So, a few days ago HP bought EDS. Today, CBS is buying CNET.com, a technology news and reviews Web site. In the battle of the acronyms, who will come out as the best acronym-laden acquisition? While the CBS/CNET deal is chump change ($1.8 billion) compared to HP/EDS ($13.9 billion), it’s still nothing to laugh at.

Why did CBS buy? Well, it may have a little something to do with getting more Internet traffic. And, as has been noted, advertising is one of the few mediums whose revenue is not being too harshly affected by the recession. And what’s one of the fastest-growing channels for advertising? Yep; the Internet. In addition, CNET’s traffic numbers played a big role in the deal.

According to a press release, the acquisition will make CBS one of the top 10 “most popular” Internet companies, with a combined 54 million unique users per month. Of course, we love nothing more than the totally weird PR-speak that goes into press releases, so I can’t resist this choice quote from CBS Interactive’s Quincy Smith:

“The core businesses of CNET Networks and CBS Interactive represent near perfect category symmetry in premium online content.”

That’s about five adjectives and one verb. Well done. In the meantime, I’m begging CBS to let me know when they will start airing a new season of the reality TV show Kid Nation. That was an hour of television whose content was both premium and near perfect. [TechCrunch]

So it turns out I could have cashed in my government bonds and bought EDS, guys. Because I own almost $14 billion in bonds, right? Sure. Anyway, HP announced today that it’s buying Texas-based Electronic Data Systems. You might recognize EDS from our own little magazine–EDS’ Alex Halikias writes a column for us called “Inside Outsourcing.”

The announcement means HP will be able to stake a claim in the technology outsourcing space, and directly compete with IBM. As more ginormous companies and government agencies turn to outsourcing tech projects, the market is expected to grow, according to analysts quoted in the news article. The acquisition means HP will now have 210,000 employees in 80 countries. Whoa — we have three editors at Speech Tech.

HP makes the big bucks in selling printers, PCs, and servers, but also made $16.4 billion in revenue in business consulting. The EDS acquisition will only further strengthen the company’s grip on business and technology consulting. We’ll keep you updated with news when we hear more. Also, EDS’ CEO, Ron Rittenmeyer, will stay on board with the same title. [MercuryNews.com]

In other news– Though Nuance ended its second fiscal quarter with revenue above expectations, the stock has been sliding. Goldman Sachs analyst Derek Bingham is quoted in the article as saying:

“Nuance’s March report showed that the company’s Network Speech business is not immune from macro slowing, consistent with slowdowns we’ve seen in other large-deal areas of software.”

The company’s stock is down almost 7 percent today. [Barron's]

[Image: LearnMergers.com]