Palm nabs another $100m from Elevation Partners, takes it to the bridge
by Joshua Topolsky 
posted Dec 22nd 2008 at 11:17AM
According to reports today, Palm has managed to snag another $100 million from Elevation Partners (the private equity team co-owned by Bono). The new figure gets tacked onto Palm's existing $325 million buy-in from the firm. The previous sum was put towards the struggling handset / software-maker's "strategic recapitalization," and we can only assume this latest infusion is being used for the home stretch into that New OS and those New devices we're expecting see come CES. It's not completely surprising you'd want to juice your previous large investment, but if Palm's numbers keep shifting downward, it seems unlikely this will be anything other than a Hail Mary. Even if Bono loses $100m in his couch cushions, it doesn't mean Elevation Partners is in for the long haul.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bill @ Dec 22nd 2008 11:48AM
They'd better have something SPECTACULAR in store for CES. Otherwise they are toast.
I have a cousin that worked there for several years until she was laid off a few weeks ago. She told me that, before the layoff, she played with some very cool prototypes, but she's not gadget savvy at all so I don't think she'd know what's got real potential and what doesn't.
We'll soon find out I guess.
Brian @ Dec 22nd 2008 1:08PM
Fuck Bono.
Phut @ Dec 23rd 2008 12:30AM
Well, thanks for that input.
Colonel Kernel @ Dec 22nd 2008 1:43PM
That Elevation is willing to invest even more in Palm has to be seen as a good thing. I don't know what Elevation's track record is, but 100 mil is a significant percentage of their "nearly $1.9 billion in committed capital."
Having said that, this IS Palm's Do-Or-Die. If Nova and the new device(s) don't fail to impress more than just me then, despite their pivotal role in PDA/Mobile history, they will be regarded as no more than an also-ran.
Having also said that, if Apple can be brought back from near-irrelevance, then so can Palm.
Charles Knight @ Dec 22nd 2008 7:21PM
Palm has been burning through cash - I'm guessing we get an announcement at CES that nova is not going to be out until the end of 2009 and this $100 million was a "put in or we could go bust before during the roll-out". For Elevation, that would represent a chance to save their current investment and hope the buzz around nova will turn the company around (or at least provide a temporary lift to the stock price so they can offload it).
Chris B. @ Dec 22nd 2008 9:35PM
I'm in with Bill, spectacular and useful, and they'd better have Verizon lined up as one of their new customers in short order. I'd been emailing with one of their senior engineers, he related that the new OS is functional, attractive, and powerful - but getting it on a device we can get our hands on? That's the trick - Palm should have had the OS out before Xmas and the Y-E tax write-off schedule, but getting a cool device with the new OS before the end of 2009? We'll see.
keithwwalker @ Dec 23rd 2008 5:42PM
Whatever they do, it better be 'post-keyboard'. I feel a large part of Palm's momentum lapse is that it didn't build upon Graffiti text input.
The logical progression would of been some sort of finger or gesture driven (and not stylus based) text input, or speech recognition.
Apple has shown what Palm has forgotten - get rid of the keyboard and you get a larger screen. I am no apple fan, never will have an iPhone, but Steve Jobs did what Palm forgot.