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Lenovo Left as Possible Palm Buyer
But how to square those reports with the interview that CEO Jon Rubenstein just granted to the Financial Times in which he pledged the company would remain independent? Saying he remained "bullish" about the company's long-term prospects. Rubenstein told the FT that he believes Palm can survive as an independent company. "We have a plan that gets us to profitability," he said.
That plan, previously announced, focuses on Palm's newest generation of smartphones. The company's in an obvious race against time as it continues to burn through cash while it waits for customers to start buying in droves. But with HTC's apparent withdrawal, the suspicion is that the company's finance's may be more parlous then generally assumed.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Palm was working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc and investment banker Frank Quattrone's Qatalyst Partners.At the time, HTC was cited by many Palm watchers as the most likely acquirer.
Lenovo, the the world's number 4 PC firm, emerged as the fastest growing PC firm in the first quarter with an 8.8 percent global market share, according to IDC. It also had over $2.4 billion in net cash reserves at the end of its last fiscal year so if wants to acquire Palm, it can. On Thursday, pictures of upcoming smartphones from Dell circulated around the Internet, suggesting that the computer maker is taking a page out of Apple's playbook. Might Lenovo be interested in going down the same path?
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Charles Cooper is an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie.
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