[ltp] US Government May Not Approve Sale of IBM PC Unit

[morpheus]

> But the stock price of the potential buyer, Lenovo, acutally rose by 
> about 7% on hearing that there might be obstacles to the deal i.e. the 
> market is pessimistic about the benefit Lenovo will gain from the sale.  
> If there is anything the US worries about may be the fame & prestige of 
> the tag "IBM PC Compatible" being stolen by the Chinese. 
> 
The US government doesn't work like the Chinese government. It doesn't
care at all about "fame & prestige."  The only time the government ever
stops a merger deal is when there may be monopoly issues, but this is
extremely rare when Republicans are in control.
The government understands (and I'm sure IBM's lobbyists have explained)
this is just a sale of an underperforming asset to increase
profitability.
However, the US government also understands that with any international
deal, there is always an advantage that can be gained by playing hard to
get.  They did the same thing in the 1980's with Japanese purchases of
large US corporations and properties, and managed to get the Japanese
Yen devaluated, anti-dumping agreements, etc.
I'm sure that's what they're doing now...wouldn't be surprised if
they're trying behind the closed doors to push for devaluation of the
Yuan.
-m