Being the shrewd businessman that he is, Bill Gates has just invested a significant amount of money in one of the few products consumed during both good times and bad: alcohol. Actually Femsa, the Mexican brewery in which Gates now owns a $392 million stake through his Cascade Investment LLC fund, does a lot more than just brew booze: according to Reuters, it's also the world's second-largest Coke bottler as well as operator of Oxxo, Latin America's largest convenience store chain. When asked how he felt about the Microsoft founder moving in on his home turf, fellow billionaire Carlos Slim reportedly shrugged off the threat, boasting, "Not only am I a wealthier man than Mr. Gates, but he couldn't even make it through half a Power Hour with his nueva cerveza."

In an acquisition that promises to create a combined company with over $1 billion in annual revenue, storage manufacturer Iomega has "entered into a definitive share purchase agreement" with ExcelStor Great Wall Technology Limited -- another storage firm headquartered in Beijing but doing business out of the Cayman Islands. ExcelStor, a subsidiary of the $2.6 billion Great Wall Technology Company Limited, has been manufacturing certain external hard drives for Iomega since 2004. The deal, still subject to approval, would create an organization with a 3,000-member workforce, led by Iomega's current executives joined by former ExcelStor management in the positions of Executive Chairman and Chief Administrative Officer.

The European Commission has just opened an investigation into TomTom's proposed purchase of Tele Atlas, claiming that consumers could be hurt by a GPS hardware maker owning one of the two major digital map providers. Specifically, the so-called "in-depth inquiry," which will be concluded no later than April 17th of next year, stems from "serious doubts that the acquisition by TomTom of Tele Atlas might...lead to a significant impediment of effective competition within the EEA." With Nokia going after NAVTEQ and Garmin having given up on Tele Atlas, this investigation clearly makes sense from the free market standpoint, as the Dutch firm is not likely to slip past without at least committing to fair map licensing terms for other PND manufacturers. In response to the Commission's announcement, TomTom decided to extend its offer for shares of Tele Atlas until March 31st, 2008, with the option to issue another extension if certain conditions are not met.

[Thanks, Daniel]

The headline really does tell the whole story in this case: Finnish telecom giant Nokia has announced its intention to purchase one of the world's two digital mapping powerhouses (the other being TomTom target TeleAtlas) in an $8 billion deal that should result in some pretty sick location-based services on your next N-series phone. Nokia expects to have pulled NAVTEQ into the fold by the end of Q1 2008; all hail NokTEQ.

[Thanks, Pdexter]

In what would be one of the biggest business deals to go down -- well, ever -- Microsoft is rumored to once again be in talks to buy Yahoo after being rebuffed numerous times in past years. The New York Post is citing unnamed sources in reporting that Goldman Sachs is helping Team Redmond make a play for the web's perennial "number two," and arguing that an acquisition or merger would make sense for both companies. Microsoft would get a stronger online advertising presence -- something it clearly desires, as evidenced by its battle with Google for DoubleClick -- along with as an audience whose demographic supposedly skews younger and content that it could offer with Zunes, Xboxes, and the like. Yahoo would also serve to benefit, goes the argument, by picking up some of the much-needed technical expertise and financial backing required to dethrone the big G. Still, these two rivals have done the mating dance several times before without anything substantial arising -- save for IM interoperability -- so it remains to be seen whether the landscape has shifted enough in the eyes of both firms to solidify an agreement this go-round.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Good Technology, the push e-mail mobile software company (think of it as RIM without the hardware, if you prefer), has just been acquired by Motorola for an undisclosed amount. Motorola previously had a business relationship with Good, and uses its mobile messaging software on Motorola -- but now, things get a little more interesting, given that consumers may have a choice between BlackBerry Connect or Good software on a Motorola Windows Mobile device. It's also curious that RIM and Motorola seem primed for a titanic clash, given that Big Mama Moto, a traditional ordinary-consumer company, seems to be encroaching on RIM's corporate customers with devices like the Q Pro, while our Canadian enterprise-focused friends are coming straight at John Q. Public with the Pearl. The deal is expected to close in 2007, given the Feds approve and all that jazz. As of this writing, Motorola stock rose on the news 0.84 percent to 21.37.

[Thanks, Vince M.]

Read - Good/Motorola press release
Read - Reuters

There's nothing we love more around here than a bit of surprising news, and next to HP's recent purchase of VoodooPC, Logitech's just-announced acquisition of Slim Devices caught us off guard like nothing has in awhile. According to Slim CEO Sean Adams, his company -- which makes such streaming audio products as the Squeezebox and Transporter -- will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Logitech -- maker of nearly every kind peripheral under the sun -- with the entire Slim team having already accepted employment offers from their new overlord. The newly-swallowed Slim will remain in its Mountain View offices and retain its executive structure for the "foreseeable future," while gaining the marketing power, retail partnerships, and economy of scale benefits enjoyed by larger corporations. As you're probably aware, Logitech has already dipped its toe into the streaming audio pool with such products as the Wireless DJ Music System, so snatching up Slim will give it a better foothold in this market along with the invaluable expertise offered by Slim's employees. For the consumer, this partnership will probably result in lower prices as well as attractive bundles featuring Slim gear and Logitech speakers / remotes, although you can never really predict how an acquisition will affect a company's innovation and product quality. Still, quite the interesting bit of news, and we're excited to see what kind of swag the Slim team will produce now that they have more muscle and capital behind them.

With its high-profile XPS line and recent purchase of boutique gaming house Alienware, for awhile it looked like Dell would be the only major PC manufacturer willing to cater to serious gamers. Not anymore. In a move that caught everyone, including us, completely by surprise (you'll notice the lack of backlinks to any rumor posts about this), HP announced today that it will acquire Alienware rival VoodooPC for an undisclosed sum. After the deal closes -- following the usual regulatory rigmarole -- HP will form a new business unit dedicated to gaming in its Personal Systems Group, with Voodoo co-owners (and brothers) Rahul and Ravi Sood assuming the roles of Chief Technologist and Director of Strategy, respectively. As you're probably aware, the acquisition comes at somewhat of a turbulent time for HP: not only is the company still reeling from the bruising merger with Compaq under former CEO Carly Fiorina, it's currently undergoing unwanted public and governmental scrutiny over the so-called "pretexting" scandal that led to the recent resignation of chairwoman Patricia Dunn. Although we doubt that the Voodoo deal is going to make everyone forget about the alleged spying that has occurred, it's nice to know that once HP finally puts this ugly mess behind it, consumers (especially gamers) can expect to benefit from some hot products and lower pricing that can only be realized now that Dell has some real competition on its hands. [Warning: PDF link]

Two of our favorite companies (well, more like two companies that we've heard of) have just announced that they'll be getting nice and cozy in the next few months, with cellphone giant Motorola agreeing to buy barcode-scannin', RFID-taggin' Symbol Technologies for about $3.9 billion. Besides handsets, Moto also has a significant foothold in the mobile enterprise market, and Symbol's RFID, barcode, and ruggedized PDA products will supposedly double its presence in inventory management while at the same time "being accretive to earnings," according to analyst Lawrence Harris of Oppenheimer & Company. The deal will reportedly be completed later this year or in early 2007, at which time Motorola will change the name of its new acquisition to SMBL.

When you spread faithfully report as many rumors as we do, you're bound to be off the mark more often than not, and here it turns out that the AMD / ATI merger gossip we recently passed along is starting to look decidedly bogus. Having no "insiders" at either company ourselves, we're resigned to waiting for such publications as The Inquirer to massage their own connections, and now the Inq is reporting that sources from both camps have denied that acquisition talks are even occurring, much less that any sort of purchase is imminent. Since there was no hard evidence to support this rumor in the first place, other than some supposedly-telling supply chain checks done by RBC analyst Apjit Walia, you'll probably agree that this new information doesn't come as much of a shock. Still, seeing how ATI's steadily declining stock price took a slight upturn right after this story went public, it seems that not everyone took our recommendation to remain calm during these times of wild speculation.

In keeping with our policy of only reporting the juiciest of rumors, we're passing along a prediction by analyst Apjit Walia that microprocessor giant AMD is poised to purchase graphics powerhouse ATI in a move that would surely shake up the PC industry. Walia, who does his analyzin' for RBC Capital Markets, based his conjecture on recent so-called "checks in the PC food chain," meaning that no real hard evidence exists proving that AMD is even considering such a move. Still, Forbes reminds us that both ATI and rival nVidia have long been rumored to be acquisition targets of one of the major processor manufacturers, and a merger with AMD could be leveraged to ATI's advantage in regaining dominance of the market for high-end gaming components. For now, though, you'd be wise to file this story strictly under "one guy's opinion," instead of running out, snatching up ATI stock, and driving up the price like Walia and his investors are probably hoping.

[Via PC Perspective, thanks Ryan]