RSSPalm gets a $100M shot in the arm from none other than Bono
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published December 22, 2008, 11:53 AM
Just when mobile device maker Palm could really use a lift, Elevation Partners -- a VC firm that includes U2 singer Bono -- is coming through with a $100 million investment.
With the launch of a new mobile platform and smartphone slated for next month's CES show, financially beleaguered Palm, Inc. has nailed down a highly needed $100 million equity investment from Elevation Partners, a venture capital firm that includes Bono, lead singer for the rock band U2.
"Palm has an industry-leading team and an exciting, differentiated product roadmap. We are proud to be associated with the company and look forward to great things from Palm in 2009 and beyond," contended Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners, in a statement issued by Palm today.
"The additional capital from Elevation Partners will enable us to put added momentum behind the product introductions scheduled for 2009 and will provide us with enhanced stability in unsettled economic times," predicted Palm President and CEO Ed Colligan, in another statement.
As previously reported in BetaNews, Palm officials confirmed late last week that their product announcements for early 2009 will include a smartphone running on the company's forthcoming Linux-based Nova platform.
Palm will aim the Nova platform mainly at consumers, at least initially, Colligan said, in a conference call with financial analysts on Thursday. At the same time, the device maker will keep focusing on Microsoft's Windows Mobile as its enterprise platform.
The manufacturer of Centro and Treo smartphones had earlier sent out invitations to a CES press conference, promising "Palm New-Ness."
Palm has been facing intensifying competition on both sides of the mobile market, particularly with the introduction of Apple's 3G iPhone and the Android-based G1 smartphone over the past year.
The five partners in Elevation, a $1.9 billion private equity firm, include McNamee, also the co-founder of Silver Lake Partners and Integral Capital Partners; the U2 rock band's Bono; Fred Anderson, former EVP and CFO of Apple; Bret Pearlman, former senior managing director of The Blackstone Group; and Marc Bodnick, founding principal of Silver Lake Partners.
Your title is misleading. The *company* gave the money, *not* Bono, there's a difference.
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|LOL, I think you might actually be serious with that comment. Surely you can't be that dense? Saying that Bono had nothing to do with this investment is like saying people who donate to charity have nothing do with helping out the unfortunate. Assuming you're not just another troll, you should seriously consider not posting here. I'm probably the most forgiving critic you'll encounter, and this place needs another idiot like I need another rectum.
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|I think this is a good idea. I would like to see what new products Palm has to offer. And It is good to see someone else besides the Government giving money for another bailout but I hope I did not speak to soon.
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|Palm is dead. RIM and Apple own the market.
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|Agreed. Bono should stick with charitable giving/concerts. More his forte.
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|Palm is dead. RIM desperately needs to update something, anything at all since 2000. Apple owns what market?
Windows mobile are the only useful smart phones. Although I have to admit, I started enjoying Symbian after I got Nokia 6650.
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|Good plan! Not-for-profits produce such amazing returns on investment that it's a surprise not everybody runs one or two. Madoff certainly knew that... In fact, why NFPs don't simply finance corporations never made sense to me...
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|Apple own the smartphone market? Errrrr I think not mate. I've got an iPhone and I love it, but Apple own the smartphone market? [pffft]
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|"Windows mobile are the only useful smart phones."
Thanks for making me spit milk all over my laptop. Window Mobile is the worst mobile OS ever. The phones are fugly to boot. Heck, even that failed RIM iPhone clone is better than any Windows Mobile device.
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|How generous of them to give such a hefty sum of money to a multimillion dollar corporation.
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