It is standard stuff to ask a simple question that has one word but the answer can not only take many paragraphs it is often not answered at all! I am hoping some one can help out as two press releases were issued today that needed explaining and the best question to ask to get the answer was of course, why?

The first was the news that Bain Capital and Apax Partners had joined the original bunch of investors that have acquired the Philips semiconductor operations for a rather large sum of money. The press release may have hailed the addition of the two companies as "a further vote of confidence in the company's prospects and in the management team," though I am not sure if this refers to the Philips semiconductor management or the new owners?

However, there was no actual explanation for the addition of the extra partners and I can only assume they help dilute the cash required from the original team to buy the Philips unit! Does that mean they have over paid and now need extra funds?

I was hoping a news story from Reuters etc... would have solved the mystery but all that I have seen is just a regurgitation of the typical brief and un-informing press release. So can some help us out with the answer to the question, why?

The second press release came from Samsung that was happy to announce the first 70 inch LCD TV Panel. This thing is huge and with recent reports about energy consumption of flat panels, both LCD and Plasma, it begs the question, why? Home use demand figures should have been provided by Samsung with this product as I don't have a wall that big to hang it on or a room long enough to sit that far away so that I can actually view it properly. My guess is very few people in the world (less than half a  million) would be able to mount it in homes let alone pay the energy bill!

Why Samsung, Why?

(Update) Sorry, these things should come in three's, so it just happens that ATI came out with a press release about 'TV Wonder' and mentioned it 14 times within the press release.

I wonder why?