Which iPhone Distributor is TiPhone Looking to Acquire??

This past week, much of the discussion in the local tech scene had been about the expansion of Tiphone (TELE) which, following its IPO, plans to acquire 3 companies. Of the three companies, there is heavy speculation on its plans to acquire an Apple product distributor. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of 2012, pending the completion of the financial auditor’s report, but the company’s name remains secret. TELE, owned by flamboyant businessman Hengky Setiawan, will spend between US$10 million to US$40 million for this acquisition.

Many people are saying that perhaps the biggest distributor that is said to be acquired is iBox which indeed is the largest Apple Premium Reseller in Indonesia today (actually it’s not – Ed). Nevertheless, without any insider information, I would say (and speculate) that the one that will be acquired is not iBox. Why would I say that?

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Twitter acquires Posterous

Social network platform acquires blog platform. That’s what happened when Twitter acquires Posterous. This acquisition is a takeover of Posterous’ entire resources (personnel) into Twitter’s engineering team. Unlike a number of other similar acquisitions which lead to the closure of the acquired company, this will not disrupt activities on Posterous Spaces which will remain operational. This means Twitter is interested in the team behind Posterous instead of the product itself.

The value of the acquisition was not disclosed. Posterous itself was created in 2008 as an alternative blog platform and a Y Combinator alumni. Unlike its competitor Tumblr, Posterous’ never managed to grow as quick. Overall, Posterous has had $10 million in funding, primarily from Redpoint Ventures.

According to SFGate, Posterous co-founder Sachin Agarwal is already attending New Hire Orientation at Twitter, which he himself actually announced on Twitter. Even though Posterous has said that it will operate as usual, it will provide information in the near future should any of its members would like to migrate to other bog platforms such as WordPress, Blogger, or Tumblr.

It’s Like Tap Tap Tap Buying TUAW

So this happened.

There was this post the other day by M.G. Siegler citing an example of Disney owning both ESPN and Anaheim Mighty Ducks at the same time for a period and that Boston Red Sox is owned by The New York Times Company. This particular situation however, is not exactly comparable. Like the title said, it’s like Tap Tap Tap buying TUAW. Or the Red Sox buying the NYTimes.

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TomTom Acquires Navindo, Its Indonesian Joint Venture Partner

TomTom as the leading provider for navigation and mapping product on cars has acquired its joint venture partner in Indonesia, PT Navindo according to a press release. Pursuant to the acquisition, of which the value was not made public, the identity of the company will henceforth be PT TomTom Indonesia. It is a strategic move for TomTom to strengthen its position in the Indonesian market as well as in Asia Pacific in general.

TomTom has a main office in Amsterdam with more than 3500 employees around the world, operating in 40 countries. Aside from navigational products, TomTom also has had an app for iOS since 2009. However, there is currently no TomTom map available for Indonesia. In Asia Pacific, TomTom is available for Singapore-Malaysia-Brunei, Thailand, and Hongkong-Macau.

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TomTom Beli Partnernya di Indonesia, Navindo

TomTom selaku penyedia produk navigasi dan pemetaan di dalam mobil yang terkemuka membeli joint venture partnernya di Indonesia, PT Navindo, demikian menurut siaran persnya. Dalam transaksi yang nilainya tidak disebutkan ini, nantinya identitas perusahaan yang diakuisisi akan menjadi PT TomTom Indonesia. Ini merupakan langkah strategis TomTom dalam memperkuat pasarnya di Indonesia secara khusus dan kawasan Asia Pasifik secara umum.

Tomtom memiliki pusat di Amsterdam dan telah memiliki lebih dari 3500 pegawai dan penjualan di lebih dari 40 negara. Selain produk-produk navigasi tersendiri, TomTom juga tersedia sebagai aplikasi untuk platform iOS sejak tahun 2009, meskipun dari data yang ada belum ada peta TomTom yang tersedia untuk Indonesia. Di kawasan Asia Pasifik sendiri TomTom untuk iOS telah tersedia untuk Singapura-Malaysia-Brunei, Thiland, dan Hongkong-Makau.

Navindo sendiri telah berdiri sejak tahun 2003 dan merupakan pemimpin di Indonesia untuk area GPS dan sistem navigasi. Di bulan Maret 2010, Navindo Geosat — bagian dari Navindo — meluncurkan real time tracking untuk kendaraan dengan basis aplikasi BlackBerry. Menarik ditunggu apakah TomTom akan mulai menyasar pasar mobile app di Indonesia dan mencoba bersaing dengan aplikasi gratis macam Google Maps dan Nokia Maps.

Detikcom is Acquired for US$60 Million?

A tweet from Doni Ismanto mentions the buying transaction of Detikcom by Para Group, owned by billionaire Chairul Tanjung has reached their final stage. Doni Ismanto, a journalist for Jakarta Daily newspaper, got informed by internal source that the acquisition reaches US$60 million in value for total ownership of the largest news media portal in Indonesia. Similar number had been mentioned by someone closes to Budiono Darsono, Editor in-Chief of Detikcom, around IDR 521-540 billion.

The board of directors will be filled by people from TransCorp — Para Group’s media arm, while the Chairman position will be assigned to Gen. (Ret) Bimantoro — former Head of National Police, currently also serves as Chairman of Carrefour Indonesia, another company owned by Tanjung. Tanjung is currently listed as 11th most richest person in Indonesia, according to 2011’s Forbes list.

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Sources: KapanLagi Soon To Be Acquired UPDATE

We’ve heard from our sources that Indonesia’s biggest entertainment portal KapanLagi is currently negotiating for potential acquisition. The buyer? We’ve heard that it’s a public company listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange. We have contacted execs and shareholders from KapanLagi but they refuse to comment on the matter (or most of them simply doesn’t reply email on weekends).

In 2009, Yahoo was in talk with KapanLagi for potential acquisition but the deal didn’t happen because both parties have different vision for the company post-acquisition. Yahoo needed to acquire KapanLagi to enter the Indonesian market, so when the KapanLagi deal went down they acquire Koprol instead and launch a competing product for Kapanlagi.

We’re still gathering more info on this acquisition rumor, we’ll get back to you as soon as we get more info on the deal.

UPDATE

Continue reading Sources: KapanLagi Soon To Be Acquired *UPDATE*

DealKeren, Post LivingSocial Acquisition

Located at the XXI Lounge, Plaza Senayan, Jakarta, CEO DealKeren Adrian Suherman announced the current fact owned by DealKeren and the plans that will be made by DealKeren post-acquisition by one of the largest daily deals from the United States, LivingSocial. Previously we reported that LivingSocial acquired DealKeren parent company, Ensogo, based in Thailand and the Philippines, and this is the first step for LivingSocial in Asia. LivingSocial operates in 21 countries on six continents. Previously, LivingSocial competitor, Groupon, has acquired Disdus as part of its expansion in Indonesia.

What are the facts possessed by DealKeren since its inception in August 2010 then? Currently DealKeren claim to be the market leader with a 65% market share daily deals in Indonesia, based on data in May. DealKeren has more than 300 thousand members and more than 300 merchants who are already working together. Currently there are 80 deals with 50 thousand transactions per month, which revenue reached U.S. $ 250 thousand per month and growing. Based on statistics collected by DealKeren, approximately 55% of users are women aged 25-35 years, other than that 70-80% of users live in Jakarta, a natural considering that most of the deals was located in Jakarta.

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The Treehouse: Internet Hopes and Hypes

[Editor’s note: The infamous Treespotter has always been an astute and sharp observer of what is going on in Indonesia. Beginning today, The Treehouse at DailySocial will be host to Treespotter’s public thoughts and remarks with regards to technology, enterprise, startups, and the media. As Treespotter is not an employee of DailySocial his views and comments may not necessarily reflect that of DailySocial. Regardless, we are thrilled to have his column. Welcome to The Treehouse.]

There’s an interesting piece from the BBC – on Google’s increased attention on Asia – the shifting gravity as BBC puts it. The article itself didn’t mention Indonesia, it was mostly about China. Google got kicked out of China for doing the right thing. For many foreign players, China is an increasingly competitive market, true on the internet just as it’s true in textile: China now outsource clothes manufacturing to Vietnam. If you think textile was worrying, this is a whole different league.

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UPDATED : Para Group Acquire Indonesia’s Online Media Giant Detikcom

We just received a breaking news that Para Group, one of business conglomerates in Indonesia owned by Chairul Tanjung and has business sectors in banking (Bank Mega), media, and entertainment (TransCorp) , has acquired Indonesia’s online media giant. Most likely the media giant will become a part of TransCorp media’s arm.

This could be the largest and high profile acquisition in Indonesian startup history. We will give you more updates the soonest we get further information.

major update

Detik finally confirm the acquisition today, even though we didn’t mention any names earlier, seems like you guys can figure which company we were talking about. Just a few days ago, Detik announce the acquisition internally and today the news went public via newspaper (photo via tommyprass).

Bisnis.com states that Detikcom’s backers Tiger Investment (owned 39%) and Mitsui & Co. (2%) wanted to exit the company and that acquisition is the best way for all parties. Detik has been rumored to be looking for potential buyers since last year with Telkom rumored to be one of the bidder and when the negotiation with Telkom didn’t went well they decided to negotiate with TransCorp via its parent company Para Group.

There’s also an anonymous rumor saying that Detikcom was valued around US$60 million when they went to negotiate with Telkom, so it’s more likely that they’re selling the company slightly below that number to Para Group.