Palm had 5 suitors, most were after patent portfolio

Engadget breaks down Palm’s buyout by HP as detailed in its SEC statement on the matter with some very interesting little tidbits.  It breaks down like this:

• In February, Palm realized it needed outside help.  Options included a buyout or selloff of assets (patents) or licensing of WebOS
• 16 companies were targeted and contacted about a buyout or other options.  In March, Palm decided that a full buyout was the best option 
• HP and two others wanted to buy the company.  Two more made offers to buy patents/license WebOS.
• It eventually came down to HP and ‘Company C’ who “told Palm it wasn’t raising its acquisition offer [which was only 20 cents/share below HP], but offered to buy patents and take a nonexclusive license to webOS for $800 million.”
• HP and Palm completed the deal from April 24-28th when it was announced.

Company C sounds a lot like HTC to me.  Remember that the HP deal was announced on the 28th but was probably finalized earlier.  

Don’t forget HTC sold its soul to the devil made a patent sharing deal with Microsoft on April 27.  That sounds like Plan B.  Buying Palm was probably Plan A in its patent battle against Apple but it probably became too expensive.

Other payers involved could have been Dell, Motorola, Lenovo, Nokia and a few others, including Apple.