peHUB First Read

Some links to kick off your Wednesday:

* No one is getting hired in finance anymore, so M&A turns the discussion toward how to get fired.

* TDC’s lenders are upset that the company bought back around €200 million of its own debt at a discount. Unclear if the banks are angry about the general concept of buying up one’s own debt, or the fact that TDC didn’t buy any back from the lenders pro rata.

* Apple has agreed to buy VC-backed chipmaker PA Semi for $278 million. Dean Takahashi’s take: “I suppose this is only fair, since Apple ruined PA Semi’s original business plan. Founded by Dan Dobberpuhl in 2003, PA Semi started out designing PowerPC microprocessors for Apple’s low-power laptops. Then Apple threw a monkey wrench in that plan and switched to Intel.”

* Speaking of which… Huge day for Bessemer Venture Partners. PA Semi is just one of three exits.

* A list of domain names registered by Google.

* Foreseeing a National City nightmare.

* Morgan Joseph is hosting a SPAC conference today. In an effort to show just how silly some of these vehicles are, the speakers (read: SPAC managers) include ex-Notre Dame pigskin coach Lou Holtz.

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