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Ericsson ( NSDQ: ERIC ) and French-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics announced Wednesday that they were merging their wireless chip and software businesses to create a joint venture that will end up supplying four of the big five handset makers, reports Reuters . The new company, which builds on STMicro's acquisition of the wireless unit of Dutch chipmaker NXP, is in a better position to compete with Qualcomm ( NSDQ: QCOM ) and Texas Instruments. Analysts point out that in the semiconductor business scale matters. Ericsson will pay STMicro $700 million, and plough $400 million into the joint venture, while STMicro will contribute $1.2 billion in assets into it. Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

MocoNews has learned that mobile games developer Hands-On Mobile is shedding its European game business four years after acquiring the company. This division, which also covers the Middle East and Africa, will be transferred to an expanded Connect 2 Media , a cross-platform game developer. The business goes right back into the hands of Eric Hobson, CEO of Connect 2 Media, who originally sold the earlier incarnation of the division, Blue Beck Media, to Hands-On four years ago. He left Hands-On earlier this year to join Connect 2 Media. Hands-On will retain a minority stake in the operation, which at the same time is receiving a $6.7 million investment from Acuity. Hands-On injected some cash into the deal, as well, but it was minimal since the deal was mostly pegged around the transfer of its EMEA assets. This follows Hands-On's sale of its Korean division to EA less than two months ago for $29 million in cash. Niccolo de Masi , president of Hands-On, explained the move in an interview today: "We've been looking at how we can bulk up our distributing ability in EMEA for a while now." The company had to buy or build in order to achieve that and thinks it's getting both with this deal. By "rolling ourselves into one vehicle," the company's opportunity will grow substantially by getting more boots on the ground and combining each of the parties' areas of expertise across multiple platforms. "We've effectively taken a smaller stake in a much larger entity… We don't consider ourselves to be selling anything to be honest." Hands-On wouldn't disclose how much of a share it gets in the bigger company, but said it retains all the rights that come with being a minority shareholder. Acuity and Connect 2 Media will also be minority shareholders in the newly merged company, leaving no party with a majority share . Hands-On plans to increase its equity in the company through continued investment, De Masi said, adding that...

Updated : Globes Online reports that the round is a big one: $22 million, and includes all the names listed below. The company raised $5 million earlier this year and will have raised a total of $52 million when the present round is completed..this makes it among the most heavily funded mobile advertising company till now. The company was founded in 2005 by Zohar Levkovitz, the former CTO of Comverse. Original post : Aug 6: Amobee Media Systems , a mobile advertising company, said today it received an undisclosed strategic investment from Motorola ( NYSE: MOT ) and Cisco Systems ( NSDQ: CSCO ). The two new investors join a round in which Telefonica ( NYSE: TEF ), Vodafone ( NYSE: VOD ), Accel Partners, Globespan and Sequoia Capital already participated. The company recently scored a deal with Telefonica and deployed with Vodafone in Italy, Spain and Czech Republic. It also hired Gary Schofield as president and COO. Schofield was most recently president of networks at mobile publisher Digital Chocolate. ( Release ). Related Mobile Advertising Firm Amobee Closes Second Round—$15-20 Million Rumored Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.

Not necessarily a secret, but Verisign is divesting off its "non-core" businesses, and has done some of them, but is now hitting road bumps in selling off some of the bigger units, as it admitted in its Q208 results call today . "As market conditions have worsened, buyers are taking more conservative postures, making it difficult to bring deals to closure, and it has become apparent that the approaches to deals we believe would work at the beginning of the sales process will not work today." How this matters to us is that it owns 49 percent of mobile content player Jamba, which is now focused primarily on Europe...the other 51 percent is owned by News Corp ( NYSE: NWS ). AND, among the units it has put on sale is its " Content and Messaging Services " unit, under which Jamba falls. Here's what it said on the call today: "Messaging is the third of the three large businesses we are divesting. We began marketing efforts in late May with feedback in early July, showing interest in both parts and the whole of the messaging business. Based on the sales process and the accounting standards, we intend to place messaging into discontinued operations in the third quarter." Any guesses as to who will buy the 49 percent share? The logical choice is that News Corp buys the rest of it, but maybe the two together cold sell of Jamba as a whole to some other third-party. Whatever it is, it won't fetch anywhere near the $270 million Verisign paid for it in 2004, or may not even be near $188 million News Corp paid in 2006 for its 51 percent share. If you do know, send us a tip through the anonymous tip box in the left hand column (RSS readers will have to click through). Disclosure: Verisign has been a sponsor of mocoNews Related Jamba Quitting Mobile Games Development, Shutting Ojom Unit What's Happening At Jamba? Strategic Options? Industry Moves: Verisign CEO Roper Resigns; Bidzos Is Interim Head Social Media Deals Report: This 199...

French venture capital firm Sofinnova has purchased handset manufacturer Sagem for $340 million, reports Mobile News . Safran, the parent company of Sagem that saw profits tumble 27 percent during the first half of the year, will retain a 10 percent stake in the business following the $340 million in handover charges and write-downs. Sofinnova plans to rename the company Sagem Wireless, under which it will develop and market white-label devices for other handset manufacturers and wireless carriers. It also plans to make phones for fashion, sports and luxury companies. More than half of the 690 employees will be transferred to software development companies that Sofinnova holds stakes in. About 310 employees will remain, 70 of which will be located at the company's new headquarters in Cergy-Pontoise, France and 240 will transfer to the company's manufacturing plant in Ningbo, China. Sagem currently builds phones for Sony ( NYSE: SNE ) Ericsson ( NSDQ: ERIC ), Vodafone ( NYSE: VOD ) and Orange. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year. Almost two years ago, Motorola ( NYSE: MOT ) was said to be eyeing a purchase of Sagem, but later denied any interest, ZDNet reports. Social Media Deals Report: This 199-page report, filled with charts and data, examines the categories, number and size of VC and M&A deal in social media from 2007 through 2008. Visit the ContentNext Reports page

Nokia ( NYSE: NOK ) is investing about $150 million more in its direct venture arm, Nokia Growth Partners , more than doubling the size of its current fund. The priority for the new money: India and China, it says. It will start venture arm in those countries soon. Menlo Park, CA-based Nokia Growth Partners was set up in 2004 to directly manage $100 million of Nokia's money. Its investments include mobile/online streaming service Kyte, Finland-based graphics firm Bitboys, and India's Sasken Communications, among others. In total, Nokia's total venture investments are more than $900 million...it has invested more than $600 million into early-stage global funds of BlueRun Ventures, formerly Nokia Venture Partners, since 1998. Globe and Mail : Rick Simonson, Nokia's CFO, said the company is not using Nokia Growth Partners to try to find the next Google ( NSDQ: GOOG ) or Amazon ( NSDQ: AMZN ) of the mobile Internet. Instead, it looks for firms that have existing products and customers, in which it can invest $8-million to $10-million during the life of the relationship and see a twofold return on investment. From the release : Target investments include companies creating innovative mobile applications and services that encourage rapid adoption of mobile solutions, such as context and location based services, mobile payments, mobile advertising, music and entertainment and other mobile services and software. Check out the best business jobs in digital media. Go here for paidContent.org Job Board.