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Rating: has this got something to do with patents?
Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong
Curious news on the NeoMedia Technologies front. It appears that a US-based billionaire, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, just bought a significant stake (estimated to be approximately 25.9 per cent) in NeoMedia. The transaction was completed on March 20th [2012]. More details are available here and here. This raises the question of why Soon-Shiong should want to buy into a company which specialises in 2D barcode/QR code technology?There’s also speculation Dr Soon-Shiong might, in fact, be planning to acquire the entire company. So why would a man who made his money in the pharmaceuticals industry suddenly start showing an interest in QR code technology? We’d guess it has something to do with patents.Who is Dr Soon-Shiong (who incidentally bought the shares through his investment arm – Global Grid?
Well according to Forbes here, he’s the richest man in Los Angeles – the 44th richest man in USA and worth around $7.2 billion.
The guy made his fortune mainly by buying out a company- Abraxis BioScience, which specialised in breast cancer treatment.
It looks like Dr Soon-Shiong’s interest has been attracted by the fact that after years of trying, NeoMedia finally landed a patent for its mobile barcode management technology. See our previous story here.
It appears that Patrick Soon-Shiong has a vision for restructuring the US health care system and he’s openly talked about the use of smartphones for object recognition.
So if he manages to make QR codes an integral part of the medical industry (and they are pretty central to it right now), then owning the relevant patents makes a create deal of sense.
Our thanks to the GoMobile News readers who tipped us off to these events. Next time use the comments facility – it’s faster than sending emails which disappear into our spam filter!
Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong
Curious news on the NeoMedia Technologies front. It appears that a US-based billionaire, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, just bought a significant stake (estimated to be approximately 25.9 per cent) in NeoMedia. The transaction was completed on March 20th [2012]. More details are available here and here. This raises the question of why Soon-Shiong should want to buy into a company which specialises in 2D barcode/QR code technology?There’s also speculation Dr Soon-Shiong might, in fact, be planning to acquire the entire company. So why would a man who made his money in the pharmaceuticals industry suddenly start showing an interest in QR code technology? We’d guess it has something to do with patents.Who is Dr Soon-Shiong (who incidentally bought the shares through his investment arm – Global Grid?
Well according to Forbes here, he’s the richest man in Los Angeles – the 44th richest man in USA and worth around $7.2 billion.
The guy made his fortune mainly by buying out a company- Abraxis BioScience, which specialised in breast cancer treatment.
It looks like Dr Soon-Shiong’s interest has been attracted by the fact that after years of trying, NeoMedia finally landed a patent for its mobile barcode management technology. See our previous story here.
It appears that Patrick Soon-Shiong has a vision for restructuring the US health care system and he’s openly talked about the use of smartphones for object recognition.
So if he manages to make QR codes an integral part of the medical industry (and they are pretty central to it right now), then owning the relevant patents makes a create deal of sense.
Our thanks to the GoMobile News readers who tipped us off to these events. Next time use the comments facility – it’s faster than sending emails which disappear into our spam filter!
