Company News: Sallie Mae shareholders OK $25 billion buyout deal

Shareholders of SLM Corp., commonly known as Sallie Mae, on Wednesday approved a private-equity firm’s $25 billion buyout of the nation’s largest student lender.

Shareholder approval had been expected. It came in a vote at a special meeting at the company’s headquarters in Reston, Va.

But uncertainty hovers over the takeover deal, which would be one of the largest private buyouts ever. The investors that agreed to buy Sallie Mae for $60 a share, J.C. Flowers & Co., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have said that legislation could kill the deal.

That helps explain why SLM shares are only trading around $47.

At issue are the two sides’ interpretation of their April acquisition agreement, under which significant negative developments can nullify the deal.

“Two years after announcing a somewhat vague software-distribution partnership, Google Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. have clarified their tactics for jointly attacking Microsoft Corp. and its ubiquitous Office software.

Google quietly began including Sun’s StarOffice suite of word processing, spreadsheets and other workplace-oriented programs for free as part of the Google Pack download.

The download package is part of Google’s efforts to expand beyond Web search and control more of users’ computing experience online and offline. It already includes Firefox, the No. 2 Web browser behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and RealNetworks Inc.’s RealPlayer, a key rival to Microsoft’s own media player.

By adding Sun’s software, Google is giving a valuable endorsement to a server and software maker that saw demand for its products collapse after the dot-com bust and has struggled to recover.

“EBay Inc. on Wednesday gave sellers in the United States and Canada a one-day reprieve on listing fees for certain auction and fixed-price items, in what it characterized as a test of potential improvements to the buyer experience.

The move could give a small boost to listing numbers at a time when many Wall Street analysts are gloomy about a trend of declines in the U.S. and several other markets, which they consider a sign of weak demand. EBay’s U.S. listings, excluding eBay Motors and Stores, are down 4.6 percent compared with last year, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan.

The San Jose, Calif., company has said that listing declines are due to its ongoing effort to cull poor-quality listings and counterfeit products.