Mobifun’s Weblog

June is here and the flocks of tourists announce the coming of summer, the perfect time to present our own local entrepreneurial talent. Next MobileMonday on June 11 is about Barcelona Mobile Startups!

Networking
As usual, a networking party will follow the conference where participants will enjoy a glass of cava while sharing experiences about life and work. Attendance is free; all you need to do is register and/or confirm your presence for this event at www.mobilemondaybarcelona.com/subscribe/ to reserve one of the 150 seats available. Book now to avoid being left out!

• 19h00 Registration and Pre-Networking
• 19h30 Barcelona Mobile Startups speaker sessions & discussion
• 20h30 Cocktail and Networking Party
• 21h30 End

Venue: Auditorium University of Pompeu Fabra - França Building (Edifici França), Passeig de Circumval·lació, 8 - Barcelona 08003

Palm announced that it will sell a 25% stake in the company to private equity firm Elevation Partners for $325 million. Shares of Palm jumped to $18.40, a rise that recovered most of the value the company lost after buyout rumors in March failed to produce a buyer.

Palm says it plans to use the investment, as well as existing cash and new debt to pay $9 per share in cash to stockholders.

As part of the deal, Palm also will increase size of its board from eight to nine, adding Jon Rubinstein, formerly head of Apple’s  iPod division. Rubinstein will serve as executive chairman.

“As a result of this transaction, we will strengthen the Palm leadership team and create a more effective capital structure,” said Ed Colligan, Palm CEO, in a statement.

“I have tremendous respect for Ed Colligan, Jeff Hawkins and their team, and I am thrilled by the prospect of helping Palm deliver innovative products capable of transforming the mobile-device market,” commented Rubinstein in a statement.  “Approximately 1 billion cell phones are sold each year, and mobile computing is a category with enormous potential. This is a company with an impressive history of introducing game-changing products; it pioneered the smartphone and I intend to help extend that legacy.”

Fred Anderson and Roger McNamee, managing directors and co-founders of Elevation, also will join Palm’s board of directors. Rubinstein, Anderson and McNamee will replace Eric Benhamou and D. Scott Mercer.

This is Elevation Partners’ largest investment to date.

Mobile search solutions developer InfoSpace announced an agreement with Virgin Mobile to supply the MVNO with its complete suite of mobile platform services, including a customized, integrated search service. According to InfoSpace, the solution will capitalize on its recent partnerships with search technologies developer FAST Search & Transfer and web-to-mobile content adaptation service provider InfoGin, bolstering InfoSpace’s own metasearch technology with relevancy algorithms, crawling and indexing technologies and content adaptation services and enabling consumer searches regardless of data origin or format

Mobile virtual network operator Amp’d Mobile quietly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late Friday night, announcing the move on its website. The Chapter 11 filing follows weeks of rumors concerning the fate of founder and CEO Peter Adderton, who reportedly exited the company following a rift with directors; Amp’d said in a statement issued over the weekend that its “senior management team remains largely intact.”

Despite more than $360 million in venture capital financing and subscriber totals closing in on the 200,000 mark, Amp’d is over $100 million in debt, owing $33 million to Verizon Wireless for network operations and $16.4 million to Motorola for handsets. The Chapter 11 petition, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, is likely to erase that debt, but will also wipe out ownership stakes and preferred stock held by investors and content partners like MTV and Universal Music.