Biz people

'Takeover bid makes no sense'

Any takeover bid for peripherals maker Logitech International SA by Microsoft Corp would be "an operation without sense", Logitech's chairman was quoted as saying in an Italian newspaper. Shares in Swiss-based Logitech rose in January based on speculation Microsoft would launch a takeover bid.

Analysts dismissed rumors of an $8 billion takeover bid and Logitech board member Daniel Borel, the company's largest shareholder, said he had no reason to sell his stake.

"(Shares) only rose for a day. Anyhow it would be an operation without sense," Logitech Chairman Guerrino De Luca (below) told Corriere della Sera.

"I reiterate, without competition Logitech would lose the great pressure to innovate. Moreover there would be problems from antitrust authorities seeing as the two companies together would have a virtual global monopoly in mice and keyboards."

Logitech is the market leader in PC mice, while Microsoft is its biggest competitor with "30 percent of our market", De Luca said.

When asked whether Microsoft had bought any stake in Logitech, De Luca replied: "It would not be opportune seeing as we are competitors.

"However I am proud of the fact that a small stake was bought by the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation," he added, referring to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' charitable organization.

De Luca said Logitech was investing $100 million a year in research and development and was "not worried about Asia and other producers".

With regard to laptops affecting sales of mice, De Luca said: "Is the mouse dying with the laptop? On the contrary. It remains a third of our turnover," adding that sales in the last quarter rose 25 percent.

Morrison set to call it a day

Britain's fourth-largest food retailer WM Morrison Supermarkets is set to unveil a share buyback of up to 1 billion pounds over two years when it reports results on Thursday, newspapers said.

Chairman Ken Morrison (right) will bow out after 56 years at the group that bears his name, announcing its first share buyback program in its 109-year history, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Morrison will be replaced by Ian Gibson as chairman.

The Sunday Times said analysts at UBS and ABN AMRO expect Morrison to announce a share buyback of between 500 million pounds and 1 billion pounds for the next two years.

(China Daily 03/11/2008 page16)