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Chinese Consortium's $1.24B Bid To Acquire Opera Software Fails, $600M Deal Agreed Instead (tech.eu)

Posted by msmash on from the something-better-than-nothing dept.

The $1.24 billion takeover of Opera Software by a Chinese consortium of internet firms has failed, Opera said on Monday. The deal did not receive the required regulatory approval in time of a final deadline. But they will be doing some business. The consortium will now acquire only certain parts of Opera's consumer business, including its mobile and desktop browsers, for $600 million on an enterprise value basis. Tech.eu reports: What will not be acquired by the consortium is: Opera Mediaworks, Apps & Games and Opera TV. In 2015, Opera says these business units combined delivered revenues of $467 million. The company will report second-quarter results on August 31, 2016.

85 comments

  1. Opera who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL

    Butthead

    1. Re:Opera who? by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      Remember it's not over until the fat lady sings

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    2. Re: Opera who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unlike China, America is known for its vast numbers of fat chicks.

    3. Re: Opera who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Norway isnt part of the US last time I checked.

    4. Re:Opera who? by myowntrueself · · Score: 1

      LOL

      Butthead

      'Regulatory approval' LOL

      WTF should there be any need for 'regulatory approval'?

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    5. Re:Opera who? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      Remember it's not over until the fat lady sings

      The browsers are not fat, just really bloated - too many carbs, I guess.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    6. Re: Opera who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one said it was. What was implied is that finding a fat lady to do some singing would be difficult in China, you obtuse ass.

    7. Re: Opera who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So then why was it brought up, then? Neither party is from America.

    8. Re: Opera who? by Megol · · Score: 1

      Are you dense? It's an American saying, not a Norwegian nor a Chinese one.

  2. why is the header red? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there is a red background behind the headline, what causes it?

    1. Re:why is the header red? by ShaunC · · Score: 2

      It's an old bug. If you have a paid Slashdot subscription, one of the perks is being able to see and comment on stories a little while before they show up on the front page for non-subscribers. Sometimes they show up that way for everybody.

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
  3. Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would anyone pay that much for Opera?

    Why would anyone pay $600M for something with annual revenues of $460M? Best hopes of 5 years to recover the investment, but more likely 10 or more years? That makes no sense.

    1. Re:Insane by JTinMSP · · Score: 2

      Actually, it was the units that were NOT being acquired that had annual revenues of $460M.

      --
      I was led to this place, a place I can't understand. A place that demands my belief just as strongly as my disbelie
    2. Re:Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

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    3. Re:Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would anyone pay $600M for something with annual revenues of $460M?
      Because they want to make a lot of money for their shareholders or investors, if the acquisition is in the software business, where gross margins are extremely high.

    4. Re:Insane by dnaumov · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why would anyone pay that much for Opera?

      Why would anyone pay $600M for something with annual revenues of $460M? Best hopes of 5 years to recover the investment, but more likely 10 or more years? That makes no sense.

      Because recovering your entire investment in 5-10 years is considered a very good outcome? You do realize that the stock market returns as a whole over the long term are in the ballpark of 10% per annum, right?

    5. Re:Insane by Rockoon · · Score: 4, Informative

      Maybe they want Opera because its the #1 browser in Africa and a strong #2 in many other places?

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    6. Re:Insane by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      Revenue is only part of a company's overall value.
      There is the Name Recognition.
      There is the customer base
      There is the physical assets building employees etc...
      There are existing contracts in place...

      Also the point when a company buys another one, they feel that they can somehow do better than the current owner to make it more profitable. That is why they bid more than just the value of the company. Because you need to make the current owners an offer that will make it worth their while. Why offer 1 year of revenue, when they can earn that much more by keeping the company going?

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    7. Re: Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why reading comprehension is important. It's one of those things stupid people struggle with.

    8. Re:Insane by kelemvor4 · · Score: 1

      Why would anyone pay that much for Opera?

      Why would anyone pay $600M for something with annual revenues of $460M? Best hopes of 5 years to recover the investment, but more likely 10 or more years? That makes no sense.

      I think you read the article backwards. The stuff NOT sold somehow generates $460 mill. However, it seems like an $600M investment that would likely generate $920M over two years might not be so bad. I guess that comes down to how much of that revenue is profit.

    9. Re:Insane by x_t0ken_407 · · Score: 1

      Why would anyone pay that much for Opera?

      Why would anyone pay $600M for something with annual revenues of $460M? Best hopes of 5 years to recover the investment, but more likely 10 or more years? That makes no sense.

      It's actually pretty popular in Europe and I'd imagine other parts of the East. I'm sure that's what is being taken into account here.

    10. Re:Insane by war4peace · · Score: 1

      Not to mention a wealth of metrics and the strong possibility of inserting data/privacy-sucking code into Opera.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    11. Re:Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also better (the old-type Opera version 12.18) than any other browser.

    12. Re:Insane by Desler · · Score: 1

      10% compounded interest in the market would pay off much faster. If it requires more than 7.5 years to even break even on this it's worse than 10% compounded interest in the market which would double your principal in 87 months.

    13. Re:Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i hear u proxy all web reqrests fru server
      i am very interested in proxy arr web reqrests fru server

      I guess English is your second or third langauge, right?

      magic word: malign !!!

    14. Re: Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Holy shit. Do you think "through" is "fru"?

    15. Re:Insane by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      #2.. Was that a poop joke?

  4. Never did like Opera... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 0

    Another reason not to use it.

    1. Re:Never did like Opera... by x_t0ken_407 · · Score: 2

      Sadly, I agree. I'd already jumped ship to Vivaldi when it first came out early last year, but have given it up recently for stability and profile-syncing reason...but I didn't go back to Opera, I'm on FF for now, only until Vivaldi matures a bit more. The news about being bought by a Chinese consortium did it for me -__-

    2. Re:Never did like Opera... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Opera was by far best browser available from 1997ish-2004ish. They invented most of the features we take for granted today, while simultaneously being an order of magnitude faster in most cases. It's a shame they never really took off. If Microsoft had bought them out and killed/replaced IE back then, the web would have been much nicer much earlier.

  5. Great browser spoiled? by hydrofix · · Score: 2

    Too bad. I only recently discovered Opera on Android, and have been using it ever since because it has an in-built ad-blocker. Google will probably never deliver an ad-blocker to Chrome for Android because Google is an advertising company and it would be about shooting themselves in the foot. But I will any day choose a bit slower and more annoying browsing experience over installing Chinese spyware on my phone. So long, Opera.

    1. Re:Great browser spoiled? by bulled · · Score: 1

      But 'Merican or European made spyware is fine?

      Don't get me wrong, I won't touch Opera with a 10 foot pole either but the acquisition didn't change that.

    2. Re:Great browser spoiled? by hydrofix · · Score: 2

      Norway, where Opera is currently based, is a strong rule-of-law country and their legislation seems mostly compatible with EU Data Protection directive. So yes, I do think a Chinese company buying off Opera is way worse than before.

    3. Re:Great browser spoiled? by Nunya666 · · Score: 2

      Too bad. I only recently discovered Opera on Android, and have been using it ever since because it has an in-built ad-blocker.

      Try using Dolphin. It has a built-in popup blocker, and supports DDG as its default search engine.

    4. Re:Great browser spoiled? by Megol · · Score: 1

      Are you sure the development will be moved to China? Otherwise it will still be a Norwegian company operating under Norwegian law.

      Sorry for not encouraging the xenophobia...

    5. Re:Great browser spoiled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Firefox with uBlock Origin works wonderfully on Android.

    6. Re: Great browser spoiled? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, avoiding a communist government co-owned company due to possible safety concerns is a pragmatic view, and not xenophobic.

  6. Does This Worry Anyone Else? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I had respect for opera. Now that I know they are run by the Chinese, I can trust it at all.

    Just google "Chinese backdoor chip", the latest of which has been found in Allwinner and FriendlyARM.

    1. Re:Does This Worry Anyone Else? by Predius · · Score: 1

      So, a little clarification. The issue isn't secret hardware waiting to pop your security. It's a bad piece of debug routines that should never have been left in a kernel that went out in the wild. Don't run that kernel, there are no issues.

    2. Re:Does This Worry Anyone Else? by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      I don't think any of the top browsers are trustworthy, so this just seems par for the course.

    3. Re:Does This Worry Anyone Else? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, youre ok with upstream "accidentally" leaving debug subroutines in your browser?

    4. Re:Does This Worry Anyone Else? by Predius · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm saying there is a massive difference between backdoor hardware and a backdoor in a software component. OP claimed the first was going on, which is clearly bunk.

    5. Re:Does This Worry Anyone Else? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah because Intel and Microsoft don't do the same thing right? "eyeroll"

  7. Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    Opera on Android was a nice product. But there is no way I'm going to install a Chinese browser on my smartphone.

    1. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by HBI · · Score: 1

      Opera always had its share of compatibility problems with sites, anyway. So it's not a huge loss. Like it or not, we're stuck with Chrome or Firefox for most things.

      But yes, I wouldn't bother with a Chinese browser. I can think of better ways of having my data lifted by the Chinese, such as having a file with the Office of Personnel Management in DC (OPM).

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    2. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't you rather have your data extracted by an uninterested foreign country, than your own government which is quite likely to use it against you? Man, for the days before Obama when people could assume the US government was generally on their side.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

      ... an uninterested foreign country...

      I disagree with that premise.

    4. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

      Opera always had its share of compatibility problems with sites, anyway....

      In my usage, on Android, Opera worked very well, and was cleaner and easier to use (far better UI) than Firefox on Android.

    5. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by bulled · · Score: 1

      Man, for the days before Obama when people could assume the US government was generally on their side.

      I don't know if anyone actually believes that this changed with Obama... The US government was actively against its citizens long before 2008.

    6. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      Well then, how about this? As a US citizen, if I had to choose between being spied on by China and being spied on by the US, I'd prefer it be China. China has little power to harm me directly, where the US has immense power to do so.

      Of course, it's a false dichotomy, as we can be sure that we're being spied on by both.

    7. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by TroII · · Score: 2

      Man, for the days before Obama when people could assume the US government was generally on their side

      Yeah, 'cause George W Bush and the USA PATRIOT Act really gave me a warm fuzzy feeling about the government...

      --
      "If there was a gay Afro-Puertorican Linux distribution, I'd give it a try" ~lucm
    8. Re:Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by Desler · · Score: 1

      The Chinese are a disinterested party? That's a great joke.

    9. Re: Oh well, buh'bye Opera... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Never anyone could assume that the government is one citizens side. A diligent suspicion of the government is the bedrock of democracy. The difference between this system, and any other, is that it is much easier to was laundry trough voting than trough a rebellion.

  8. Not really. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because recovering your entire investment in 5-10 years is considered a very good outcome?

    Ah, no. Depending on the discount rate you use, most buyouts like this want to have the business pay for itself in about 5 years, no more than 7 - depending on ones metrics.

    You do realize that the stock market returns as a whole over the long term are in the ballpark of 10% per annum, right?

    Ah not really. That number is thrown around by "fancial advisors" to get people to invest with them. It depends on the asset classes one chooses and the years you look at. (The linked article also assumes one bought right after the Crash of '29) And that doesn't mean it will continue. And much of those returns were from the end of WWII to about 2000. Things are slowing down and with the Baby Boomers retiring and selling their holdings to buy their Harley Davidson motorcycles and Land Yachts, expect returns to be in the mid-single digits. The rate the financial planners I know are using 5% for retirement planning.

    1. Re:Not really. by dnaumov · · Score: 1

      Ah not really. That number is thrown around by "fancial advisors" to get people to invest with them. It depends on the asset classes one chooses and the years you look at. (The linked article also assumes one bought right after the Crash of '29) And that doesn't mean it will continue. And much of those returns were from the end of WWII to about 2000. Things are slowing down and with the Baby Boomers retiring and selling their holdings to buy their Harley Davidson motorcycles and Land Yachts, expect returns to be in the mid-single digits. The rate the financial planners I know are using 5% for retirement planning.

      Ah, no. The stock market consists of a single asset class: stocks.

    2. Re:Not really. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's more to the stock market than stocks, young padawan...

    3. Re:Not really. by Desler · · Score: 1

      Flat out wrong. ETFs are traded on the stock market and are not themselves stocks.

  9. I just uninstalled Opera from my smartphone by chaosdivine69 · · Score: 1

    because of this article. Thanks for the heads up /.

    1. Re:I just uninstalled Opera from my smartphone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You could still use an older version, you jackass.

  10. If you were a fan of Opera, suggest trying Vivaldi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The co-founder and former CEO of Opera recently left and launched a new browser, Vivaldi, with their old engine, Presto:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivaldi_(web_browser)

    I'm deleting Opera myself. Too high of a risk the company who bought ownership of the mobile and desktop editions of the browser will be snooping. Yes, Chrome and possibly IE and Safari snoop as well, but one reason for using Opera was to avoid that.

  11. Re:If you were a fan of Opera, suggest trying Viva by Tyrannosaur · · Score: 1

    I was going to vote this up (using vivaldi right now, it's a great browser!) but decided to clear up a misconception instead:

    Vivaldi uses blink, not presto, unfortunately. There are no current browsers using presto.

    It makes me sad Opera has slid so far. Probably smart of them to sell.

  12. Wait a minute... by Celti · · Score: 1

    Opera actually had a side to their business that wasn't a browser (that frankly went down the tubes years ago)?

    1. Re:Wait a minute... by CrashNBrn · · Score: 2

      When Opera ASA switched their desktop browser's rendering engine to Blink in 2012 - they were an Ads & Services company. 600M seems highly overpriced if all the consortium is getting is Opera's Blink based Android|Mac|Windows|Linux browser.

      If and when Firefox completes its addon|extension overhaul to be "Chrome-compatible", it's quite possible we wont even have a single browser that allows the end-user to be in control.

      Opera 12 (maybe even all the way back to version 7 or 8) has UserScript that can completely override javascript functions - meaning if some website wants to run function FOOBAR(), you can shadow that function so the code you want runs instead.

      Firefox still allows the end-user and extensions to change the page prior to rendering - which isn't as powerful as Opera 12 and its predecessors, it gives FAR FAR FAR more control than Blink based browsers allow.

      It would seem this acquisition doesn't even include Presto - so that code base is thoroughly closed and dead.

    2. Re:Wait a minute... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree. Opera until version 12 was a swiss army knife, all the other browser are just dumbed down toys.
      I was using Opera from around the year 1999, and sometimes used other browsers only for non compatible sites.

  13. Opera Mini's deceptive security by emil · · Score: 2

    I loaded Opera Mini on a Jellybean device, and tested it against the best-known SSL/TLS Scanner.

    Initial tests passed with flying colors, and indicated that I was using the "Presto" rendering engine, which routes traffic through Opera's server farm for compression.

    However, after I reduced the "data savings" parameter in settings from "extreme" to "high," Opera Mini then FAILS with flying colors, because it's using the Jellybean Webkit directly (that lacks TLS1.2, bundles bad ciphers, etc.).

    This is deceptive. Don't install this product.

    1. Re:Opera Mini's deceptive security by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      routes traffic through Opera's server farm for compression.

      That doesn't bother you?

    2. Re:Opera Mini's deceptive security by emil · · Score: 1

      That doesn't bother you?

      I was actually testing several dozen Android browsers for a project. No, I'd never use a browser engaging in this (Amazon).

  14. What about their free VPN? by um...+Lucas · · Score: 1

    I just started using their free VPN app on my phone, now I have real second thoughts about that...

  15. What's with the jingoistic nationalism? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just because a Chinese Internet consortium buys parts of the company that makes your cute little browser doesn't mean that suddenly all your base are belong to them.

    The "Chinese Back Door" is a myth. Those back doors are there by design as mandated by the NSA, for the purpose of having the US Government snoop on people, not China.

    The US is the bad guy here, NOT China.

    1. Re:What's with the jingoistic nationalism? by campuscodi · · Score: 1

      Who said the US is the good guy?

  16. Sigh ...Opera uninstalled ... by Thanatiel · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the warning.

    Don't ask yourself if you are paranoid.
    Ask yourself if you are paranoid enough.

    --
    Irrelevant news and morons using moderation to mod down what they disagree on. 2018 resolution: so long.
    1. Re:Sigh ...Opera uninstalled ... by Megol · · Score: 1

      I hope you don't connect to websites located in the US or allow data transfers over US, GB, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand networks.

      PS don't drink the water - protect your precious body fluids!

  17. As a former user and fan of Opera... by Lisandro · · Score: 1

    ...i honestly couldn't care less. This is just another nail in the coffin; good riddance.

    Opera died when, for some unfathomable reason, they decided to rewrite their browser as a Chromium skin. The original Opera browser was a fantastic product.

    Nowadays i use Chromium myself while i eagerly wait for the first stable release of Vivaldi.

    1. Re:As a former user and fan of Opera... by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      I agree. I strongly dislike the Chromium UI, and have been getting increasingly dismayed at the number of browsers that have decided to become a clone of it.

  18. Why do they need it when they already have by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple Safari??

  19. Avoid Dolphin browser too, by gravitas_shortfall · · Score: 2

    From 27 Apr., 2016: "Don't use Dolphin browser in incognito mode" https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4gnb2b/dont_use_dolphin_browser_in_incognito_mode/ From 25 Oct., 2011: "WARNING: Dolphin's collection of your browsing history": http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1319529

    1. Re:Avoid Dolphin browser too, by Nunya666 · · Score: 1

      From 27 Apr., 2016: "Don't use Dolphin browser in incognito mode" https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4gnb2b/dont_use_dolphin_browser_in_incognito_mode/ From 25 Oct., 2011: "WARNING: Dolphin's collection of your browsing history": http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1319529

      Although I appreciate the citations, citing limitations of a version that is 5 years old is kind of like complaining about an unpatched issue in Windows XP.

      Dolphin stopped forwarding URLs five versions ago. And that "play history" file doesn't even exist on my version.

      In other words, I will continue to use Dolphin. It's limitations are minor compared to Chrome/Google tracking and Firefox/Mozilla change-the-best-browser-out-there-into-Chromeshit.

  20. Speed Dial by nanospook · · Score: 1

    I have been using Opera since it came out in the 90's. I'm totally going to miss using Speeddial. Nothing I've seen in other browsers match it. For those of you who think Opera sucks, Opera was the root of innovation for many features you see in other browsers. Name it.. tabs? Yup,

    --
    Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
    1. Re:Speed Dial by Skulthur · · Score: 1

      I think you missed the part where some number of the old opera guys started a new browser called Vivaldi. Opera wasn't really the same opera since a little while. It's not that surprising they're selling it I guess.

      Vivaldi was still pretty "beta" until recently but now it's getting pretty stable and include a lot of must have feature from old opera. Vivaldi is pretty much the replacement for old opera, not the browser being sold. It already has a lot, if not most, features from old opera (including speed dial) so you should probably check it out. The thing I miss the most right now is having access to my bookmark from the menu (there is no bookmark entry in the menu) but it's not the end of the world (it will probably be there eventually). Really, most of it is already there.

  21. Dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope this finally kills Opera off.