Franco-German aircraft maker Airbus has written to clients warning them of more possible delays in deliveries of its A380 superjumbo, a German magazine report said on Sunday. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 10:46 am
It's official. At 7:56 PM Saturday night, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) officially threw in the towel in its bid to acquire Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Now that the details are out, the differences were just too wide. Microsoft took its offer up to $33.00. Yang was holding out for $37.00. Unless every bit of media and every bit of research was wrong, Yahoo! had no real second bid that would have generated even a "low-$30's" share price. In fact, everything we saw in the "new age of liquidity pressures and softer economics" might dictate the shear size of...
Bakers Footwear Group Inc. reported late on Friday that fiscal fourth-quarter net income jumped after a one-time gain, on 11% lower sales and 6.8% lower same-store sales.
There’s another side to the 134th Kentucky Derby – the ground-level betting – and Churchill Downs Inc. reported that total wagering on the race fell 3.2% from the figure in the 2007 race.
A New York City foods producer voluntarily recalled 286,000 pounds of fresh and frozen meat and poultry that might be contaminated with Listeria, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said.
Software giant Microsoft drops its bid to buy internet firm Yahoo after the two sides fail to agree a price. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 4 May 2008 | 7:49 am
A boiler exploded on Saturday at an International Paper mill in western Mississippi, killing a contract worker and injuring 17 others, media reports said.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp walked away from its bid to buy Yahoo Inc on Saturday after the Internet company turned down its offer to raise the price by $5 billion to $47.5 billion.
Amateurs vie with the pros in the hunt for undervalued household treasures. Doing your homework can help you compete.
If you're willing to wade through the remnants of another person's life, you can find bargains at an estate sale. You just may have to knock a dealer out of the way to get to them. ¶ Antique sellers, book collectors and EBay users show up to these events early. Often they're armed, with magnifying loupes to scrutinize figurines, research books on vintage furniture or an iPhone to check price comparisons. ¶ The professionals are looking for the same things you are: deals. These days, estate sales -- and more prosaically named yard and garage sales, along with swap meets, flea markets and auction houses -- seem to be full of them. The slumping economy has pushed prices down, as has competition from Internet sites, a dwindling interest in antiques and furnishing trends that veer toward the sleek and uncluttered. ¶ "It's definitely a buyer's market," says Billy Humphries, the co-owner and main auctioneer at South Coast Auction in Santa Ana. "What we were selling 10 years ago for $500 we're selling for $150 now." ¶ Although the term "estate sale" often is used loosely, it's generally expected to mean that all the contents of a household can be purchased, minus, perhaps, items collected in advance by family members. (In some parts of the country, they're called "tag sales" because items are tagged with prices rather than auctioned off to the highest bidder).
Many young adults erroneously think that what's cool for school will fly at work. If you're about to start your first job, research what your employer expects of you -- before setting foot in the door
Are you a new graduate about to get your first job? Shanti Atkins would like a few words with you.
It seems quaint to think of it now, but it was only three years ago that lawmakers in Washington were debating whether to impose a windfall profits tax on the oil industry for all oil sold above $40 a barrel.
Forget staging -- the latest weapon in the savvy seller's arsenal is the home manager. It's a sweet deal for both sides: Owners get occupants who'll maintain that lived-in look and tenants get an upsc
POCKETS OF people across the Southland are living like royalty without it costing them a king's ransom. Take Jim and Laura Fisher, currently basking in about 5,000 square feet of luxury on the water in upscale Huntington Harbor.
The companies had engaged in takeover talks, but were unable to close a multibillion-dollar gap in price expectations. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 7:00 am
Bargain hunting is the name of the game as amateurs vie with the pros to find the best deals. Doing your homework can help you compete. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 7:00 am
Amateurs vie with the pros in the hunt for undervalued household treasures. Doing your homework can help you compete. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 7:00 am
TEL AVIV, Israel, May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ofra Strauss, Chairperson of the Strauss Group (TASE: STRS), and Erez Vigodman, Group CEO and President, announced today Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 6:27 am
Australia's most populous state is set to privatise its electricity industry despite overwhelming opposition from the ruling party's rank-and-file membership, Treasurer Michael Costa said. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 6:12 am
AFP - As other businesses struggle in an economic slowdown, US pawnbrokers are thriving thanks to increasing numbers of Americans forced to separate with their family jewels to make ends meet.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp walked
away from its bid to buy Yahoo Inc on Saturday after
the Internet company turned down its offer to raise the price
by $5 billion to $47.5 billion.
A New York food company is recalling more than 286,000 pounds of meat and poultry because it might be contaminated with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. The voluntary recall... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 4:20 am
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp withdrew its offer for Yahoo on Saturday as negotiations fell through on price, even after the software giant raised its bid by about $5 billion to... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 3:48 am
China is flush with entrepreneurs boasting newly acquired riches, but young investor Chen Hao believes a key ingredient is still missing from the country's modernising economy: more venture Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 3:36 am
Microsoft Corp.'s pursuit of Yahoo Inc. ended abruptly Saturday when the world's largest software maker withdrew a sweetened $46 billion offer and said it would not make a hostile bid for the Internet company.
Steve Ballmer has decided to pack up his bags and go home. The Microsoft boss yesterday decided to abandon his $42 billion takeover of Yahoo! after raising his offer by $5 billion today- from $29 a share,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 2:51 am
It has become a habit when Exxon Mobil has a blockbuster quarter, as it did last week, for the company to come under fire for driving up gasoline prices. But attacks from the heirs of John D. Rockefeller,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 2:34 am
Microsoft Corp. pulled its acquisition proposal for Yahoo Inc. late Saturday after failing to come to terms with the Web portal’s management team over the price.
Microsoft on Saturday withdrew its takeover offer for Yahoo as the internet company continued to reject the terms of the proposed deal, despite a higher offer worth $33 a share, or $46.5bn.The apparent... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 2:05 am
Microsoft withdrew its takeover offer for Yahoo as the internet company continued to reject the terms of the proposed deal, despite a higher offer worth $33 a share, or $46.5bn Source: FT.com - US homepage | 4 May 2008 | 2:05 am
Microsoft on Saturday yanked its proposal to acquire Yahoo, saying the struggling Internet pioneer refused to budge on price despite the software giant upping its offer to nearly 50 billion Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 1:47 am
In the Q&A session Saturday morning at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, CEO Warren Buffett and vice chairman Charlie Munger repeatedly warned investors to lower their expectations. When a shareholder asked whether Buffett's recent purchases of publicly traded stocks were likely to generate returns greater than 7% to 10% over time, Buffett promptly said no.
According to several sources, Microsoft (MSFT) has dropped its offer to buy Yahoo! (YHOO). The Wall Street Journal writes that "Microsoft said it had increased its offer to $33 a share, but said Yahoo wanted at least $37 a share." Executives at both firms had meetings several times over the last few days. Douglas A. McIntyre
Microsoft said Saturday that it was abandoning its blockbuster bid to acquire Yahoo after it raised its offer by $5 billion but Yahoo rejected it as still too low. The about-face followed a meeting on... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 12:34 am
Microsoft's high-stakes and high-profile courting of Yahoo is over. The spring romance soured before it even began.
Saturday afternoon, Microsoft released a letter that its chief executive wrote to Yahoo's C.E.O. Jerry Yang, making clear its intent to take its final and enriched $45.5 billion bid and go home.
There will be no more haggling.
There will be no hostile takeover either.
It's as if the whole takeover affair never happened.
Except that, for many, it did. Yahoo shareholders who, betting a deal would happen, had bid up the company's stock from $25.81 last Tuesday to $29.70 in after-hours trading on Friday are out of luck.
Yahoo's stock will certainly tumble Monday, perhaps even back to the $19.18 price before Microsoft's Feb. 1 offer.
The deal also set into motion other discussions between companies that may still happen. Yahoo has been in talks with Google over deploying its search ads across its network. A trial run could happen as early as next week, and if extended would almost certainly raise antitrust concerns.
As well, Microsoft and Yahoo may try to step up alliance or investment talks with players such as Time Warner's AOL or News Corp.'s MySpace, both of which made cameos in the stories covering every detail of the Microsoft-Yahoo deal.
Microsoft may also try to buy other Internet and search properties like Ask.com or ValueClick. Yahoo or Google could try to swoop in first to nab such names, raising the possibility of bidding wars over smaller companies.
Ballmer's letter was as bittersweet in tone as the Feb 1 letter, signaling Microsoft's intent to acquire Yahoo, was arrogant.
"I am disappointed that Yahoo has not moved towards accepting our offer," he wrote. "Clearly a deal is not to be."
Ballmer also noted that "our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft."
In particular, Ballmer urged Yahoo not to get in bed with their common foe, Google. Along with antitrust issues, he said, it would effectively cast aside the Panama paid-search system Yahoo worked so hard on, and "effectively enable Google to set the prices for key search terms on both their and your search platforms and, in the process, raise prices charged to advertisers on Yahoo."
While it's not clear that Google has ever been interested in raising ad prices, the Yahoo-Google alliance would stifle an element of competition in keyword prices at a crucial time for the search market.
But Yahoo has more pressing short-term concerns, namely appeasing shareholders who were banking on a 70-percent premium through Microsoft's final $33 a share bid. The surest way to make them happy is to boost revenues and profit as fast as possible.
(Yahoo had no official response to Microsoft as of late Saturday, and a call to the company received no response.)
Microsoft says it's dropping its three-month-old bid to buy Yahoo because the two sides can't agree on an acceptable sale price. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer says in a letter Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 12:23 am
Microsoft says it's dropping its three-month-old bid to buy Yahoo because the two sides can't agree on an acceptable sale price. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer says in a letter Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 12:17 am
Big Brown nabbed the Kentucky Derby crown Saturday but the finish was marred by tragedy when second place Eight Belles broke both ankles and had to be euthanized on the track just minutes after the race.
BSkyB has attacked media watchdog Ofcom for relying on "theorising" and "hypothetical scenarios" in its investigation of the satellite broadcaster's influence on the pay television market. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Patrick McKenna, financier to Britain's showbusiness elite, has paid himself more than £100m from the profits of his privately held company, Ingenious Media. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California and star of The Terminator films, has found a new partner in his battle to save the world, writes Jonathan Russell. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
The corporate cash kings needed to drive some morale-boosting deals for the economy are thin on the ground, says Helen Power. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
The European private equity house Silverfleet Capital has put Jost, the world's biggest trucks parts manufacturer up for sale, with a price tag of up to €600m (£470m). Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Every now and then, I read something in a newspaper that is so ridiculous - the product of such sloppy thinking - that I visibly grimace. Regular readers of this column no doubt feel the same way. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, will this week hold talks with a string of continental energy giants in a bid to earn a say in the future of British Energy. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Microsoft indicated last night that it was willing to increase its offer for the internet giant Yahoo!, according to US sources, raising hopes that the two will end their three-month stand-off and secure a $45bn takeover deal. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Sarah Deaves escaped Sir Fred Goodwin’s shredder at the historic bank’s parent RBS and is blazing a trail for women, writes Richard Northedge. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, will this week hold talks with a string of continental energy giants in a bid to earn a say in the future of British Energy. Source: Telegraph Business | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
The pharmaceutical industry is taking a tough line in negotiations on drug pricing, offering to cut the 11bn NHS drugs bill by roughly half the amount the Government is looking for. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 4 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Despite all the hype for electric cars and hydrogen fuel cells, experts say we'd better get used to pumping gas, but we can look forward to much better fuel economy down the road.
WHEN the top names unite, you know something’s afoot. That was the case at 10
Downing Street recently when some of the biggest companies in British —
indeed world — business confronted Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
RECENT DAYS have witnessed some extraordinary developments, most of them from
the Bank of England. Time was when months would go by without a peep from
the Old Lady. Now it has become a news-generating machine that Max Clifford
would be proud of. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
Pearson, the owner of the Financial Times and Penguin Books, is deepening its
interest in the education sector with the purchase of its first schools. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
Spain's Bankinter has asked Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) about a buyout of
their insurance joint venture, in a move that values the business at up to
£700m. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
Centrica is in talks with EDF, the French utility giant, to create a new
Anglo-French company to mount an £11 billion bid for British Energy (BE). Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
The engineering and construction group Sir Robert McAlpine is selling off its
North American windfarms business in a deal estimated to be worth up to $1
billion ($£506m). Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
SOME of the biggest names in British business have told Gordon Brown and
Alistair Darling that Britain risks a corporate exodus if Treasury tax
proposals on foreign earnings go ahead. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
Hedge Funds are beginning to bet that shares in Britain’s biggest banks have
hit rock bottom, in spite of mounting speculation about further
multi-billion-pound rights issues and fresh concerns about the mortgage
market. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
THE big banks have become too large to manage their own risks properly, Warren
Buffett, the world’s most successful investor, warned last night. Their size
had led to the recent meltdown in financial markets. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
The Bank of England is set for a tight decision on interest rates this week,
amid new evidence of sharply falling business confidence and a series of
recent reports pointing to a sharp slowdown in the economy. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 3 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
Reuters - Warren Buffett said on Saturday
said the U.S. Federal Reserve avoided financial market "chaos"
in coordinating the March bailout of Bear Stearns Cos ,
which faced imminent bankruptcy before agreeing to be acquired
by JPMorgan Chase & Co .
OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Saturday said the U.S. Federal Reserve avoided financial market "chaos" in coordinating the March bailout of Bear Stearns Cos , which... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 3 May 2008 | 10:39 pm
OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett said on Saturday said the U.S. Federal Reserve avoided financial market "chaos" in coordinating the March bailout of Bear Stearns Cos , which faced imminent bankruptcy before agreeing to be acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co .
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett says the risk of a major financial meltdown has declined recently but cautions not to expect big gains from the stock market in future years.
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett cautions that returns in the years ahead from the company's equities portfolio, as well as gains from its own stock, will likely be lower than those seen in previous decades.
Swiss-based multinational Nestle apologises after its giveaway CD-ROM causes outrage in Azerbaijan. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 3 May 2008 | 7:31 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy lost jobs for the fourth month in a row in April but at a slower pace than earlier in the year, easing fears that the economy was at a growing risk of slipping into a deep recession.
The rising costs of living are prompting calls for pay increases, but employers say high prices are hitting businesses too and workers will have to push hard for a raise.
Employees are now demanding and receiving compensation for... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
BG Groups's $15.8 billion takeover bid for the parent of Contact Energy throws open the question of whether the Labour-led Government will try to bring New Zealand's only listed power generator back under state ownership.
As the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
Potential buyers are avoiding weathertight houses with monolithic cladding because of the leaky homes scandal.
Mediterranean-style properties with flat roofs and homes without eaves and are also a turn-off, with some buyers saying... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
Economists are warning that the housing market is becoming over-supplied, which will place more pressure on falling house prices.
Net migration has been falling even faster than house building has slowed, meaning fewer houses are... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
The volatile exchange rate is the biggest barrier to more New Zealand companies exporting, the latest business survey has revealed.
Statistics New Zealand last week announced results from its annual business operations survey,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
Paul Brown, national director, of ChildFund New Zealand, talks about changes to tax rules around charitable donations.
What changes have there been to tax laws around donations from individuals?
Previously, as an individual,... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
What is it called and what sort of savings product is it?
Magellan Global Fund is an Australian unit trust investing in large capitalisation shares.
What is the company behind it?
Magellan is a boutique manager with an... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
Bankruptcies are on course to rise 20 per cent this year.
The Insolvency and Trustees website shows 1311 people were made bankrupt in the first four months of 2008.
That gives a projected total of 3933 for the year, a big jump... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 5:00 pm
Microsoft has withdrawn its US$42.3 billion (euro27.36 billion) bid to buy Yahoo, scrapping an attempt to snap up the tarnished internet icon in hopes of toppling online search and advertising leader Google Inc.
The decision to... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 3 May 2008 | 4:59 pm
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German chemicals company BASF
has felt the repercussions of a financial crisis
mostly in North America and expects the global market for
chemicals to grow by 2.8 percent this year, its chief executive
told a German weekly.
LAGOS (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell shut down more of its production in Nigeria after a fresh militant attack on Saturday on a flowstation in the restive Niger Delta, where local militants have stepped up a campaign of violence.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co does not expect the U.S. financial crisis to end soon and will remain very cautious, its top executive said in comments published by a German weekly on Saturday.
Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co does not
expect the U.S. financial crisis to end soon and will remain
very cautious, its top executive said in comments published by
a German weekly on Saturday.
It appears that Boeing (NYSE: BA) is facing another delay for deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner and the company's CEO is facing a major challenge to his credibility. After two significant set-backs in the delivery timetable, the firm has said it is on schedule for next year. The German daily Die Welt writes that it has become aware of delays though letters from Boeing to customers. As Reuters points out "None of the 55 or so airlines which have bought the plane have canceled their orders, but many have said they will seek compensation for late deliveries." Leaving aside the...
Sprint (NYSE: S) may have found a buyer. The interested party is German phone giant Deutsche Telekom NYSE: DT). DT owns the fourth largest cellular carrier in the US. Sprint has the third largest network, but has struggled to keep subscribers since it bought rival Nextel. Sprint's shares are trading at $7.81 down from $25 less than two years ago. The firm has had financial troubles because of customers losses and has fallen well behind AT&T (T) and Verizon Wireless. Combining Sprint and T-Mobile would create a strong, third competitor in the US market. Sprint has no solution to building...
Late word is that the hedge fund business that Citigroup (C) CEO Vikram Pandit sold to the bank for $800 million has lost a huge amount of its value. All of the outside investors in the fund, Old Lane, hit the exits. According to The New York Times "Citigroup said on Friday that “substantially all” outside investors redeemed their investments, leaving the fund with about $1.5 billion." Old Lane had $4.5 billion under management last summer. The sale of Old Lane to Citi is what got Pandit in the door at the money-center bank. As CEO, his track record is...
AFP - As other businesses struggle in an economic slowdown, US pawnbrokers are thriving thanks to increasing numbers of Americans forced to separate with their family jewels to make ends meet.
Reuters - Microsoft Corp walked
away from its bid to buy Yahoo Inc on Saturday after
the Internet company turned down its offer to raise the price
by $5 billion to $47.5 billion.
Reuters - Warren Buffett said on Saturday
said the U.S. Federal Reserve avoided financial market "chaos"
in coordinating the March bailout of Bear Stearns Cos ,
which faced imminent bankruptcy before agreeing to be acquired
by JPMorgan Chase & Co .
Reuters - Boeing Co. denied a German
media report on Saturday it had informed customers of another
delay on its new 787 Dreamliner model.
Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co does not
expect the U.S. financial crisis to end soon and will remain
very cautious, its top executive said in comments published by
a German weekly on Saturday.