Palm sells to Bono, brings on Apple execs

Palm's shareholders have voted to approve the partial sale of the company to private equity firm Elevation Partners (the firm co-founded by none other than U2 frontman Bono), as expected. The move will change the company's board by adding Jonathan Rubinstein, the former head of the iPod division at Apple, as the executive chairman. The new board will also include embroiled former Apple CFO Fred Anderson as well as longtime Silicon Valley investor, Roger McNamee, who are both now with Elevation Partners. The deal sees Elevation paying $325 million in cash for 25 percent of the company, while Palm will pay out about $940 million in cash to shareholders for their reduced ownership. Could this be the shakeup that the flagging handset vendor so sorely needs?

For more on the deal:
- read this press release