The internet could run out of addresses by 2011, cutting off access to new users and stifling creativity across the globe, unless governments step up their investment, the OECD warned today. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 3:00 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell slightly at the open on Thursday after data suggested some weakness in the economy and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged banks to actively raise capital as needed.
The billionaire investor unveiled a slate of 10 new directors and revealed he had acquired a $1.5bn stake in Yahoo, stepping up the pressure on the internet group to consider a deal with Microsoft Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 2:18 pm
European shares hold in a tight range as a mostly downbeat set of earnings from the hard-hit financial sector offset strong performances elsewhere from companies including Vivendi.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasurys mostly erased earlier losses on Thursday, sending yields lower, after data showed manufacturing activity in the New York region fell in May and jobless claims rose in the latest week.
The leaders of the Senate Banking Committee are close to striking a deal to help borrowers facing foreclosure on their homes, the panel's chairman says.
Dan Culloton, a mutual fund analyst for Morningstar Inc., says that the key to picking good mutual funds is understanding the manager’s style and having insight into how the manager will run money in all market environments.
A billionaire investor announces he will fight to oust the present board of directors at Yahoo. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 2:09 pm
About 360,000 fewer Americans will travel 50 miles or more this Memorial Day weekend as gasoline spikes near $4 a gallon and airlines’ fares gain altitude on the historic rally in oil prices, the Automobile Association of America said Thursday.
Dobbies Garden Centre, the AIM-listed group at the centre of an ownership
struggle between Scottish billionaire Sir Tom Hunter and Tesco, will proceed
with its £150 million rights issue after Sir Tom failed in a legal bid to
block the move. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 2:07 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Private equity and real estate company Blackstone Group reported a first-quarter loss on Thursday as turbulent markets cut into the accounting value of its investments.
Reuters - Carl Icahn launched a proxy battle to
force Yahoo Inc to reopen buyout talks with Microsoft
Corp , the billionaire investor said in a letter to the
Internet company on Thursday.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carl Icahn launched a proxy battle to force Yahoo Inc to reopen buyout talks with Microsoft Corp, the billionaire investor said in a letter to the Internet company on Thursday.
Reuters - Financial market turmoil underscores
the need for "generous" capital cushions, and banks need to
actively raise money as needed, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Financial market turmoil underscores the need for "generous" capital cushions, and banks need to actively raise money as needed, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. railroad CSX Corp said on
Thursday its board is unanimously opposed to an agenda put
forward by activist investor group The Children's Investment
Fund (TCI), and is asking shareholders to re-elect its
directors.
Reuters - Stocks fell slightly at the open on
Thursday after data suggested some weakness in the economy and
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged banks to actively
raise capital as needed.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. stocks on Thursday tilted higher following a soft start after a slew of data and rising oil prices cast a negative light on the economy, while a flurry of deal-making in the online media space bolstered thinking of more M&A activity ahead.
It is almost impossible to imagine what the CBS (CBS) management and board were thinking when they bought CNET (CNET) for $11.50 a share or $1.8 billion. CNET has done so poorly that the shares have not been above $10 since April 2006. The high price CBS is paying borders on being irresponsible. A look at CNET's last 10-Q shows how troubled the company is .A large internet content operation should probably be showing revenue increases of 12% to 18%. In the last quarter, CNET revenue went from $89.1 million to $91.4 million, an increase of under 3%. CNET claims...
Stocks eased slightly early Thursday as investors considered rising oil and gas prices, a weaker reading on manufacturing and a rash of deal news and rumors.
The US Senate banking committee gather to vote on proposals to use public money to guarantee billions of dollars of refinanced mortgages and strengthen the regulation of government-backed mortgage companies Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 1:46 pm
In the latest signal of the nation's manufacturing weakness, industrial production fell in April, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve on Thursday, with the decline wider than economists expected.
Wall Street stocks were set to extend recent gains on Thursday morning as investors shrugged off news of rising claims for unemployment benefits and weakening manufacturing activity and analysts upgraded... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 1:35 pm
US stocks were set to extend recent gains as investors shrugged off news of rising claims for unemployment benefits and weakening manufacturing activity while Yahoo shares rose as Carl Icahn launched his battle to force the internet company to reopen talks with Microsoft Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 1:35 pm
Reuters - CBS Corp said on Thursday it
would buy web media company CNET Networks Inc for
about $1.8 billion to boost the television broadcaster's reach
across the Internet.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - CBS Corp said on Thursday it would buy web media company CNET Networks Inc for about $1.8 billion to boost the television broadcaster's reach across the Internet.
AP - The nation's industrial output plunged in April, reflecting big cutbacks in autos and other manufacturing industries. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 15 May 2008 | 1:29 pm
Reuters - Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc
reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as
weak demand forced it to cut prices to clear unsold
merchandise, but the results were better than Wall Street
expected.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as weak demand forced it to cut prices to clear unsold merchandise, but the results were better than Wall Street expected.
The nation's industrial output plunged in April, reflecting big cutbacks in autos and other manufacturing industries. The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that industrial production ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 1:26 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. workers filing claims for initial jobless benefits rose by 6,000 in the latest week while the number on benefit rolls after a first week of aid hit a four-year high, a government report showed on Thursday.
Britons are facing more months of rising mortgage costs after the rate at
which banks lend to each other unexpectedly spiked and lenders rushed to
borrow £78.3 billion from the Bank of England, which had £13.7 billion on
offer. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 1:20 pm
The nation's industrial output plunged in April, reflecting big cutbacks in autos and other manufacturing industries. The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that industrial production ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 1:17 pm
The company said profit fell 6.2 percent to 426 million pounds ($828.5 million) in the fourth quarter as costs rose and it lost some wholesale customers to broadband services. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 1:12 pm
The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) has reported earnings this morning, and it's really hard to find anything pretty in the release. The private equity leader posted a GAAP net loss of $246.7 million after items, and its "economic net income" was listed also a s a loss at -$93.6 million. Its total net reportable segment revenues were $32.3 million, driven down by declines in all business segments from $1.23 billion in 2007. Its GAAP revenues were $68.5 million. This will show you the magnitude of the drops in segments reported: Corporate Private Equity had negative first quarter revenues; Real...
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market.
The recent dreadful news on inflation and the Bank of England's hawkish Inflation Report suggest that interest rates will not fall as quickly this year as we had previously hoped - we have raised our year-end... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 1:07 pm
The recent dreadful news on inflation and the Bank of England's hawkish Inflation Report suggest that interest rates will not fall as quickly this year as we had previously hoped - we have raised our year-end forecast from 4.0pc to 4.5pc. But the result is a greater risk of recession next year and beyond. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 1:07 pm
Television company CBS agrees to buy online technology news and entertainment website CNET. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 1:05 pm
Rescue workers continued to struggle to reach some of the areas worst affected by Monday's earthquake, but the sharp escalation in the expected death toll indicates hopes are fading for tens of thousands of people trapped under collapsed buildings Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 1:05 pm
Oil climbed above $125 a barrel Thursday, a day after the U.S. government issued a mixed report on the country's petroleum reserves and the U.S. dollar weakened against other key... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 1:03 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil investor T. Boone Pickens' Mesa Power LLP said on Thursday it ordered 667 wind turbines from General Electric Co as part of the $2 billion first phase of a planned Texas wind farm.
The central bank issues a 500m Zimbabwe dollar banknote, worth US$2, to try to ease cash shortages. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 1:00 pm
The purchase will vault CBS into the top 10 Internet companies in the United States.
CBS Corp., playing the white knight in a Web-publishing proxy fight, this morning said it agreed to buy CNET Networks Inc., the Internet news and entertainment company, for $11.50 per share, or about $1.8-billion in cash.
Subprime losses at Mizuho Financial Group reached Y645bn ($6.14bn) last fiscal year, Y80bn more than Japan's second-largest bank estimated about a month ago, when it revised down its forecast for the third... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:57 pm
General Motors Corp. and a local union agreed Thursday on contract terms that could end a monthlong strike at a Michigan plant which makes some of GM's hottest selling vehicles. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:50 pm
Until recently, celebrity rocker Tommy Lee didn't worry about the environment. He was too busy being one of his industry's foremost rude boys. Now the Motley Crue drummer thinks it's "really cool" to evangelize about how the earth is in trouble.
Oil prices rose on Thursday, boosted by weakness of the dollar, as the market shrugged off a downgrade by OPEC of global demand growth for crude, analysts said. New York's... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:45 pm
JDS Uniphase Inc. (NASDAQ: JDSU) has just announced that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $200 million in shares of common stock. The repurchases can be via open market or private transactions, and it set this as a two year period ending May 14, 2010. JDS Uniphase's market cap is roughly $2.6 Billion. Based upon today's prices, this would net out approximately 17 million shares. That in turn is representative of nearly 2.5 days worth of average trading volume. As far as how this relates to total cash, as of March 29, 2008, JDSU had...
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market. The Labor Department... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:42 pm
The movie rental chain Blockbuster says it swung to a first-quarter profit on lower expenses and improved results from its subscription service and domestic sales growth. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:41 pm
Wall Street is headed for a higher opening after the Labor Department issued a report on first-time claims for unemployment benefits that was mostly in line with expectations. The... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:38 pm
The number of newly laid off workers applying for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, indicating the weak economy was still weighing on the job market. The Labor Department... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:31 pm
It is difficult to summon much sympathy for the C.E.O.'s of the biggest companies in the world: They are, after all, more than richly rewarded to suffer whatever slings and arrows may be fired from shareholders, regulators, customers, and the press.
One could feel sorry, however, for the chief executives of General Electric and American International Group. Sure, both are under fire because their companies have stumbled badly. Yet their companies' current woes stem in large part from decisions made by their predecessors—predecessors who won't shut up but seemingly shadow their every move and misstep with public comments.
Exorcising the ghosts of the past may be part of the reason why Jeff Immelt of General Electric has decided to put the company's appliance unit on the block.
According to several reports, G.E. has hired Goldman Sachs to prepare an auction of the unit, which accounts for about 4 percent of the company's $173 billion in annual revenue.
The Wall Street Journalreports that the appliances business could fetch between $5 billion and $8 billion. The buyer is likely to be foreign, and the New York Timessays that "Asian manufacturers are expected to be particularly drawn to the division, seeking to take advantage of G.E.'s widely known brand name as they try to become global businesses."
Some analysts and investors have advocated that the company shed more units, like NBC Universal, and focus on its more profitable businesses.
Appliances are a small slice of General Electric. But selling the business would be breaking a link to the past: G.E. began in 1907 as a maker of appliances. So it is the symbolic heart of the G.E. conglomerate.
It's probably not something that Jack Welch would have done, and that is the point.
Welch created a legacy that is impossible to follow. He gave the job of C.E.O. rock-star status and made the G.E. conglomerate an exemplary model when he retired in 2001.
It is a model that Immelt needs to break.
During Welch's tenure, the G.E. Capital unit grew to account for half of the company's revenue. It was problems in the finance business amid the credit crunch that caused General Electric to stun Wall Street with a rare miss of its earnings target.
Still, that didn't stop Welch, 72, from ranting on CNBC soon afterward that his former protégé was "getting his ass kicked."
Commenting that Immelt had a credibility problem, Welch said, "I'd get a gun out and shoot him if he doesn't make what he promised now."
At least Welch recognized quickly the damage he had done. He backtracked on CNBC the next day, saying that Immelt is "a hell of a C.E.O."
Immelt, as Welch knows, has been shedding financial assets, including the subprime plagued WMC Mortgage unit, to focus more on its industrial business.
Martin Sullivan of A.I.G.—who succeeded Hank Greenberg as chief executive after Greenberg was ousted in 2005 amid investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Eliot Spitzer—has fewer strategic options than Immelt.
A.I.G.'s push into credit derivatives began under Greenberg. Yet the former C.E.O., who built A.I.G. into a global insurance giant, has been sharply critical of Sullivan, his former lieutenant, saying that the company is in "crisis."
Sullivan can be faulted for not moving more quickly and more aggressively: The company for some time last year seemed to be in denial about the credit crunch. But the steps being taken now—raising capital, reducing risk, and strengthening the management ranks—are the right ones.
Greenberg, who is 82, has not suggested any strategic alternatives in his criticism. He is clearly willing to talk down the value of his main stock holding simply to score some points in public.
DSG unveils a revival plan which will lead to the closure of almost half of its Currys.digital stores. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 12:28 pm
Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) managed to beat earnings expectations this morning. The company posted $0.20 EPS on a 5.4% revenue decrease to $1.39 Billion. First Call had estimates at $0.15 EPS on $1.44 Billion in revenues. Operating income was $70.2 million. The company's same store sales rose 2.9%, but this was on a smaller number of stores. The company also noted that BLOCKBUSTER Total Access(TM), its subscription rental offering, is now profitable and positioned for growth. Here were some balance sheet highlights: Cash and cash equivalents $137.7 Merchandise inventories $397.4 Rental library $444.8 Accounts payable $453.8 Total debt (w/ capital...
Shares in DSG fell 10pc this morning after the newly appointed chief executive John Browett failed to cheer investors when he revealed the details of his long-awaited turnaround plans for the retailer, formerly known as Dixons. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 12:06 pm
Shares in DSG fell 10pc this morning after the newly appointed chief executive John Browett failed to cheer investors when he revealed the details of his long-awaited turnaround plans for the retailer,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:06 pm
Barclays is wise, given the vascillating that has embarrassed its rivals, to
refuse to rule out some kind of capital raising. The bank this morning
admitted that its core equity Tier 1 capital ratio, which was already below
the bank's 5.25 per cent target at December, would fall even further,
possibly to as low as 4.9 per cent according to analysts, by the half-year.
Finance director Chris Lucas says that Barclays is "prepared to run
ahead of targets or below, depending on circumstances". But with
financial regulators pushing banks to beef up their capital buffer, and
Barclays' competitors' aiming for targets of 6 per cent at the very least,
the bank is going to look increasingly out of step. Questions about its
balance sheet are likely to to continue to drag the stock. A further
downturn in the financial markets could worsen the problem. It was tricky to
tell how parts of the bank are faring. Barclays Capital has been profitable
in the year to date despite the turmoil. But, although it wrote back up £500
million worth of its own debt, Barclays did not mention similar improvements
in its credit investments. It has also been sparing in writing down its
leveraged finance exposure. There is much that could still turn sour for
banks this year. No wonder Barclays wants to leave all its options open. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 12:04 pm
Reuters - General Electric Co is looking to
sell its appliance unit in an auction that could bring in $5
billion to $8 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on its
Web site on Wednesday.
The US broadcaster has paid $1.8bn for the owner of popular US websites like ZDNet, News.com and GameSpot.com, extending its reach online Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 12:04 pm
CBS, the US broadcaster, on Thursday moved to beef up its presence on the internet with the $1.8bn cash purchase of CNet Networks, the San Francisco-based network of technology and entertainment focused... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:04 pm
BOSTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co is looking to sell its appliance unit in an auction that could bring in $5 billion to $8 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Wednesday.
Three months is evidently a long time at BT Group. The below-forecast sales
growth and poor cashflow revealed in February’s third-quarter results was
enough to trigger a 10 per cent fall in the shares of the £18 billion
telecoms operator. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 12:03 pm
UBS has raised its raw oil price targets for 2008 to 2010 and has lifted its coverage in the oil sector. UBS also initiated coverage on some of the oil and drilling companies this morning. Here are a few of the stocks they initiated coverage on: Chevron (NYSE: CVX) raised to Buy from Neutral. Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO) started as Buy with a $160 target. Hercules Offshore (NASDAQ: HERO) started as Neutral with a $35.00 price target. Noble Corp. (NYSE: NE) started as Buy with $81.00 target. Pride (NYSE: PDE) started as Neutral. Rowan (NYSE: RDC) started as Buy with...
Oil recovered back towards the $125 a barrel level on Thursday as investors bought back into the commodity following falls in the previous session.Driven by rising distillate prices, Nymex West Texas Intermediate... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 12:01 pm
The purchase will vault CBS into the top 10 Internet companies in the United States. CBS Corp. this morning announced... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 11:54 am
Analyst coverage is looking pretty thin on individual calls this morning, but here are ten of the analyst calls we are looking at this Thursday morning: Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL) raised to Buy at Jefferies. EV Energy (NASDAQ: EVEP) started as Buy at Citigroup. GATX (NYSE: GMT) Raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Morgan Keegan. Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ: ITRN) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan. CEC Entertainment (NYSE: CEC) cut to Hold at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Longs Drug Stores (NYSE: LDG) Started as Buy at UBS. National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch. Salary.com Inc....
The right to request flexible working is to be extended to about 4.5 million parents of children aged up to 16. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 11:29 am
In a move that makes little sense, a TV network, CBS (CBS) will buy a tech website business, Cnet (CNET). The price was $11.50. Cnet has been under pressure by activist shareholders to sell the company or restructure units. According to CBS "The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide." It is, however, a TV company buying a online tech business. Nice match Douglas A. McIntrye
US conglomerate General Electric is contemplating selling off its appliances business, reports suggest. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 11:20 am
National Grid, the UK's biggest utility company by market value, is
considering taking on the German energy giants on their home turf with the
purchase of some of E.on's transmission assets. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 10:59 am
European equity markets were little changed on Thursday as any attempts at gains were held back by weakness from the region's banks.By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was fractionally higher at 1,355.23,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 10:58 am
London equities were held back on Thursday, with banks under pressure after Barclays revealed net losses relating to strained credit markets. Britain's third-biggest bank by market value stopped short... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 15 May 2008 | 10:57 am
The Financial Services Authority has levied a record £900,000 fine on one of
the country's biggest independent financial adviser groups for serious
failures in selling sub-prime mortgages. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 10:55 am
For years, GE (GE) has been considered the single best corporate proxy for the US economy. For years it led all American companies in market cap. It businesses range from entertainment to medical equipment to infrastructure services to finance. It be hard to find as broad a representative for the scope of American business. Or is it? GE has fallen out of favor and now it is selling one of its oldest businesses, its appliance operation. Investors have been calling for a break-up of the parent company for years. When the firm had a bad quarter earlier this year, the...
A fall in premium-rate services revenue has hit the fixed-line business of BT
and helped flatten pre-tax profits in Ben Verwaayen's final year as chief
executive. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 10:34 am
John Browett could be forgiven for wondering what he’s walked into. Shortly
after joining DSG International in December, he was forced to issue the
first of two profit warnings. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 10:32 am
No one needs to be reminded that IAC/Interactive (IACI) is breaking itself into five pieces to improve "shareholder value". The fight between Barry Diller and John Malone over whether the move was OK played out in all of the papers. IACI was always a badly conceived company. It tried to put together things like a home shopping network, a lending operation, a ticket sales firm, and an unusually weak group of internet properties. As part of the preparation, for the spin-offs, the world's smallest search engine, Ask.com, part of the Diller internet division is buying Lexico which owns Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com...
Three month profit at the German utility RWE falls by 48.5%, hit by regulation, currencies and a write-down. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 10:28 am
The number of new housing starts in the first quarter of 2008 fell by nearly
25 per cent compared to last year as the rising cost of mortgages and
falling house prices took their toll on the British construction industry. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 10:25 am
Barclays has dramatically increased its share of new mortgage lending in the UK since Northern Rock took itself out of the market and other banks have become increasingly reluctant to lend. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 10:19 am
SABMiller, the world's second largest beer maker by volume whose brands
include Nastro Azzuro, Carling Black Label and Miller, said today that
prices will go up across its product range for two years to pay for raw
material rises. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 10:15 am
It is not enough that the cost of food is moving up by double digits in China. Now other components of the economy are showing even worse inflation. In April, factory and property spending rose 26% in the world's most populated country. The banks in the country are still tightening credit, but, so far that has not done much yet. According to Bloomberg, one senior Chinese official said ``New local government officials who took office in March are politically motivated to expand their local economies.'' That motivation could do a lot to hurt China's GDP growth. Not only is the...
Peroni Nastro Azzuro, the Italian import lager, is Britain's fastest growing major premium beer brand, according to brewer SABMiller which this morning unveiled a 16pc rise in pre-tax profits. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 10:04 am
A dramatic German growth spurt powered a reacceleration in eurozone growth at the start of this year, in contrast with the sharp US slowdown, but economists warned the country's fastest quarterly growth rate in almost 12 years was unlikely to be sustained Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 10:03 am
Economic growth in Europe during the first three months of 2008 was better than expected, official data shows. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 10:01 am
Tortilla prices in Mexico are set to rise by 18% over the next few weeks, an industry group says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 9:20 am
AFP - French investment bank Natixis said on Thursday its first-quarter earnings plunged 88 percent after it had to take further write-downs on its exposure to the US subprime home loan crisis.
BT shares saluted Ben Verwaayen this morning with a small rise, reflecting a fairly decent set of full-year results in difficult circumstances. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 9:05 am
Death toll rises to at least 20,000 as Beijing steps up reporting controls on China's biggest natural disaster for 30 years Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 8:56 am
Barclays takes a £1bn hit on its credit assets, confirming its first-quarter profits will be lower than last year. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 15 May 2008 | 8:40 am
Barclays has revealed new write downs of £1.7bn in the first quarter in the wake of the sub-prime crisis. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 8:30 am
John Browett, the newly appointed chief executive of Dixons owner DSG, has slashed the dividend, announced plans to close 77 Currys.Digital stores and warned shareholders that it will not be until 2010 before the turnaround plan delivers benefits. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 8:15 am
Ben Verwaayen's valedictory address as BT chief executive today has been overshadowed by flat pre-tax profits at the former phone monopoly. Source: Telegraph Business | 15 May 2008 | 7:45 am
For the first time since 1993, the percentage of people who say their finances are very or fairly secure falls below 60%, the survey shows.
Donald Fleckenstein lives comfortably in retirement, but higher food and energy costs still prompted him to trade down from a big American car to a small Honda, to cancel plans for a European vacation and to worry more about how the next generations of his family will fare.
A fourth-quarter turnaround leads to a tripling of annual earnings. But the future isn't so bright.
Sony Corp. punctuated its recovery by swinging to a profit for the January-March quarter as it reduced losses from its PlayStation 3 video game business.
The agency says in a civil complaint that Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli backdated stock options. Samueli steps down as chairman amid allegations.
Seeking the best and brightest during the tech boom, Broadcom Corp. founders Henry T. Nicholas III and Henry Samueli tossed out millions of stock options to attract and reward favored employees, whose Porsches and Lamborghinis gleamed in the parking lot as they worked late into the night.
Adjustments for seasonal change negate the effect of rising energy prices, because energy prices normally go up at that time of year. Food costs go up 0.9%.
Gasoline prices are up more than 20% from a year ago and food prices have risen 5%, but inflation was fairly mild last month, the government reported Wednesday.
Much worse than expected March quarter retail sales was the catalyst for sending the kiwi dollar scurrying lower today.
It lost ground against all currencies, falling to an eight-month low on its trade-weighted index. The index... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 5:28 am
Soaring oil prices have pushed Air NZ into raising its ticket prices again, with flights to Australia and the Pacific going up 3 per cent.
The increase will apply from May 26 to trans-Tasman airfares sold in Australia and New... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 2:59 am
Note to Carl Icahn: Now that you've chosen to run a dissident slate of 12 new board members at Yahoo—or so reports say—take a minute and consider that you're hunting a very different animal than you're used to.
Icahn built his $8.5 billion fortune on the back of a simple strategy: Control is a matter of how, not what. In Wall Street People, Charles Ellis quotes Icahn's uncle and early role model Elliott Schnall on his philosophy:
"When Carl told me he was going after undervalued companies, I said, 'What? Why the hell don't you stick to Wall Street? Stick to what you know,'" Schnall said of Icahn's move on Tappan Co. in 1979. "But to Carl, what the company made was basically irrelevant."
That approach served Icahn well for decades, but it doesn't seem to be working for his growing involvement with tech companies.
Icahn Enterprises' investment in Blockbuster, the video store grappling with an online business model, fell $19 billion in 2007, a 34 percent drop in fair value. It lost another $9.4 million last quarter.
And his private funds of company investments returned only 1 percent in the first quarter of 2008, dragged down by Motorola, it's largest position. While Icahn was battling to appoint two directors to Motorola's board, he has lost 39 percent this year. Then there's XO Holdings, a telecom concern of which Icahn owns 60 percent: Yesterday, XO hit a five-year low of 54 cents a share.
Even Icahn's few successes in tech have come in spite of, not because of, his activism. Time Warner rose 26 percent in 2006 after Icahn demanded AOL be split off.
Instead, Time Warner tore down pay walls and made the site mostly free, raking in ad dollars. And as Fortune.com's Colin Barr pointed out recently, Icahn clamored for BEA to sell to Oracle for $17 a share. BEA ignored him and got an extra $2.38 a share for its investors.
So as Icahn and his army of dissidents prepares for an assault on Yahoo, he might consider that what the internet company does is actually very relevant. To help him, here's a quick primer on what he should think about.
Culture counts: Why were Yahooligans high-fiving after they turned down a 70 percent premium over their stock? Because they saw the real victory as one over their hated enemy, Microsoft.
Whether he likes it or not, Icahn is about to wade into bad blood that runs three decades deep. The bitter backstory explains why Google took pains to interfere with a Yahoo-Microsoft merger. And it explains why Microsoft probably doesn't want to come back to the table. As Stifel Nicolaus analyst George Askew noted, "Microsoft will not want to be viewed as a conqueror in a battle of mercenaries."
Watch out for Google: Out here in Silicon Valley, people still use words like cooptition and frenemy with a straight face. So Google will help Yahoo with search ads even as it tries to steal clients from its display ads.
And why would Yahoo put up with this? That's right, the old Silicon Valley-Redmond rivalry. Google's ad alliance with Yahoo is better than a poison pill. Ballmer's "Dear Jerry" letter spells it out clearly.
Job loyalty is a joke: Yahoo isn't BEA. It's not in an aging industry like enterprise software, it's in the internet industry, where workers routinely hop over to younger startups. Anyone who's worked on the Web for more than five years has probably already had multiple employers.
Yahoo employees will be watching Icahn's moves very closely. He's more likely to win their loyalty as shareholders in the company if they believe he's on their side. But if they feel he's hurting their brand—and their personal cred—they'll be gone before Icahn can blow another fuse.
And then there are the software developers. They often aren't employees, yet in this age of open-source software, an internet giant can't get very far without their loyalty. Yahoo is staking its turnaround in large part on their creativity. Icahn would be wise not to piss off these programmers, which he will do if he comes across as a greedy bully. They are vital to Yahoo's future success.
Kiwi clothing label Hallenstein Glassons is moving across the Tasman - well, a very small part of it is, anyway.
The company is to move the buying function for its Glassons womenswear stores from Christchurch to Melbourne later... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 2:00 am
Broadcom Corp.'s Henry Samueli stepped down as chairman of the Irvine chip maker's board of directors today after federal regulators alleged that he and co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III fraudulently backdated stock options in a five-year scheme.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking to California's lottery to solve the state's budget crisis and wants to raise billions of dollars by selling bonds backed by future profits from the game Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 12:41 am
Manufacturing activity picked up in April, but was still sluggish due to a slowing economy and widespread pessimism amongst businesses, a survey showed today.
The seasonally adjusted Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ performance... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 12:30 am
Tax cuts flagged by Finance Minister Michael Cullen this morning are likely to be 'a drop in the bucket', an economist has said.
ANZ Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie said the cuts would have little impact while people faced... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 12:30 am
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months Source: FT.com - US homepage | 14 May 2008 | 11:50 pm
Power company TrustPower has reported a 4 per cent fall in annual profits, caused in part by exposure to high wholesale electricity prices.
The Tauranga based company, which both generates and retails electricity, reported an after-tax... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 14 May 2008 | 11:45 pm
Business must "rise to the productivity challenge" - the same way it has been urging the Government to do over the years, says Michael Cullen.
Continued efforts to boost productivity will be a feature of next week's Budget said... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 14 May 2008 | 11:30 pm
United Airlines' chief executive Glenn Tilton has offered to make US Airways' Doug Parker a top contender to succeed him should the two carriers agree to merge, people familiar with the matter said. Source: FT.com - US homepage | 14 May 2008 | 11:29 pm
Shoppers around the country have kept their wallets and purses closed since the New Year, as jitters about the economy intensify and spending has reduced to a trickle.
Retail sales fell a seasonally and inflation-adjusted 1.2 per... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 14 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
A fall in market heavyweight Telecom pulled the top 50 index down in early trading today.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was down 6 points to 3622 at 10.25am, having fallen 0.6 per cent yesterday.
Telecom was down 4c to 385 to... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 14 May 2008 | 10:50 pm
It's not the farmers getting the lion's share of sky rocketing food prices, says Federated Farmers, which is trying to counter public perceptions of farmers "creaming it".
The group has commissioned research looking into what proportion... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 14 May 2008 | 10:45 pm
In his new book "The Billionaire's Vinegar," Ben Wallace guides his readers into the shady, ultra-expensive world of vintage wines, where frauds expertly replicate rare bottles and "buyers beware" takes on a whole new meaning. Source: Marketplace | 14 May 2008 | 10:12 pm
The U.S. chemicals giant announced a $140 million joint venture with a Danish company to produce ethanol from non-food sources. It could be a valuable fuel source, but don't expect corn prices to drop just yet. Sam Eaton reports for the Sustainability Desk. Source: Marketplace | 14 May 2008 | 9:38 pm
The images are devastating -- schools and hospitals flattened, survivors and bodies pulled from the rubble... Offers of aid and supplies have poured in from around the world. But John Dimsdale reports China's government seems intent on showing it can handle the catastrophe on its own. Source: Marketplace | 14 May 2008 | 9:05 pm
Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said today its first quarter loss widened to $151 million as the U.S. housing market worsened, though the results were not as poor as expected. Its shares jumped on the news.
Wall Street has praised Macy's for reporting quarterly results that were not as bad as its rivals, sending its stock up as much as 8 percent today.
While Nordstrom and J.C. Penney reported declines of 6.5 and 7.4 percent, respectively, in sales at stores open at least a year, Macy's sales fell a mere 2.6 percent.
Absent write-offs for its $150 million restructuring plan, the company would have had a profit of 2 cents per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' consensus estimate by 4 cents.
But when today's euphoria wears off, investors will be faced with a harsh reality: Macy's has already lost $59 million this year, its revenue has fallen 2.9 percent, and shares have declined almost 40 percent in the span of a year.
The retailer is still struggling to integrate the May Department Stores chain (acquired in 2005) while facing one of the toughest consumer environments in recent memory—especially for mall-based stores, where traffic has fallen 10 to 12 percent this year alone.
Three months into the restructuring, investors should be asking themselves whether Macy's turnaround plan is all that it's cracked up to be.
After a few years of trying to build a single nationwide identity, Macy's has scrapped that idea and reversed course to pursue a localization strategy called My Macy's.
My Macy's aims to tailor merchandise assortments, size ranges, and marketing efforts to individual store locations, requiring the company to roll out new technology while roughly doubling management talent at the local market level.
Under the new plan, locally based executives overseeing Macy's 800-plus stores will be empowered to make more decisions, allowing stores to react better and faster to changing trends—mimicking companies like Zara and H&M that have had success with that structure.
"With such a large number of stores, the challenge is how you be big and unique all at the same time," says Dana Telsey, chief executive and chief research officer of retail consulting firm TAG. "Localization really is an effort to do just that."
While Telsey is optimistic about Macy's progress and potential, analysts like Brit Beemer, chairman and founder of America's Research Group, have serious concerns about the department store chain's ability to deliver on the promise.
"Localizing stores to the marketplace is extremely valuable, and it gives you a competitive advantage if it's done right, but I see nothing in their organization that shows they have that capability," Beemer says.
Kelly Tackett, a senior consultant at TNS Retail Forward, agrees that localization is a step in the right direction for Macy's; but she also believes that getting more sophisticated technology and more capable local management is a process that is longer and more arduous than the retailer may realize.
"It will probably take a while to realize benefits, and won't move the needle in the short term mainly because they have such a large store base," Tackett says. "Wal-Mart Stores has been in the process of shifting to localization for years, and one of the problem areas for them has been apparel."
While Macy's today affirmed an optimistic outlook for 2008, Charles Grom, an analyst with J.P. Morgan Chase, expressed worries that the company's 2008 guidance was too rosy.
"Complicating matters, in addition to today's macro headwinds, we think the divisional merge will create more disruption than management is anticipating," Grom wrote in a May 12 note.
And Beemer believes that Macy's problems extend well beyond the localization issues, to everything from staffing levels to employee morale to lack of attention to male shoppers, none of which are overtly addressed in the restructuring plan.
"My personal opinion is that Macy's is in huge trouble," Beemer says. " The only way Macy's will make it is for someone to take it private and spend a few billion dollars re-merchandising the store."
Even rich folks are feeling the economic slowdown -- there's foreclosures in the tony Hamptons, too. Commentator David Frum says the asset boom early this decade benefited a relative few, but the bust could hurt us all. Source: Marketplace | 14 May 2008 | 7:14 pm
A new round of negotiations gets underway for the Open Skies agreement -- a comprehensive set of rules governing transatlantic air travel. The stakes are enormous, and European airlines are pushing for a bigger share of the airlines themselves. Stephen Beard reports. Source: Marketplace | 14 May 2008 | 7:02 pm
Nigeria is the world's third-biggest movie producer, cranking out more than 1,000 titles a year that go to tape or DVD. To be a Nollywood director you've got to be an artist, an entrepreneur and a master of making do. Jon Miller reports in the latest of our "Working" series. Source: Marketplace | 14 May 2008 | 5:59 pm
Charter Communications, one of the nation's largest ISPs, plans to begin eavesdropping on the web surfing of its customers, in order to help web advertisers deliver targeted ads.
In letters being sent to some of its 2.7 million high-speed internet customers, Charter is billing its new web tracking program as an "enhancement" for customers' web surfing experience. The letters were first reported by a BroadbandReports.com user on Sunday. The pilot program is set to begin next month.
"Browsing the web can become more like flipping through your favorite magazine, where you see ads that are appealing to you and enhance your enjoyment and the utility of the experience," the company's letters read.
Charter's system appears to be similar to a targeted advertising system in the U.K. developed by Phorm, a London company with alleged spyware roots.
Phorm is trying to strike deals with several large British ISPs to install a targeted advertising system to track the web-surfing patterns of broadband customers. Using modified browser cookies, Phorm's system would use surfing patterns to deliver closely targeted ads, and, the company claims, protect against online scams like phishing.
However, Phorm's proposal has set off a storm of consumer protest after it was revealed that British Telecom ran secret trials on thousands of broadband customers. Phorm's opponents include the inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners Lee, and several prospective advertisers. The U.K. government has said the system would likely be illegal unless explicitly opt-in
Charter plans to test its program in four markets: Ft. Worth, Texas; San Luis Obispo, California; Oxford, Massachusetts, and Newtown, Conneticut, according to Charter Vice President Ted Schremp.
He described the system as capable of noticing when a user visits Honda.com or Toyota's website, for example, so that when the user visits unrelated sites, he or she will be treated to automotive-related ads.
The company is aware of the privacy and transparency concerns, according to Schremp, but believes the program will benefit its customers and its own bottom line.
"The fact that we sent customer notification letters is indicative of the approach we are taking overall," Schremp said. "This is just another example of leveraging the latest technology."
Charter is partnering with a company called NebuAD to build profiles of its users. NebuAD will share the behavioral tracking results with third-party advertising networks like DoubleClick. Users can opt out of the system, but have to give their full name and address to get an opt-out cookie. The process would have to be repeated for every browser on every computer in a home to block the service, and would have to be reset if cookies are ever deleted.
Charter is entering tricky territory with the program, which effectively turns the ISP into the ultimate third-party tracking network. Conventional ad delivery networks like DoubleClick use a third-party cookie to build profiles of users across different websites, but can only track visits to sites that serve the company's ads. In contrast, Charter will know every URL its customers visit.
Charter's move also comes at a sensitive political moment for ISPs, as Congress and the Federal Communications Commission revisit net neutrality -- the idea that ISPs should treat all content fairly and without interference.
The move also highlights the increasing determination of ISPs to carve out new revenue streams, as they discovered that the traffic-delivery business –- simply being a dumb pipe –- isn't as lucrative as being a content provider. ISPs like Earthlink and Verizon are now redirecting requests for nonexistent domains to pages with ads, while others are talking about ways to charge companies like YouTube higher fees to put their content on the fast lane to subscribers.
But Schremp says Charter isn't affecting other companies' websites or inserting their own ads, and is instead benefiting the ad networks by helping them target customers better.
"We don't see it as related to net neutrality," Schremp said.
Charter says it will not be tracking personal information, such as medical websites. Schremp said he did not know how long surfing histories were stored by NebuAD, but said it was long enough that the the company's profile of customers can learn and evolve over time.
Bloomberg - May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama picked up the endorsement today of three former
chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission, two of whom
were appointed by Republican presidents. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 14 May 2008 | 12:58 pm
Reuters - Carl Icahn launched a proxy battle to
force Yahoo Inc to reopen buyout talks with Microsoft
Corp , the billionaire investor said in a letter to the
Internet company on Thursday.
Reuters - Financial market turmoil underscores
the need for "generous" capital cushions, and banks need to
actively raise money as needed, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke said on Thursday.
Reuters - Stocks fell slightly at the open on
Thursday after data suggested some weakness in the economy and
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged banks to actively
raise capital as needed.
Reuters - CBS Corp said on Thursday it
would buy web media company CNET Networks Inc for
about $1.8 billion to boost the television broadcaster's reach
across the Internet.
Reuters - Retailer J.C. Penney Co Inc
reported a 50 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday as
weak demand forced it to cut prices to clear unsold
merchandise, but the results were better than Wall Street
expected.
Reuters - General Electric Co is looking to
sell its appliance unit in an auction that could bring in $5
billion to $8 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported on its
Web site on Wednesday.
AFP - French investment bank Natixis said on Thursday its first-quarter earnings plunged 88 percent after it had to take further write-downs on its exposure to the US subprime home loan crisis.