US tech acquisitions: Old-school giants join fray

San Francisco

FOR years, mergers and acquisitions in technology were fairly straightforward: Every investment bank kept a list of a dozen or so companies such as Google and IBM that had a track record of acquisitions and cash to deploy. When the time and price were right, bankers would seek to match the tech giants with a startup, and a deal would be hatched.

Now, the technology deal-making club has had its doors blown wide open.