The future and other problems

Private equity can't get back to business until it figures out what to do with $430 billion in loans due between 2012 and 2014.

With $33 billion in cash and equivalents and a track record of 133 acquisitions since it snapped up its first company in 1993, it's no stretch to say Cisco wrote the book on tech M&A.

Smaller funds, smaller firms, smaller deals and smaller exits may be the future of venture capital.

The return of tech dealmaking brings with it a revived threat of scrutiny.

Tech IPOs are on the rise.

Climb off the Roubini bandwagon. Join the BusinessWeek optimism campaign and sip from an economic glass half-full.

Proposals to reregulate derivatives haven't even been submitted yet, and Congress is already bickering over who will control what.

RPX aims to protect tech companies from trolls, but that can also entail doing business with them.

Australian-Chinese mining deals are politically contentious and financially volatile. Now the Chinalco-Rio Tinto deal has collapsed.

Sealy tries an elegant defensive move and a trio of -- yes! -- dividends.

Revenue recognition rules can affect accounting and pricing strategies. See Oracle-Sun.

In German bankruptcies, managers normally get fired and companies usually get liquidated. But SinnLeffers tried a more American approach.

New accounting rules are aimed at curtailing the practice of housing shaky loans outside the balance sheet.

As Pfizer prepares for another digestive challenge in the form of Wyeth, it is trying to unload some compounds it already has.

Earnouts are figuring in many deals these days, but more than a few may be headed for court.

Sun Micro's purchase of database provider MySQL shows the challenges involved in acquiring open-source software.

Some thought Kroes would cede moral and even legal authority for the duration of the financial crisis, but that hasn't happened.

PIPEs, the 20% rule and alternative outcomes.

In his ruling in Amylin, Delaware's Lamb stripped away a key protection from debtholders.

Managing intellectual property assets.

Michael E. Martin has turned up at Warburg Pincus.

Frank Quattrone finds himself in the middle of a bidding war.

Chris Temple is in as president of Vulcan Capital.

M&A in 2009: Financing isn't the only hurdle.

OpenTable's shares rose 60% on their first day of trading -- the biggest first-day gain in 18 months. But will this mark an end to the IPO drought?

AlixPartners will oversee the dismantling of up to 20 GM factories and a handful of brands. Meanwhile, Weil's GM bankruptcy team is led by Harvey Miller.

Skadden's Joseph Coco was front and center on Fortress' Zwirn deal.

The economy is doing fine, except for those unsightly brown patches.

Max Capital and IPC argue that their combination is strategically superior to one between Validus Holdings and IPC.

On economic metaphors and the shooting of "green shoots."