According to both CNBC and the Financial Times Microsoft is set to join a group planning to buyout Dell-- and is putting between $1 and $3 billion of mezzanine funding.

Mezzanine financing is a hybrid of debt and equity.

Unnamed sources "familiar with the matter" say private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Dell CEO Michael Dell are bringing together a group ready to take the 3rd biggest PC maker in the world private.

Such a task might cost up to $25bn, the FT says.

Being a large software supplier to Dell, Microsoft has an interest Read more...

Former Microsoft senior VP Joachim Kempin tells Reuters Microsoft needs a change in leadership-- even if CEO Steve Ballmer "systematically" forces out any potential challengers to his leadership.

"For Microsoft to really get back in the game seriously, you need a big change in management," Kempin says. "As much as I respect Steve Ballmer, he may be part of that in the end."

Kempin worked at Microsoft from 1983 to 2002 and is the author of "Resolve and Fortitude: Microsoft's 'Secret Power Broker' Breaks His Silence". His leaving Microsoft was mired in controversy following the use of a number of contracts he crafted with PC makers as ammo against Microsoft in the 1998-2002 antitrust prosecutions by the US government.

According to Kempin, Ballmer has repeatedly ousted potential rivals to the CEO throne he occupied since 2000. This was first seen in 2002 departure Richard Belluzzo (former Microsoft COO and Xbox console creator), and more recently with the November 2012 leaving of Windows boss Steven Sinofsky.

AMD files serious allegations against one former VP and three former managers-- the transfer of sensitive AMD documents before joining rival Nvidia and the violation of a "no-solicitation of employees" promise.

Talk about some good old fashioned corporate skulduggery...

The chip maker says former strategic development VP Robert Feldstein, together with ex-managers Manoo Desai and Nicolas Kociuk, copied over 100000 company documents (including "two licensing agreements with significant customers, and a document outlining proposed strategies Read more...

The annual Intel keynote at CES 2013 is all about the 4th generation of Core processors-- the first designed specifically for thin and light laptops of the Ultrabook variety.

According to Intel the 4th generation Intel Core family "enables true all-day battery life" reaching up to 9 hours of continuous use with operation as low as 10W.

"The 4th generation Core processors are the first Intel chips built from the ground up with the Ultrabook in mind," Intel PC Client Group VP Kirk Skaugen says.

Also seen at CES is "North Cape," a reference design Read more...

According to a leaked internal email from CEO Yang Yanqing, Lenovo will split into separate consumer and enterprise units from April 2013-- the Lenovo Business Group (LBG) and Think Business Group (TBG).

Senior VP (mobile digital home) Liu Jun will lead LBG, which will focus the mainstream with consumer and business PCs and tablets, smartphones and smart TVs.

The second TBG unit is led by Senior VP (products Group) Dr. Peter Hortensius and will sell high-end Think products, enterprise workstations and servers through the incorporation of the Read more...

A dark horse emerges in the race to acquire Motorola Home Business-- US-based networking equipment maker Arris beats Pace and buys the Google cable TV technology division for $2.35 billion in cash and stock. 

"This transformational combination of two complementary businesses will create a leading end-to-end provider of today's video, data, and voice products and tomorrow's next-generation IP-based broadband products," Arris CEO Bob Stanzione says.  "Ever-expanding consumer demand for bandwidth will continue to drive growth across cloud and network t Read more...