Kraft made it...Finally it managed to get Cadburys commitment to sell

As they say the deal is no...and with this, Kraft have managed to get Cadbury's Board of Directors agreement to sell the company. This doesn't come for free to Kraft that has agreed to pay 840p per share which brings the total deal price of £11.6bn in a deal that involves both a cash and share element.

This is the second offer that Kraft made is much higher than the 745p which Kraft had made last September and that Cadbury had totally refused. The market was also expecting a move from either Ferrero or Hersheys as Cadbury preferred to be takenover in a friendly way (rather then in a hostile deal as Kraft tried to do in its initial approach) however both companies took to long to come up with an offer.

This deal did not go down really well with the famous US investor Warren Buffett who said that he had a lot of doubts on the deal. Kraft investors will not have the chance to vote on the deal, which involves the Kraft issuing 265m new shares, equivalent to about 18 per cent of its existing share capital, because that is below the 20 per cent level at which shareholder approval is required.

Mr Buffett, who holds more than 9 per cent of Kraft, said the company was worth more than its current stock price, which fell by 2 per cent at $28.72 in early Wall Street trading on Wednesday and hence the use of stock payment by Kraft make Cadbury's purchase a “very expensive deal”.

What do you think about the deal? Was it an ideal one or could Cadbury have made a better deal by waiting a bit more?

Google takes action against Censorship

Google has made the first step forward towards keeping faith to it's mission of providing free access to information. In the regards, Google’s issued a threat to China that it is considering pulling out of the country rather than accept to continue self-censorship.

Google declared that it was the victim of a series of cyber-attacks that originated from China. The cyber attacks where not the usual one as these were very sophisticated and targeted Gmail accounts of Chinese Activists. Google said that only two accounts were hacked into and emails were not read.

Although one would expect that other companies would follow suit given that the first step has been taken, Microsoft decided to back out. The chief executive officer of the company, described the Google affair as “a Google problem” and said: “Every large institution is being hacked. I don’t think it’s a fundamental change in the security environment on the internet.”

How will this go ahead? Will Google back down and continue to pursue large earning potentials that China offer or will it step up it's battle?

Google to launch Nexus One

Google have developed and finally launched a new mobile headset that is set to be a direct competitor of iPhone. This phone is Google's first official mobile phone device from the time it acquired mobile operating system company Android in 2005 (the mobile is being built by manufacturer HTC).

The strategy that Google will adopt will be different from that of iphone when it comes to distribution. Although Google will launch the Nexus through Vodafone in the UK, the operator partner will not be granted full exclusivity (Iphone launched in the UK with partner O2 on an exclusive basis). The phone is set to go on sale in the US, Singapore and Hong Kong initially and will later be rolled out in the UK.

The touch screen, sleek phone will cost $179.00 (£111) for a two-year contract with T-Mobile USA. Nexus One can also be purchased for around $529 (£324) on its own. Verizon Wireless in the US will plan to offer services to customers in the near future.

Like the iPhone, Android offers fully integrated web-browsing and video applications with a five megapixel camera. The phone will offer 18,000 apps and but unlike the iPhone, Nexus One allows multiple use of applications at the same time. Users will also be able access Google maps, emails and aggregated contacts. A voice enabled keyboard has also been embedded for speaking text messages, emails, tweets and Facebook updates.

Royal Mail figures published

Royal Mail posted an increase in profitability for the first half of the year up to September 2009. The Postal Company said that its modernisation programme is a key reason why postal workers staged national strikes in October however it helped boost operating profit by £7m to £184m in the six-month period.

Various modernisation techniques were introduced including a walk-sequencing machine which involves a device which organises letters into the order the postmen and women will deliver them the next morning. Adam Crozier, the chief executive of Royal Mail, said the profits and improved delivery figures on record in the spring proved modernisation of the letters business was working.

The figures reported although they show an increase in profitability it also shows a decline in mail volumes . Mail volumes fell about 8 per cent in the period. This decrease resulted in an increase in rivals' volumes such as TNT Post UK and UK Mail are gaining share. To date, one in three letters is handled by rival companies, Royal Mail admitted.

The figures reported here do not include the effect of October's industrial action by 121,000 staff. This could mean that Royal Mail might lose more share to competing companies. Let's wait and see what the next results will report.

Theme Park to develop new ride and promises it will be the scariest ever

First of all Happy Christmas to all of you...For all those that have the patience to read an article today I have found this news to be very interesting...

Have you ever been to a Theme Park? If yes, you'd probably gone to a horror house and some times you laugh with what you see...however this is might not be the case of the new Alton Towers Resort ride. In fact this park is to launch "the scariest ride in the UK" next year, it announced a week ago.

Thirteen, the new attraction is going to built on the site of the old Corkscrew roller coaster (which has gone on pension) and it aims to combine physical and psychological fear and will become the first ever "psychoaster". The ride which is set to cost £15 million will be restricted to 16 to 55-year-olds only and visitors will be limited to one ride per day due to concerns of emotional maturity and physical health. Apart from this visitors will also be required to sign a waiver which assures the resort of their physical and mental health in an attempt to avoid any resulting lawsuits which may result from visitors experiencing the ride.

This is not the first success of Alton Towers' as it had successfully deployed rides such as Nemesis, Oblivion and Air. The new ride will be based on the discovery of an unearthed ancient burial site in an area of unexplored woodland known as the Dark Forest. Thirteen with be built on a burial site that is part of the original Alton Abbey, one of the main features will take place inside the unearthed crypt.

Will you be one of the visitors to take on this challenge?

Ann Summers' rides on BA wave

Where you searching for innovative marketing campaigns? Then search no further then Ann Summers'. This company is very active in the online media industry and in fact was very fast to react to international events. iCrossing, Ann Summers' digital marketing agency, was very quick to bid on BA strike-related keywords (obviously when you think about it you will immediate notice the potential that these words have given the amount of Christmas travel that was expected) so that when users searched for the latest news on the industrial action, a sponsored ad promoting the retailer emerged.

The link read "The planes may be grounded but you can still join the mile high club!" A link through to Ann Summers Online is also provided. This campaign started a large wave of praise for people who are on the lookout for marketing geniuses especially on twitter... below are some examples of comments on Twitter:-

@funky72 wrote: " Enter BA strike into Google for example of great tactical search advertising ... nice work Ann Summers :)"
@annaats said: "Some nice rapid response paid search ads around the BA strike ;)"

This was not the first smart maneuver by Ann Summers'...During the cold snap in February this year, using snow-related search terms, the agency launched a sponsored link with the strap line 'Brrr...cold out there, why not stay in and get steamy with Sex Toys from Ann Summers'.

Lets all wait and see what's the next big news will be and how Ann Summers will react.

Procter & Gamble adds a new brand to its existing portfolio

Procter & Gamble is still going on with it strategic acquisitions in order to strengthen key areas of the business. In this regards, Procter & Gamble has agreed to buy the global air-care brand Ambi Pur for $470m from Sara Lee Corporation.

This acquisition of Ambi Pur strengthens P&G's global leadership in home care and specifically air care by extending the reach into new markets and strength the it's position in existing ones.

Ambi Pur which is a market leader in the Air-Care products in a lot of European countries will bring new innovative products to the existing Air Care portfolio of P&G. These technologies include car air fresheners, battery-powered air fresheners, toilet rim blocks and various non-energized air fresheners. P&G will now be able to leverage these additional technologies into it's existing brands in order to innovate and reinvigorate it's current brands.

Ambi Pur generated annual sales of approximately €260 million in the year ending June 2009.