Shares in the world's largest miner BHP Billiton rise on speculation about investment from China. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 12:54 pm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric Co said on Friday it may sell or spin off its century-old appliances unit in a bid to lower its exposure to the slumping U.S. housing market.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Construction starts on new U.S. homes rose by a surprisingly strong 8.2 percent in April and applications for new building permits turned up for the first time in five months, the Commerce Department said on Friday in a report showing that the hard-hit housing sector still had some spring vigor.
Federal regulators have asked American Airlines about a change in polciy regarding safety inspections for planes struck by lightning, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae is lowering the amount of downpayments required on mortgages it purchases, replacing rules set in December that mandated higher downpayments in markets where home prices are falling, the largest source of U.S. home financing said on Friday..
Capital & Regional, which owns shopping centres up and down the UK, has revealed plans to raise capital for its largest fund because it is on the verge of breaking bank agreements. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:46 pm
Capital & Regional, which owns shopping centres up and down the UK, has revealed plans to raise capital for its largest fund because it is on the verge of breaking bank agreements. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 12:46 pm
Oil prices have hit a record high above $127 a barrel on fresh worries about global supplies. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 12:44 pm
Reuters - U.S. stock index futures added to
gains on Friday on optimism about the housing market after the
government said construction starts on new U.S. homes rose in
April and applications for new building permits turned up for
the first time in five months.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures added to gains on Friday on optimism about the housing market after the government said construction starts on new U.S. homes rose in April and applications for new building permits turned up for the first time in five months.
AP - Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April, a rare bit of good news in what has been the worst downturn in housing in more than two decades.
Reuters - General Electric Co said on
Friday it may sell or spin off its century-old appliances unit
in a bid to lower its exposure to the slumping U.S. housing
market. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:40 pm
Reuters - Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie &
Fitch Co reported higher quarterly profit on Friday,
topping Wall Street estimates, as a lower tax rate and better
gross profit helped offset the impact of lower same-store
sales.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Co reported higher quarterly profit on Friday, topping Wall Street estimates, as a lower tax rate and better gross profit helped offset the impact of lower same-store sales.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has confirmed that it is reviewing strategic options for its Appliances business operations. Three possibilities were noted for the unit: a strategic partnership or joint venture; spin off; or the sale of the business. GE's Chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt said that it has exited slower growth and more volatile businesses and generated $52 billion in gross proceeds from those dispositions. Well, when you have Ecomagination, GE Oil, jet engines and services, medical tech, key finance operations, and more, maybe kicking out the appliances operations will let the company get closer to that old target...
U.S. stock futures edged up Friday, gaining some support from better-than-expected figures on housing starts, though oil prices surged on the back of Goldman Sachs' forecast that futures have further to rise.
U.S. stock futures advanced on Friday even as a bullish Goldman Sachs forecast sent oil prices to new highs, with a surprise increase in housing starts providing modest cheer to the markets.
There's no question about it, a new breed of speculator is pouring money into the oil market and helping drive prices to record levels. What's less certain is if this new money is essential to a healthy market.
Reuters - Construction starts on new U.S.
homes rose by a surprisingly strong 8.2 percent in April and
applications for new building permits turned up for the first
time in five months, the Commerce Department said on Friday in
a report showing that the hard-hit housing sector still had
some spring vigor. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:35 pm
One advertising deal helped drive away Microsoft. Can Yahoo do the trick enough times to stave off Carl Icahn?
Yahoo has again become active on the advertising front, striking an alliance today with ad agency giant WPP. And Peter Lauria and Holly Sanders of the New York Postreport that Yahoo is near a deal with Google on a search-ad alliance.
In the WPP deal, the company's ad agencies, working through its 24/7 Real Media unit, will develop a trading platform that connects to Yahoo's online ad exchange.
Stephanie Clifford of the New York Timesexplains: "The thousands of Web publishers that use Yahoo's advertising auction service to sell space on their sites will get more direct access to WPP's clients. Those clients, in turn, will be able to funnel their messages to Web site visitors who might be particularly receptive, using technology" from 24/7 Real Media.
"More and more, we see the need for agencies and media and technology companies to work together to create a new level of value," said Mark Read, WPP's director of strategy and chief executive of WPP Digital.
The deal comes just a week after WPP's chief executive, Martin Sorrel, was bemoaning the collapse of the talks between Microsoft and Yahoo on CNBC, saying that advertisers need a competitive alternative to Google.
Yahoo plans to announce a more permanent alliance with Google than its brief test in the next week, the Post says.
The alliance will be structured as an "open platform," allowing anyone to bid for the right to place ads on search results.
That approach, as Karen Donovan explained last month, is the only chance the alliance has of passing regulatory muster, given that a Yahoo-Google combination represents 90 percent of the search market.
While the approach may not exclude any competitors, Google's superior technology means that it would likely win a majority of the bids.
Last night was a novel release from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (or ASCO) as the society decided to publish all of the findings to the public at once. Keep in mind that many of the larger drug companies will have other presentations as well. Below is some of the key and very brief data: Array BioPharma (NASDAQ: ARRY) and AstraZeneca have announced plans for two additional randomized Phase II trials for AZD6244 in the second half of 2008 to test AZD6244 (ARRY-886) in combination with a chemotherapeutic agent; one trial will be for melanoma patients and the other...
Next time you get up from your computer, consider this - you could be helping scientists discover new ways to attack the global food crisis, find a cure for cancer or understand the impact of climate change on Africa.
Hong Kong's most outspoken corporate governance activist has accused the city's government of interfering in the running of Asia's biggest stock exchange operator by market capitalisation.David Webb, a... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 12:13 pm
British Airways reports a sharp jump in annual profits to £883m but its boss says he will not accept a bonus. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 11:58 am
Regent Inns, the pub company, said today that it is still considering a number
of bids after sales fell 11 per cent this year. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 11:57 am
Property website Rightmove saw its shares tumble more than 7pc today after Halifax, its second-largest shareholder, announced plans to offload almost its entire stake in the group. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 11:55 am
Property website Rightmove saw its shares tumble more than 7pc today after Halifax, its second-largest shareholder, announced plans to offload almost its entire stake in the group. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 11:55 am
Key lawmakers Thursday evening were hammering out a deal on a bill that would allow the government to insure up to $300 billion of home loans and overhaul oversight of key players in the mortgage industry.
Consumers will be "crucified" unless ministers change the target for fighting inflation, a leading economist warns. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 11:52 am
Iceland has agreed €1.5bn of swap agreements with its Nordic neighbours as it increases efforts to fight economic uncertainty and record inflation Source: FT.com - US homepage | 16 May 2008 | 11:51 am
London's FTSE 100 hit its highest level since January on Friday, driven by bid news and pleasing earnings.The benchmark index climbed 87 points to 6,338.9 in mid-session trade, a rise of 1.4 per cent... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 11:44 am
The US should lower trade barriers and grow exports to boost its economy, the World Trade Organization says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 11:42 am
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. inflation is too high but there are some signs that it is slowing, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said on Friday, adding that monetary policy must remain flexible.
These are ten analyst calls we are focusing on in pre-market trading this Friday morning: Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC) Raised to Overweight from Equal-weight at Lehman. Fiserv (NASDAQ: FISV) Raised to Market Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities. IPC The Hospitalist (NASDAQ: IPCM) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia. Kroger (NYSE: KR) Raised to Overweight from Equalweight at Morgan Stanley. RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) Raised to Buy from Neutral at Goldman Sachs. Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI) Cut to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. Safeway (NYSE: SWY) Cut to Equal-weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley. SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut...
A strong euro and soaring oil prices create a surprise trade deficit across the eurozone in March. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 11:30 am
Kier, one of Britain's biggest construction and house building companies,
today gave warning of a slowdown in public sector spending across the
country. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 11:30 am
British Airways achieved record profits last year and reached a 10 per cent operating margin for the first time in its history.It has decided to pay a dividend for the first time since 2000/01 and is paying... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 11:26 am
It is a sad fact for investors and tipsters alike that, just as nobody sounds
a siren when stockmarkets peak, no one rings a bell at the bottom either. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 11:25 am
Technology is different. Despite pervasive economic uncertainty, that's the message that many of the industry's big firms are sending in their latest earnings reports. We may be buying fewer Starbucks mocha lattes and shipping fewer packages through UPS. But tech sales - from gadgets to high-end services - are thriving.
Regulator Ofcom says it will spend six months investigating Phones4U over alleged mis-selling. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 11:16 am
Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, has launched a 30.5 billion crowns (£3.26
billion) rights issue on the Copenhagen stock market to pay for its share of
Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), the UK brewing group it split with Heineken this
year. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 11:14 am
New car sales in Europe rebounded sharply in April, shwoing a 9.6-percent rise over the same month last year despite global financial problems and soaring fuel prices, the ACEA European... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 11:11 am
The European single currency rose against the dollar on Friday before a fresh batch of data on the ailing United States economy, dealers said. In European trading, the euro... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 11:10 am
Energy stocks and banks made the running during a strong morning for European equity markets on Friday.Bymidda, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1 per cent to 1,373.7, Frankfurt's Xetra Dax added 1.5 per... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 11:01 am
The Philippines, one of the world's largest rice importers, said Friday prices are softening after Japan offered to sell rice to Manila amid news of bumper world harvests for 2008. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:59 am
FAO Schwarz will open toy stores in close to 700 Macy's department stores over the next two years. The companies said Friday that about 75 full-size FAO toy stores will open across the Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:59 am
British Airways said Friday it will pay a dividend for the first time in seven years after reporting its full-year profits more than doubled. The carriers profits rose to 680 million... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:57 am
Wall Street was headed for a modestly higher open Thursday as investors awaited data on new home construction last month. The Commerce Department is expected to report that construction Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:54 am
Ukraine on Friday officially joined the World Trade Organisation, becoming its 152th member. A large signboard in front of the WTO building welcoming the entry of the former... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:51 am
The balance of trade between the US and its Arab allies has taken several odd twists since the price oil began to move up sharply last year. The US buys oil at $125 a barrel. It has recently sold Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates about $20 billion in new weapons. While some of this guns and ammo will be used to defend borders, a part of the planes, rifles, and explosives are quietly enlisted to keep militants from overthrowing the local kingdoms. It has been eighteen years since Iraq invaded Kuwait. The US spent...
Rice prices fall as Pakistan says it will permit exports of the staple grain, easing fears of a global food shortage. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 10:33 am
Asia-Pacific equities showed mild gains on Friday, following Wall Street's lead higher overnight, but negative job and industrial activity data added to the opacity of the outlook for the US economy.Japan... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:32 am
Carlsberg launched a Dkr30.5bn ($6.3bn) rights issue to fund its acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle that will double the number of the Danish brewers' outstanding shares.Carlsberg on Thursday night... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:28 am
Goldman Sachs (GS), king of the oil bulls, has raised its forecast for oil prices in the second half of this year to $141 from a previous estimate of $107. For those without a calculator handy, that is an increase of 32%. The forecast does make sense no matter how unfortunate that may be. With oil at $125, it will only take modest interruption in supply caused by militias in Nigeria or mad bombers in Iraq to push the price up again. So far, major Western nations have not been able to come up with a policy for bringing down...
that paired the expiration of options with a bevy of news that swung the price of oil per barrel in a $6 range. Light, sweet crude for June delivery was up $1.08 to $125.20 a barrel in Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:20 am
US sales of video game consoles and software were up 47% in April from a year ago, a research firm says. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 10:16 am
The U.S. dollar was lower against other major currencies in European trading Friday morning. Gold fell. The euro traded at $1.5487, up from $1.5454 late Thursday in New York. Other... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:13 am
The dollar remained on the back foot on Friday following contrasting data that showed a deterioration in US activity but forecast-beating growth data from the eurozone and Japan.On Thursday weak US industrial... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 10:11 am
Oil refiners have decided to produce more diesel and less gas. They believe that diesel is more profitable, which is true, and that demand for it will rise in developing countries, which may not be true. Refiners have been losing money as the price of oil rises. They cannot always pass the increase on to customers. And, diesel prices are up 56% over the last year while gas in up only 20%. That makes gas production a bad deal. According to The Wall Street Journal "Diesel's higher price means the fuel is more lucrative for refiners at a time when...
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Two weeks after Microsoft Corp abandoned its pursuit of Yahoo Inc, a proxy fight launched by activist investor Carl Icahn has put Microsoft in the driver's seat.
Yahoo! (YHOO) and big global ad agency WPP will begin a marketing partnership aimed at better targeting of ads. Yahoo! will give WPP access to the thousand of independent sites on its ad network and help target messages which are allied with the behavior of the users of the sites. The websites will get access to a broader array of WPP clients. WPP will use software which helps identify the characteristics of the consumers who use sites on the Yahoo! network. According to The New York Times, "WPP’s clients will benefit from the extra information the agency will be able...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc intends to prepare and serve food in its planned small-format stores, the Financial Times said on Friday, as it competes with British retailer Tesco's Fresh & Easy markets.
Despite his recently failed deals and huge new losses, Wall Street is starting to throw even more billions at Steve Schwarzman and his Blackstone Group, sending its shares higher. Blackstone shot up more... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 9:39 am
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States should cut barriers to
its markets to help it tackle economic turmoil, and boost
exports to deal with its current account deficit, the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) said.
Reuters - The United States should cut barriers to
its markets to help it tackle economic turmoil, and boost
exports to deal with its current account deficit, the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) said.
AMR (AMR), parent of American Airlines, decided to skip inspections on certain of its airplanes due mostly to cost issues. The aircraft in question were suspected of being hit by lightening. American reasons that there has not been a crash caused by electric bolts in over 30 years. Tell that to the people who are on the next plane that crashes during an electrical storm. According to The Wall Street Journal "American made the procedural changes and revised its maintenance manual in an effort to prevent planes from being pulled out of service." AMR does have a hard choice. It...
Yahoo! has hit back at corporate raider Carl Icahn's attempts to take control of its board, claiming the billionaire investor has a "significant misunderstanding" of the Microsoft takeover battle. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 9:30 am
The euro traded slightly higher against the U.S. dollar Friday after data showed a drop in U.S. industrial production and unexpectedly strong first-quarter economic growth in Germany. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 16 May 2008 | 9:19 am
The battle for British Energy, the UK's main nuclear generator, has sprung
back to life after the company said it was considering three offers, two of
which have been priced higher than the company's closing share price on
Thursday of 680p a share. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 9:10 am
Reuters - Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T)
reported a threefold increase in fourth-quarter profit,
rebounding from massive losses at its consumer finance unit a
year earlier, and it forecast modest growth ahead. Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 16 May 2008 | 8:55 am
The sharp rise in the expected death toll indicates hopes are fading for tens of thousands of people trapped under collapsed buildings as rescuers struggle to reach them Source: FT.com - US homepage | 16 May 2008 | 8:12 am
According to Reuters, Carl Ichan will fight to get Yahoo! (YHOO) to accept Microsoft's (MSFT) bid. Reuters writes that the Senate has reached an agreement on a housing rescue. Reuters reports that Warren Buffett will pul out of the RBS (RBS) insurance sale. Reuters writes that Fannie Mae (FNM) will change its down payment policy. Reuters reports that the Fed is seeing some healing of the credit markets. Reuters writes that Yahoo and WPP has entered into an agreement for the ad agency to buy from the portal's ad inventory. The Wall Street Journal reports that the FAA is looking...
Rice prices nosedived today as Japan moved closer to unlocking its massive
hidden surplus and bullish supply forecasts routed speculators. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 8:00 am
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin has signed a £17m five-year deal to become the new sponsor of the London Marathon. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 7:55 am
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei fell .2% to 14,219. Mitsubishi Corp rose 3.4% to 3690. NEC fell 2.4% to 538. The Hang Seng rose .3% to 25,598. China Petroleum (SNP) rose 3..4% to 7.69. PetroChina (PTR) rose 3.4% to 11.52. The Shanghai Composite was down .4% to 3,624. Data from Reuters Douglas A. McIntyre
Share trading was suspended today in Humberts, one of England's largest chains
of estate agents part-owned by Vincent Tchenguiz, over doubts about its
financial viability. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 7:36 am
Austin Highsmith's big break was hurt by the writers strike. Now the possibility of an actors strike is creating a difficult scene.
In the summer of 2003, Austin Highsmith, a young actress from North Carolina, packed a suitcase and drove cross-country in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.
'Narnia' sequel has strong bloodlines and the weekend to itself.
Testing faith is a major theme of "The Chronicles of Narnia" stories, but Hollywood clearly has confidence in the fantasy film franchise from Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures.
A drop in oil prices, encouraging economic data and corporate deals help ease fears. The S & P and Nasdaq jump more than 1%.
Stocks staged a healthy advance Thursday in reaction to a pullback in oil prices, some better-than-expected economic data and a revival of takeover activity.
The defeat could mean fewer jobs at Boeing's El Segundo facility, which would have made the satellites.
In another blow to Boeing Co.'s battered defense business, the U.S. Air Force on Thursday tapped rival Lockheed Martin Corp. for a contract potentially worth more than $3.5 billion to build a new generation of global positioning satellites.
The network hopes the deal will greatly expand its advertising reach on the Web. Critics say the broadcaster's $1.8-billion offer is too high.
In its biggest and boldest move onto the Web, agreed Thursday to buy the Internet media company CNET Networks Inc. for $1.8 billion in a deal that drew flak from critics for its high price and its daunting management challenges.
The action comes after Kaiser Permanente and Health Net reach an agreement with a state agency.
Two of the state's largest health plans agreed Thursday to reinstate coverage to nearly 1,200 patients whose policies were dropped after they incurred high medical expenses.
Takeover talks between Cenkos, the stockbroker founded by stock market veteran
Andy Stewart, and rival broker Arden Partners have been discontinued. Arden
said in a formal statement, however, that it had had preliminary approaches
from other parties that might result in an offer for the company. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 6:57 am
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, has bowed to investor
pressure and will not take his bonus because of the airline's failure to
move smoothly into Teminal 5 in March. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 16 May 2008 | 6:53 am
Japan's economy grew at a brisk annual rate of 3.3% in the first three months of 2008, official figures show. Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 16 May 2008 | 6:33 am
LONDON (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc has pulled out of the bidding in Royal Bank of Scotland's 7 billion pound ($13.62 billion) auction of its UK insurance business, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
The Serious Fraud Office has launched investigations into both failed finance company Bridgecorp, and the Blue Chip property investment scheme.
The SFO made the announcement a short time ago.
Director Grant Liddell said the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 May 2008 | 5:03 am
If the rising price of cheese has been hard to stomach, more bad news is on the way - Lion Nathan is raising beer, wine, spirits and ready-to-drink prices from July 1.
Beer prices will rise by around 5.5 per cent, wine prices will... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 May 2008 | 4:41 am
Yahoo, the embattled Web giant, defiantly dismissed financier Icahn's last-minute move to elect a rival slate of directors and revive merger talks with Microsoft.
In a response issued late Thursday, Roy Bostock, Yahoo's chairman, pledged to fight Icahn's hostile bid and accused the financier of a "significant misunderstanding of the facts." Bostock said Yang and Yahoo's board are "the best and most qualified group to maximize value for all Yahoo stockholders."
Earlier Thursday, Icahn unveiled his slate of directors, including Frank Biondi Jr., the former C.E.O. of Viacom, and Web billionaire Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
In a letter to Roy Bostock, Icahn accused Yahoo's management and board of acting "irrationally" and losing the faith of both Yahoo and Microsoft shareholders.
"It is quite obvious that Microsoft's bid of $33 per share is a superior alternative to Yahoo's prospects on a standalone basis," Icahn wrote. "It is unconscionable that you have not allowed your shareholders to choose to accept an offer that represented a 72 percent premium over Yahoo's closing price of $19.18 on the day before the initial Microsoft offer."
But Bostock rejected Icahn's argument, pointing out that Microsoft has formally withdrawn its bid for the company. Microsoft withdrew its $33-per-share bid after Yahoo refused to budge from its $37 demand. Microsoft's original offer of $31 per share represented a 62 percent premium above the Yahoo's closing price on January 31, 2008, the day before the offer was announced.
Throughout its ordeal, Yahoo has argued that Microsoft's bid undervalued the company.
"We do not believe it is in the best interests of Yahoo stockholders to allow you and your handpicked nominees to take control of Yahoo for the express purpose of trying to force a sale of Yahoo to a formerly interested buyer who has publicly stated that they have moved on," Bostock wrote.
Earlier Thursday, Icahn's hostile bid got a boost when John Paulson, whose $30 billion hedge fund owns 50 million Yahoo shares, said he would support Icahn.
"We were disappointed that Yahoo failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft," said Paulson in a statement. "We continue to believe that a combination between Yahoo and Microsoft would form a dynamic company and a stronger competitor to Google."
Yahoo shares closed at $27.75 Thursday, up 2.25 percent, on renewed hopes for a deal with Microsoft after Icahn's move.
A former top Qantas executive has appeared in a Washington court to admit his involvement in an international price fixing cartel.
Bruce McCaffrey, who was Qantas's air cargo manager in the US, has pleaded guilty to fixing international... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 16 May 2008 | 2:45 am
Reuters - Two weeks after Microsoft Corp
abandoned its pursuit of Yahoo Inc , a proxy fight
launched by activist investor Carl Icahn has put Microsoft in
the driver's seat.
Billionaire investor finds favour for unleashing proxy fight to remove internet company's board and resurrect a takeover bid by Microsoft Source: FT.com - US homepage | 16 May 2008 | 12:12 am
BT offered its nervous investors some relief by beating the City's forecasts for full-year revenues and raising the payout to shareholders 5pc, helped by international growth. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Research in Motion, the Canadian company behind the BlackBerry handheld gadget, is working on plans to launch a touch-screen version to compete head-to-head with Apple's iPhone Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Bankers to KKR-owned Alliance Boots have reached an in-principle agreement to sell at least £2bn of the chemist chain's debt to a private equity consortium of Apollo, Blackstone and TPG. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:01 am
The Bank of England will "crucify" consumers unless the Treasury lets it abandon its inflation target, one of Britain's leading economic authorities has warned. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:01 am
Investec, the South African bank that last year bought Britain's sub-prime mortgage specialist Kensington Group, has warned that UK house prices will fall 12.5pc over the next two years. Source: Telegraph Business | 16 May 2008 | 12:01 am
The Federal Reserve should use regulatory powers aggressively and pro-actively to limit the threat from future asset price bubbles, Frederic Mishkin, one of the Fed's governors, said Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 11:02 pm
An economic and political alliance of the Bric nations – Brazil, Russia, India
and China – is being forged today at a meeting of foreign ministers in the
Russian city of Yekaterinburg, but the underlying agenda may have more to do
with politics in Washington, political analysts say. Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 15 May 2008 | 11:00 pm
A family power struggle for control of one of Hong Kong's biggest quoted property developers boiled over in public as the chairman won a last minute court injunction to stop what he claimed was a boardroom coup led by his two younger brothers Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 10:46 pm
The European Central Bank voiced its 'high concern' at growing evidence that banks are exploiting its efforts to unblock the frozen funding markets by using its liquidity scheme to offload more risky assets than it envisaged Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 10:41 pm
The US broadcast network said it had agreed to pay $1.8bn in cash to acquire CNET Networks, a technology and entertainment website operator Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 10:32 pm
The sharemarket was led up by the top three stocks in early trading today.
On Wall Street, United States stocks rose in light trading, pushing the S&P 500 index to its highest close since January, as a pullback in oil prices eased... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 10:31 pm
Wal-Mart said it is to pursue a "passion for fresh and delicious food" and "the highest level of customer service" in new small grocery stores that will be competing head-on with Tesco's fledgling Fresh & Easy US stores Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 10:26 pm
Blackstone, which made big profits last year by flipping commercial properties at the height of the market, is considering buying back into some of those assets at distressed prices as part of an effort to cash in on the credit crisis Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 10:11 pm
Low hydro lake levels and high wholesale electricity prices shouldn't hurt power companies' profits because they are passing costs on to customers, says credit rating agency Standard & Poor's.
But continued poor water storage levels... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 9:00 pm
Over the centuries, thousands of ancient treasures have left Egypt -- either with official blessings or by smugglers. Now Egypt is stepping up its efforts to reclaim and safeguard its antiquities. Amy Scott reports. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:46 pm
American homeowners and businesses can now get federal tax credits for installing renewable energy systems. But those credits are scheduled to expire at year's end, which is leaving clean-energy companies in the dark. Danielle Karson reports. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:46 pm
The New York Mercantile Exchange is going to start trading steel later this year -- a solid reflection of rising steel prices and corporate profits. American steel companies are booking record earnings. John Dimsdale reports. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:46 pm
If you gamble, your winnings are taxable and your losses are deductible. But commentator and tax attorney Conrad Teitell says good luck trying to get Uncle Sam to accept those deductions. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:46 pm
In the 30 years since the Lebanese civil war started, violence has become almost a way of life -- for residents and for businesses. Ben Gilbert reports from West Beirut. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:46 pm
Troops have been dispatched to shore up nearly 400 dams damaged by the Sichuan province earthquake. Mother Nature's mostly to blame, but there are worries over human error, too, since China has been exporting its dam-building expertise. Scott Tong reports. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:46 pm
General Electric reportedly is looking to sell off its appliance unit. If a bellwether like GE is struggling, what's it like out there for everyone else? Nancy Marshall Genzer reports. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:46 pm
CBS is paying $1.8 billion for CNET, the Internet icon that's run into some trouble of late. What's in the deal for CBS? Stacey Vanek-Smith reports. Source: Marketplace | 15 May 2008 | 8:45 pm
US stocks extended recent gains as investors shrugged off new data giving mixed signals about the health of the US economy while strong performances in the information technology sector bolstered the leading indices Source: FT.com - US homepage | 15 May 2008 | 8:44 pm
Kiwibank has dismissed the suggestion its new 8.99 percent mortgage rate is a loss leader.
The state-owned bank ambushed the market this morning by dropping its two-year fixed rate point-three of a per cent. It is the first time... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 8:30 pm
Yesterday's weaker than expected retail sales numbers will have done nothing to make Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard's dilemma - about when to start easing rates - any easier.
The 1.2 per cent drop in real retail sales is the... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 8:15 pm
Plane maker Airbus and manufacturer Honeywell say they are developing a biofuel that by 2030 could satisfy nearly a third of the worldwide demand from commercial aircraft, without affecting food supplies.
Along with JetBlue Airways... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 8:00 pm
High wholesale electricity prices and interest costs have eaten into TrustPower's profit, which fell by 4 per cent during the past year.
The company, which generates less than half it needs, posted an after-tax operating surplus... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 7:30 pm
Freddie Mac beat Wall St's expectations in the first quarter, but did not vanquish concerns about its ability to weather the US housing bust.
The mortgage finance company reported a first-quarter loss of US$151 million, or US66c... Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 15 May 2008 | 7:30 pm
A federal jury convicted a Hollywood private investigator of conspiracy and other crimes for having wiretapped and otherwise harassed a string of celebrities who ran afoul of his wealthy, privileged, and powerful clients.
Anthony Pellicano represented himself at the trial in U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer's courtroom in Los Angeles. After being convicted on all but one of 77 counts, the 64-year-old private eye faces eight to 10 years in prison.
The verdict followed nine weeks of testimony and two weeks of jury deliberation. The jury also convicted four other men, including a former Los Angeles police sergeant and a former telephone company employee, of helping Pellicano.
Schruers on Pellicano Read Hollywood Deal blogger Fred Schruers' commentary on the Hollywood private eye and his trial.
A federal grand jury indicted Pellicano and seven codefendants in 2006 on 110 counts, including racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft, bribery, and wiretapping. (An amended complaint, reducing the counts to 78, was filed in January. Three of the defendants pleaded guilty; the rest went to trial.)
Pellicano's alleged victims included comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon, actors Sylvester Stallone and Keith Carradine, and real estate developer Robert Maguire.
The verdict was a relatively unsurprising judgment that the government's voluminous and aggressive case had indeed proved that Pellicano had been a remorseless and avid operative who crossed into illegality on a regular basis.
The jury convicted Pellicano on one count each of racketeering, conspiracy, wiretapping conspiracy, and possession of a wiretapping device. It also found him guilty of multiple counts of wire fraud, unauthorized computer access, identity theft, computer fraud, and wiretapping.
Retired Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Mark Arneson, repeatedly branded by a lead government prosecutor as "a dirty cop," was convicted on all 46 of the counts against him, including racketeering and conspiracy.
Painted by the prosecution as a crucial link to state and federal databases containing information on Pellicano's investigative targets, Arneson was fortunate in having courtroom-savvy attorney Chad Hummel on his side.
Hummel's determined but always controlled cross-examinations of key witnesses did as much as possible to undercut the work of the F.B.I. in compiling evidence and testimony against his client. At one stage, a failure by the government to disclose some pertinent data almost won Arneson a mistrial.
But today's verdict from the jury showed that Arneson ultimately didn't quite seem credible.
Rayford Turner, the phone company technician who emerged in the trial as a devoted ladies' man in a tool belt, was convicted on 16 of 21 counts.
Kevin Kachikian, a computer expert who testified that he was just a tech wonk working with his head down amid the wider conspiracy, was convicted on two of 11 counts.
Abner Nicherie, a shadowy businessman whom the government said served as a translator (of Hebrew conversations) for Pellicano, slept through many portions of the trial and was found guilty of one count of aiding and abetting a wiretap.
Studio chief Brad Grey and other Hollywood figures who had hired Pellicano to spy on and sometimes to harass their business and personal enemies were thought to be in some jeopardy during the government investigation. In the end, however, they went largely unscathed during the trial.
Former super-agent Mike Ovitz, who was uncharged but was linked in testimony to the terrorizing of reporter Anita Busch, testified coolly about his professional battles with former C.A.A. colleagues Bryan Lourd and Kevin Huvane, who also testified for the government.
And über-lawyer Bert Fields, also never charged although his name came up incessantly in the press as a key Pellicano client, was never called to the stand.
Pellicano is already serving time on a separate weapons and explosives charge, yet today's verdict will not end his troubles with the Feds. He and lawyer Terry Christensen also face criminal charges in a separate case based on Pellicano's investigation of Kirk Kerkorian's former wife Lisa Bonder Kerkorian.
Pellicano, who was largely emotionless and seemingly bored during much of the trial, represented himself anemically. Only during his cross-examination of a teary and obviously still emotionally damaged Busch did he show the feral instincts the government often alluded to.
And just as he was damaged by his refusal, based on his supposed Sicilian code of honor, to mount a defense by testifying against his clients, his casually cruel cross-examination of Busch seemed to damage his credibility as much as did the many tapes of incriminating phone calls with his clients.
Maybe trying to steal a bit of thunder from yesterday's announcement of six million Wii consoles sold in Japan, Microsoft announced today the Xbox 360 was the first of the current generation of consoles to sell 10 million units in the United States.
Microsoft also announced that 19 million 360s have been sold worldwide.
The good news keeps on coming. The release of "Grand Theft Auto IV" has given use of Microsoft's Xbox Live service the kind of boost you'd expect, and the company reports that worldwide membership is now exceeding 12 million.
One thing to keep in mind—there is no distinction between, or even mention of, gold and silver memberships, so this number does not represent the entirety of gamers paying for online play. The free Xbox Live silver accounts do not allow online multiplayer play.
"History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry," said Don Mattrick, Microsoft's senior vice president of Interactive Entertainment Business.
Blackstone desperately wants everyone to understand: Things are never as bad as their quarterly numbers might suggest.
Steve Schwarzman probably knew it would be tough managing Wall Street's expectations when he decided to take his company public last summer, but he couldn't have predicted it would be quite this difficult.
Blackstone reported a loss of $66.5 million during the first quarter as fees declined across all segments. Excluding certain compensation costs, the private equity firm lost 6 cents per share, while analysts had expected it to earn 11 cents per share.
The reason for the shortfall? Lumpiness, of course.
Blackstone executives repeatedly reminded analysts and investors during a conference call that those numbers don't tell the real story. Because Blackstone marks its holdings to their current market value, some of the fees are essentially calculated under the assumption those holdings were being sold at the end of the quarter.
But Blackstone would like everyone to remember that it isn't unloading its holdings in this environment. This is not the market to sell. On the contrary, it's the market to buy.
Blackstone president Tony James echoed many of the comments he made yesterday during a private equity conference in New York. The firm has been taking advantage of the battered leveraged-loan market by buying corporate debt on the cheap. The banks that financed many of the large leveraged buyouts before the credit crunch hit have been sitting on debt used to finance them, and they've become desperate to clear the clutter from their own balance sheets.
James said that most of Blackstone's corporate loan purchases have not been with companies in which they already have an equity stake. Instead, they've bought debt in some companies for which it bid and lost for the equity at auction.
As painful as it might be for Blackstone executives to hammer these points home with investors over and over again, it just might be starting to work.
Blackstone shares fell 2 percent after the earnings release hit the wires. After the 90-minute conference call, they were up more than 3 percent.
When CBS appointed Quincy Smith as its new interactive chief in November 2006, CBS chief executive Les Moonves said the network didn't plan to make big acquisitions. "We are not going to spend $1.6 billion on YouTube," he said.
No, as it turns out, he's going to spend $1.8 billion on CNET Networks.
CBS agreed to pay $11.50 per share for CNET, an online technology information network that also owns properties such as TV.com, Urbandaddy, Chow, and Search.com. The offer represents a 44 percent premium above CNET's closing price yesterday.
With the deal, CBS says it will triple its interactive footprint and will become one of the top 10 biggest internet properties. By combining CNET with its CBS Interactive unit, Moonves predicts that CBS can generate as much as $1 billion in online revenue by 2010.
While that all sounds very promising, CBS is acquiring a very troubled business. When Moonves said in 2006 that he expected Smith to find "the next YouTube" for CBS to acquire, no one could have guessed that he meant CNET.
CNET, which was one of the first internet content companies to go public during the mid-1990s, has experienced slowing growth in recent years as competition for advertising dollars has increased. More recently, the company has been fighting dissident shareholders led by the hedge fund Jana Partners, which owns 10 percent of the outstanding shares.
Jana has criticized CNET's management for failing to capitalize on its potential, and it proposed sweeping changes to its board and senior executives. CNET laid off 120 employees in an attempt to appease Jana, to no avail.
Moonves did not speak to anyone at Jana before making the offer to buy CNET, according to PaidContent. So far this morning, Jana has not commented on the deal.
It's hard to imagine how any CNET shareholder could quibble with such an offer. For his part, Moonves isn't too worried about revolt. "I would think that Jana, that's in at $7 and something, will be pleased with us. I'm hoping that's the case,” he told PaidContent.
It's clear that CBS has its work cut out for it with this acquisition. It's acquiring traffic and reach, and a new set of advertisers and users. But it's also acquiring a mess.
"CNET is a complex company that needs some work because it's a mix of smaller businesses, many acquired, so there are management challenges," says Larry Kramer, who was president of CBS Digital Media until 2006 and is now senior adviser to Polaris Venture Partners and also a consultant to Condé Nast. "But there is huge opportunity. And the relationship with CBS can be huge for CNET's ad business and in other ways."
CBS shareholders are going to need a little convincing that CNET is the next YouTube, even if it is a more complex, challenging, and expensive one. Its shares fell more than 4 percent this morning.
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 resigned 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.
It's time to move on.
(Update: An earlier version of this post referred incorrectly to Hank Greenberg's departure from A.I.G.)
Reuters - U.S. stock index futures added to
gains on Friday on optimism about the housing market after the
government said construction starts on new U.S. homes rose in
April and applications for new building permits turned up for
the first time in five months.
AP - Construction of new homes posted the biggest increase in more than two years in April, a rare bit of good news in what has been the worst downturn in housing in more than two decades.
Reuters - Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie &
Fitch Co reported higher quarterly profit on Friday,
topping Wall Street estimates, as a lower tax rate and better
gross profit helped offset the impact of lower same-store
sales.
Reuters - The United States should cut barriers to
its markets to help it tackle economic turmoil, and boost
exports to deal with its current account deficit, the World
Trade Organisation (WTO) said.
Reuters - Two weeks after Microsoft Corp
abandoned its pursuit of Yahoo Inc , a proxy fight
launched by activist investor Carl Icahn has put Microsoft in
the driver's seat.
