Shares of General Motors reached an important milestone on Friday, closing above their initial public offering price of $33 for the first time in more than two years. GM shares reached $33.General Motors, the largest U.S. automaker, said its OnStar unit will begin offering 4G LTE service in vehicles next year in a partnership with AT&T.
The faster mobile data speed will first be available in most 2015 model year vehicles in the United States and Canada, GM said.
Additional markets and service providers will be announced in coming months, the company said.
“We’re making a global commitment to embed 4G LTE mobile broadband across all of our vehicles,” said Mary Chan, president of GM’s Global Connected Consumer. “This is the largest commercial deployment of 4G LTE services in the auto industry.”
The move marks an evolution for GM’s OnStar, which has 6 million subscribers in the U.S. and Canada for the in-car communication service.
The Detroit automaker traditionally emphasized OnStar’s operators while other automakers have developed programs that used onboard navigating systems with video screens or systems that piggybacked off connections with smart phones.
GM’s OnStar operator-emphasis strategy is changing with the introduction of new telematic systems in Cadillac and Chevrolet, the company said.
Royalty Pharma offers to buy Elan
Royalty Pharma said Monday that it wants to buy Elan Corp. PLC for about $6.5 billion, but has yet to receive a formal response from the Irish drugmaker.
The $11-a-share offer, which was made earlier this month and applies to both Elan’s regular and American depository shares, represents a 4 percent premium over its closing ADS price Friday.
The news sent Elan’s U.S. shares up 70 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $11.30 in midday trading, after peaking at $11.61 shortly after the session’s opening bell.
Royalty Pharma, a private company in New York, acquires royalty interests in marketed and late-stage biopharmaceutical products. It does not discover, develop or market drugs.
The company said Monday that Elan hadn’t formally responded to its proposal.
HP finally parts with webOS in LG deal
Hewlett-Packard is selling its webOS software to South Korean electronics company LG Electronics, securing a new home for a technological orphan.
The deal announced Monday rids HP of the centerpiece of its ill-fated, $1.8 billion purchase of Palm Inc. three years ago.
HP used webOS as its springboard into the smartphone and tablet computer market in 2011, but quickly scrapped the mobile devices running on the software amid disappointing sales.
