Symbol for Sale

The logistics plus Wi-Fi and barcode giant will auction itself off: The firm could sell for $3.2b, a 20% premium over its current market capitalization. Symbol was a very early Wi-Fi player, using the technology to disentangle cables from its barcode readers and other devices used to track items in warehouses, on trucks, and on shelves. It was also an early entrant into the WLAN switch market with very weird devices that eventually matured and took a sizeable percentage of that market segment. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the company has had problems in capitalizing on the markets it’s part of or dominates, despite good but not well-growing revenue and marginal net profits. The company also went through an accounting scandal that led to eight executives pleading guilty and the CEO fleeing the country.