposition includes every sale, disposition by lease, exchange, merger, consolidation, mortgage, assignment or hypothecation of assets, whether for the benefit of creditors or otherwise, abandonment, destruction, or other disposition.
    -----



    There is a good deal of other language pertaining to acquisitions of companies or other significant assets, along with criteria for distinguishing a significant acauisition from one that is not significant.

    By the way, the 8-K reports are generally available on-line the same day they are filed, and can be found at SEC's EDGAR site for company reports:

    http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm


    I trust this information fully answers your question. However, please don't rate this answer until you have everything you need. If you would like any additional information, just post a Request for Clarification to let me know how I can assist you further, and I'm at your service.
    All the best,

    pafalafa-ga


    search strategy -- Used bookmark site for the SEC, and searched the site for [ acquisition form ]


  • Shoot...I haven't heard back from either Yahoo or the SEC. If they don't respond, I wouldn't know where else to go for insight on this unusual state of affairs.
    But if I do hear back, I'll be sure to post whatever I learn.

    Cheers,

    paf


  • So, to use an example, can you find the eBay 8K for their recent acquisition of Shopping.com? (I can't).


  • editTags: xn--4cr.com