Patents are becoming so valuable that Apple Inc. and Google Inc. may have to pay a 50 percent premium to buy InterDigital Inc., even after a decision to put itself up for sale sparked a 72 percent jump in the stock.
InterDigital, whose engineers invented some of the technology for high-speed mobile phone networks now used by the world’s biggest handset makers, has gained $1.4 billion since saying last week it hired banks to explore options including a sale. The $3.2 billion company, based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, may cost more than $5 billion, Algorithm Capital and Dougherty & Co. said. That would be the most expensive deal in the wireless equipment industry relative to earnings in more than a decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
