World Business News Headlines for January 12, 2009

Abbott to buy AMO for $1.4 billion in eye-care deal

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories Inc said on Monday it would buy Advanced Medical Optics for nearly $1.4 billion to dive into the market for eye-care products and laser vision.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:26 pm

'UPS lost my $375 package!'

Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:22 pm

Satyam soars as India appoints new board members

Shares of Satyam Computer Services staged a sharp recovery Monday after their recent crash, as the government’s decision to appoint new members to its board raised hopes the software major may be rescued after India’s biggest corporate fraud came to light at the company last week.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:22 pm

When Americans Save, They Are Stimulating

John Tamny RealClearMarkets

Amid the U.S. economy's continuing struggles, conventional wisdom has suggested that Americans must spend in order to bring the economy out of its slump. Along those lines, a recent newspaper beamed the words, "Hard-Hit Families Finally Start Saving, Aggravating Nation's Economic Woes." The paradoxical nature of such a headline presumably lost on the paper's sub-editor.

The problem with today's presumed economic wisdom is that it has no basis in reality. Simply put, no act of saving, short of an individual putting money under the proverbial mattress, can ever detract from consumption.

U.K. gov't picks up tab as investors snub $20 bln fund raising

Shareholders in Lloyds TSB and HBOS snubbed the banks’ 13 billion pound ($19.6 billion) capital raising plans Monday, leaving the U.K. government to pick up over 99% of the newly issued stock.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:20 pm

Indications: U.S. stock futures meander as Alcoa earnings near

U.S. stock futures stick to a tight range, with traders playing their cards close to the vest on the eve of what could be a gloomy fourth-quarter earnings season.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:20 pm

Further bank aid must include pay limits: Dodd

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate will not approve more bailout money for banks unless it includes limits on executive pay and help for struggling homeowners, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said on Monday.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:17 pm

Further bank aid must include pay limits: Dodd (Reuters)

Reuters - The Senate will not approve more bailout money for banks unless it includes limits on executive pay and help for struggling homeowners, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said on Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:17 pm

Israel calls up reserves in Gaza conflict; France seeks monitors

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Israel called in its reservists to join the conflict against Hamas, while the Islamist group rejected an Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire, media reports on Monday said.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:17 pm

Sen. Levin seeks details on Citigroup pact with Treasury

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Carl Levin said on Sunday he plans to subpoena the Treasury Department to see its agreement with Citigroup and determine what commitments the financial institution made in exchange for government aid.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:13 pm

Wincanton admits 875 jobs at risk

About 875 jobs are at risk at distribution group Wincanton after it confirms that two of its depots may close in the spring.
Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:13 pm

EADS facing $6 billion in A400M overruns, analysts say

Analysts are concerned that EADS’s problems with the A400M military-transport program may spin out of control and result in billions of euros in additional charges taken for cost overruns.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:13 pm

U.S. airlines: No deaths for two years

For the first time since jet airliners took to the sky, U.S. carriers have gone two years without a single passenger fatality.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:11 pm

Push to sell Volvo, Saab units moves ahead

DETROIT (Reuters) - Under pressure to raise cash in the face of slumping sales, U.S. automakers General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co on Sunday said they were pushing ahead with attempts to sell Swedish brands Saab and Volvo.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:09 pm

Wedgwood confirms 367 job losses

Administrators for iconic china brand Waterford Wedgwood has confirmed that 367 workers have lost their jobs.
Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:06 pm

Stock futures flat on earnings fears

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were little changed on Monday as investors fretted about the start of the fourth-quarter earnings reporting season, which is expected to show that the recession is deepening.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:06 pm

Stock futures flat on earnings fears (Reuters)

Reuters - Stock index futures were little changed on Monday as investors fretted about the start of the fourth-quarter earnings reporting season, which is expected to show that the recession is deepening.

Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:06 pm

Stock futures flat on earnings fears (Reuters)

Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:06 pm

Oil falls $2 to below $39 as demand weakens

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell more than $2 to below $39 a barrel on Monday, dragged down by growing evidence that recession is reducing global energy consumption.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:05 pm

Obama's big idea: Digital health records

President-elect Barack Obama, as part of the effort to revive the economy, has proposed a massive effort to modernize health care by making all health records standardized and electronic.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:04 pm

iPod touch use 'exploded'

Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:03 pm

EU: S&P abusing monopoly

Read full story for latest details.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:02 pm

Movers & Shakers: Monday's biggest gaining and declining stocks

Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Monday's session are Aladdin, Alcoa, Audiovox, Citigroup, Harley Davidson, HFF, Micron Technology, Pfizer, Rambus, Satyam, STMicro, UBS and Wipro.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:02 pm

Earnings Watch: Updates, advisories and surprises

A roundup of the latest corporate earnings reports and what companies are saying about future quarters.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:01 pm

Wall Street eyes quarterly results

U.S. stocks appeared poised for a weak open Monday as investors worried about the economy and grim outlook for corporate profits.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:59 pm

Car of the Year: Hyundai Genesis

The Hyundai Genesis won the prestigious Car of the Year Award at the start of media preview days for the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. The redesigned Ford F-150 won the Truck of the Year award.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:58 pm

Russia 'ready' to resume gas flow

Russian PM Vladimir Putin says gas flows to Europe via Ukraine can resume once the EU signs a deal and deploys monitors.
Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:53 pm

Ring in the new year? The party's over for automakers

DETROIT (Reuters) - Automakers put on a brave face at the world's biggest auto show on Sunday, with the sales outlook bleak for the coming year and fabled firms struggling for survival despite massive government aid.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:51 pm

UPDATE 3-Oce scraps final divi as financial crisis bites

(Rewrites, adds background, CEO comment, updates shares)
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:51 pm

Satyam rebounds on rescue hopes

Shares in Indian software firm Satyam jump 51% on hopes of a rescue plan for the scandal-hit firm.
Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:51 pm

UPDATE 1-Repros' endometriosis pain drug shows positive results

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Repros Therapeutics Inc , which focuses on drugs to treat reproductive system disorders, said both doses of its experimental drug Proellex significantly reduced pain in a mid-stage trial...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:41 pm

Opening Bell: 01.12.09

Picture 541.png
Morgan Barney In The Making (Bloomberg)
The numbers everyone is running with (at this point shit's fluid people) are $2.5 to $3B cash to Citi, and $5 to $6B in tax incentives. The end deal would have Morgan Stanley controlling 51% of the endeavor. David Trone puts it best:

"You're selling out the future to get through the crisis of the present, and unfortunately they don't have a lot of other choice,"

See? Now that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn't it? The combination of the two houses will mean about 22,000 brokers for the newly formed entity (pre-attrition) whereas the Bank of America team is sporting about 20,000 right now.

The Journal points out that closing the deal would lead to a higher probability of seeing James Gorman stepping into Mack's role, who's scheduled to retire in 2010.

The biggest hurdle over the course of the integration is going to be retention; the numbers are looking a lot like the ones that ML and Bank of America hashed out - somewhere in the neighborhood of 100% of T12. But, that's not going to mean shit if the companies come in and step on each other's toes, which has been known to happen.

Related, on Gorman:

"When Gorman started at Morgan Stanley in February 2006, the firm had about 9,000 financial advisers producing an average annualized revenue of $554,000. Gorman reshaped the business by jettisoning brokers who were less productive and hiring top producers from rivals.

By the end of August 2008, Gorman had whittled the corps of advisers down to 8,500 and raised revenue per representative to $741,000. The firm also almost doubled the assets it managed from the wealthiest customers, those with $10 million or more, to $223 billion from $129 billion. Asset values and revenue per adviser fell in the last quarter of 2008 as markets tumbled."

Obama SEC Choice Under Fire (NYT)
"Mary L. Schapiro, who appears this week at a confirmation hearing on her selection to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, has been accused in two lawsuits of making misleading statements to quickly complete a merger of regulatory organizations after which she received a 57 percent raise in her pay."

It's Monday, an as such I'm not much in the mood to talk politics, but I will say this: with the tightening of regulations and all-eyes-on that the regulatory people are going to have to face, it seems prudent to bring someone into office that's above reproach.

Possible Banks/Weapons Link Investigated (FT)
There's an ongoing investigation as to whether or not European banks were stripping wire transfer information in order to hide originating information in a scandal that ultimately has Iran purchasing Tungsten. The metal, it appears, is used in the manufacturing of long-range missiles and the quantity ordered was enough to meet the refrigeration (the other Tungsten use, one would suppose) needs of every home/business in the Middle East.

Madoff Blistered His Sister (NYP)
Of course he did. For $3 million.

GM Warns It's Coming Back For More (Reuters)
The Downside: "Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said the struggling automaker had enough funding to last through March but could still seek additional U.S. government loans beyond the $13.4 billion it has already been pledged."

The Upside: "GM has set a goal of reducing its debt by almost $36 billion by asking bond holders to swap out of existing debt for shares and by negotiating new terms for its promised $21 billion contribution to a trust fund for retiree health care that will be run by the UAW."

In related news, Chrysler has announced it's not for sale, and that it's doing its best not to die.

Citi Board Backs CEO as Outlook Worsens (WSJ)
They might lose $10 billion. NBD.

Source: Dealbreaker | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:36 pm

London Markets: FTSE 100 down to begin the week; banks are upside standouts

Soon-to-be-merged banking groups HBOS and Lloyds TSB move higher in a stronger sector, but commodities-related shares help put a drag on a lower FTSE 100.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:33 pm

Early Bird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (A, GNTX, PFE, AA, AGN, HOG, PBH, SSS, STM, TEN)

These are some of the top early bird upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Monday morning:

Agilent (NYSE: A) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Gentex (NASDAQ: GNTX) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Alcoa (NYSE: AA) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Allergan (NYSE: AGN) Cut to Hold at Lazard.
Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Prestige Brands (NYSE: PBH) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Sovran Self Storage (NYSE: SSS) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.
STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Tenneco (NYSE: TEN) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.

Jon C. Ogg
January 12, 2009

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:31 pm

UPDATE 2-Fresenius SE aims for 2009 sales, net income growth

* Plans note issue to repay bridge loan (Adds bond market reaction)
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:30 pm

Fraud-hit Satyam shares jump as rescue hopes grow (Reuters)

Reuters - Shares in Satyam Computer Services Ltd jumped as much as two-thirds on Monday on expectations a government-appointed board will rescue the company in the wake of India's biggest corporate scandal.

Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:29 pm

Fraud-hit Satyam shares jump as rescue hopes grow

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) - Shares in Satyam Computer Services Ltd jumped as much as two-thirds on Monday on expectations a government-appointed board will rescue the company in the wake of India's biggest corporate scandal.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:29 pm

UPDATE 2-Thomson SA shares jump on state fund support hopes

PARIS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Shares in Thomson SA rose over 20 percent on Monday, on renewed talk a French government bailout fund could take a stake in the financially stretched media company. A spokeswoman...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:25 pm

Stock futures flat ahead of Alcoa report (AP)

AP - Stock futures pointed to a relatively flat opening Monday, as investors tread cautiously ahead of the unofficial start to earnings season with a report from Alcoa Inc.

Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:24 pm

Norsk Hydro chief executive, Reiten, will step down

The chief executive at leading aluminum producer Norsk Hydro on Monday said he was quitting after nearly eight years at the helm.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:24 pm

Slowing sales dent China's car market

World's second largest car market had its worst year in a decade in 2008, with annual passenger car sales rising only 7.3%, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:23 pm

Oil back below $40

Read full story for latest details.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:22 pm

UPDATE 1-Goldman removes Pfizer from Americas Sell List

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs removed Pfizer Inc from its Americas Sell List, citing the underperformance of the stock relative to its peers and the potential for restructuring initiatives at the company...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:13 pm

Hong Kong shares drop after dismal US job data (AP)

AP - Hong Kong's main stock index fell nearly 3 percent Monday after U.S. unemployment hit its highest in 16 years.
Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:07 pm

FTSE's banks continue to rally

London equities held steady on Monday, with the recovery in the banking sector given extra momentum by further progress in Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS.Overall, the FTSE 100 ticked 9 points lower to 4,439...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:55 am

Corporate Bankruptcies: The Next Hurdle For Banks

The list of problems that could hurt bank earnings is already pretty long. The first big problem was mortgage-backed securities. That was followed by consumer credit write-offs. Then came loans for commercial real estate. That gets added to LBO lending defaults.

Over the last week or so another, a very large problem for banks has begun to become more prominent--the bankruptcies of big companies. Citigroup (C) has said it will take a write-off of over a billion dollars on the Chapter 11 filing from Lyondell. Chemical company Tronox filed for bankruptcy today.

Industry analysts expect about 25% of retail chains to go bankrupt in the next two years. GM (GM) and Chrysler creditors are going to get bloodied.

As the economy gets worse, so will bank write-offs driven my bankruptcies of firms they loaned money. There is nothing the financial firms can do about it other than to hope it does not snowball into a problem as big as derivatives or consumer credit.

The period when Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 filings will keep rising could go on all year. That means banks have four more quarters of with a threat to their numbers.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:48 am

Oil drops below $39 as commodities retreat

Oil prices fell below the $39 a barrel level and base metals staged a broad retreat as commodity markets got off to a weak start to trading on Monday. Nymex February West Texas Intermediate fell $2.03...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:45 am

Oil drops below $39 as commodities retreat

Oil prices fell below the $39 a barrel level and base metals staged a broad retreat as commodity markets got off to a weak start to trading on Monday
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:45 am

Citi nears Morgan Stanley brokerage deal

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The break-up of U.S. banking powerhouse Citigroup moved a step closer, and Britain took control of a big stake in another top lender on Monday as the reshaping of the global financial landscape gathered pace.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:44 am

Citi nears Morgan Stanley brokerage deal (Reuters)

Reuters - The break-up of U.S. banking powerhouse Citigroup moved a step closer, and Britain took control of a big stake in another top lender on Monday as the reshaping of the global financial landscape gathered pace.

Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:44 am

Currencies: Euro skids as traders mull ECB rate cut; dollar and yen gain

The euro loses ground as foreign-exchange traders eye a meeting of the European Central Bank on interest rates later this week. The dollar and Japan's yen both gain at the expense of the single currency.

Source: MarketWatch.com - Top Stories | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:42 am

Judge to rule on Madoff's bail

Read full story for latest details.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:26 am

Austria switches gas plants to fuel oil

VIENNA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine has forced Austria to switch units at two gas plant sites to run on dirtier fuel oil in order to help supply domestic energy demand...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:22 am

CES: Tech braces for hard year

Read full story for latest details.
Source: Business and financial news - CNNMoney.com | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:22 am

Jobs at risk after Findus foodmaker collapses

The global credit crunch has taken its toll on the humble fish finger with the financial collapse of a factory in Newcastle-upon-Tyne that made frozen products under the Findus brand.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:21 am

CBS (CBS) Loses At Musical Chairs

Shares in CBS (CBS) are down almost 65% over the last year, much more than the DJIA and other major media companies.

Part of the reason is that the firm is poorly diversified and relies heavily on national broadcast TV for most of its revenue. The other issue often mentioned it that the media company has not built a road that will take it successfully into the digital age.

According to The Wall Street Journal, CBS wants its TV.com web property to compete with Google's (GOOG) YouTube and Hulu.com, a site created by NBCU and several partners. The paper says that "Seeking a bigger slice of the online video space, CBS Corp.'s television site TV.com is bolstering its programming with more than a thousand full episodes of shows ranging from `Starsky & Hutch' to `Dexter.'"

CBS taking a longer shot than it may know. YouTube is so dominant that it is used by half of the entire online consumers going to video sites. Aside from Hulu, all three major internet portals have heavily trafficked video sections and all the major media companies have video destinations of their own.

CBS is bucking the odds that consumer behavior online can be significantly altered. Hulu was able to do that, but it makes the job of it being done again by another company even more difficult. How many video sites will the typical person use?

CBS is too late to the market with TV.com, which means the enterprise won't work.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:21 am

Israel deploys reserves as fighting intensifies

Israel has deployed reserve units in the Gaza Strip for the first time since its assault on the Hamas-controlled territory began on December 27, in a sign that the armed forces are once again stepping up their offensive
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:15 am

Energy stocks lead Europe lower

European equities opened lower on Monday as falling commodities prices hit energy stocks and served as a further reminder to investors of the ailing global economy. French oil major Total fell 0.4 per...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:14 am

Swedish company sheds 1,000 jobs

Swedish engineering firm Alfa Laval says it is going to cut 1,000 jobs worldwide because of falling orders.
Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:11 am

Making Obama Wait

No one being seating in the next Congress, the 111th United States Congress, is likely to accused of beating his wife, using the wrong fork, or passing gas while speaking with a head of state. Most of the members will probably be remembered at fat lizards who sat in the sun until it set, malingerers, and people who waited too long to pull the trigger when the recession got so savage that they weren't sure what economic stimulus legislation to vote for and when.

Some Democrats and many Republicans want extensive debate on the scope of president-elect Obama's economic stimulus package and how the new Treasury Secretary will use the $350 billion left for TARP spending.

According to ABC, Obama said in an interview "Here's what we know though, that the sooner a recovery and reinvestment package is in place, the sooner we can start turning the economy around. We can't afford three, four, five, six more months where we're losing half a million jobs per month."

Based on the modest pace of the debate so far, those months may actually pass without any significant action to get large amounts of capital into the economic and financial systems.

Apparently the notion that unemployment hit 7.2% in December and it rising did not do enough to move some of the legislators to action. They may want to wait for horrible write-offs at the nation's largest banks, or perhaps a big bank failure. They may need to wait to see the January unemployment, housing, and consumer and business spending packages.

The point has been made ad nauseam that an ill-formed stimulus package is better than no stimulus package at all. Perfection is not in the cards. Trying to save the economy will involve throwing money at the wall and hoping some of its sticks.

But, perfection is the issue. The Congress does not want to be viewed as spendthrifts who gave no regard to the burden they are putting on taxpayers or boobs who picked the wrong programs to get things back on track. Perhaps it is better to be prudent and blame the failure of the economy on leverage that has built up over that last decade ruining housing, bank earnings, and causing credit excesses.

The Las Vegas odds are now running 10-to1 against Obama getting his stimulus plan through Congress before the spring equinox.

The programs that involve spending $700 billion to "fix" the economy are complex enough so that they will not be able to effect the course of unemployment and falling GDP before the middle of the year and that is if things go perfectly. A multi-month delay of starting the process means that the crisis building around the recession cannot be addressed at all until next year.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:05 am

UPDATE 1-StatoilHydro drills "disappointing" Arctic well

OSLO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Norwegian oil and gas group StatoilHydro has drilled a "disappointing" appraisal well in the Barents Sea, the company and energy officials said on Monday.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:02 am

RPT-CES-Hollywood cuts back glitz at gadget show

LOS ANGELES/LAS VEGAS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Hollywood is toning down the glitz at the annual Consumer Electronics Show as studios seek cheaper, more practical ways to sell movies and television programs.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 11:00 am

World stocks down as markets fret over US earnings (AP)

AP - World markets fell modestly Monday, with investors fretting over the outlook for the world economy as the latest U.S. corporate earnings season kicks off.

Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 12 Jan 2009 | 10:59 am

Inchcape mulls rights issue to raise funding

Inchcape, the multinational auto dealer, is in talks with its bankers over a share issue to bolster the group's finances as it copes with a worldwide collapse in sales of new cars.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 10:54 am

Early indications of natgas at Israel's Tamar site

TEL AVIV, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Noble Energy has advised its Israeli partners that preliminary analysis at the Tamar drilling site off Israel's Mediterranean coast indicates the presence of natural gas.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 10:52 am

Pound eases after record run

The pound retreated on Monday, as traders took profits following a strong run last week and as Ireland accused the UK of engineering sterling's recent slump.Sterling put in it best performance against...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 10:45 am

UPDATE 1-Nigeria's Oando buys stake in offshore oil blocks

LAGOS, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Nigerian energy firm Oando Plc said on Monday it had bought a 15 percent stake in two deep water oil blocks off the coast of Nigeria for $197 million from Italian company Agip...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 10:44 am

The Imbecile's Ball: Citigroup (C) Dances Around Management Change

What will happen next on Citigroup's board or among the ranks of its senior management involves a guessing game.

By several accounts, chairman Win Bischoff is leaving. But, he has been on his way out for months. He still has his job. The earlier rumors must not have been true.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Citi board has given CEO Vikram Pandit a vote of confidence. Even if the firm loses tens of billions of dollars this year, Pandit is getting that public support just the way his predecessor Chuck Prince did, right up until the end.

Bischoff is just a pleasant old man from overseas who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. To look at media reports, the director who did all of the damage at Citi was former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. He is gone, but the problems he helped create are not. According to William Shakespeare, "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." If that is true, almost no one on the bank board is likely to have a peaceful passing.

The name which keeps coming up when these announcements or rumors hit the media is Citi's lead director Richard Parsons, former CEO of Time Warner (TWX). He may take Bischoff's place as Citi chairman but he did not do a bang up job at the media company. He has also been sitting on the Citi board during most of the period when the decisions were made that nearly brought the bank down. It would be hard to defend the position that he is blameless.

Citi is still going through a period when it is important for the government, which loaned the bank money, and investors, who lost most of theirs, to see someone humiliated for the company's missteps. That is a fine way to focus on the past but not on the future. That means the board is compounding its mistakes by continuing to take its eye off the real problems.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 10:40 am

Credit crunch boosts gold trading

Gold trading enjoys a bumper year in 2008 as investors seek safer places to put their cash as the credit crunch hits home.
Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 12 Jan 2009 | 10:37 am

Shares closer lower across Asia

Shares in some of Macao's biggest casino companies lost as much as a fifth of their value in Hong Kong after China retained restrictions on mainland tourists visiting the former Portuguese enclave. The...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 9:54 am

Wipro bid ban latest blow for India

The credibility of Indian corporate governance was dealt another blow today when Wipro, the country's third-largest outsourcing company, admitted that it had been blacklisted from bidding for contracts by the World Bank.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 9:36 am

European stocks drop at start of trading (AFP)

AFP - Europe's leading stock markets weakened at the start of trade on Monday, with London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares down 0.13 percent at 4,442.89 points.

Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 12 Jan 2009 | 9:35 am

Twelve Major Media Brands Likely To Close In 2009

No one working in the media industry will ever have seen a year as bad as 2009 will be. The sharp slide in advertising began in 2008, and, based on the worsening economy, there is no reason to think that advertising will improve. Most Wall St. analysts have predicted a harsh year for the ad business. If the downturn deepens and unemployment rises above 10% most predictions about media, no matter how negative, will have been unexpectedly optimistic.

The most endangered of the media sectors is the newspaper industry. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Denver's Rocky Mountain News have already been slated for closing if they do not find buyers. They won't. The Miami Herald is on the block. Due to the remarkably poor real estate environment in South Florida, this property is unlikely to find a new home. National newspaper chains Journal Register and Gatehouse have been delisted from the NYSE and are likely to try to auction off their operations. McClatchy (MNI), the third largest chain in the country, will struggle to make its debt service. Scores of papers, large and small, will fold this year. Newspaper expert Alan Mutter recently wrote that any paper in a major city with two dailies is in tremendous trouble.

The magazine industry is not in much better shape although its very sharp downturn did not begin until last year. Conde Nast recently closed Men's Vogue and cut back the frequency and online operations of Portfolio. Media giant Meredith recently closed Country Home. Two months ago, PC Magazine said it would close its print edition and operate only online. According to MIN, at least a dozen major magazines had ad page decreases of more than 20% last year including US News & World Report, Rolling Stone, Boating, Gourmet, Ladies Home Journal, More, and Smart Money. A number of these magazines also had sharp page drops in their January editions. With advertising expenditures likely to fall throughout the year, it is hard to imagine how many men's magazines, car publications, food, and shelter magazines will be able to stay afloat in segments of the industry which are already crowded.

A year ago, most analysts expected that the online marketing business would be largely recession-proof. It is now clear that this is not true. Gawker owner Nick Denton expects online ad revenue to drop by double digits. Even if that does not turn out to be true, web properties which are losing money now won't all make it to the end of 2009. Denton has already closed ValleyWag. Retail website eLuxury.com is closing. 8020 Media, started by CNET founder Halsey Minor, has been shuttered.

Public discussion of media property closures is rampant. The criteria for determining what is meant by the terms “closing or folding” has become complicated in the last three years. Increasingly, many companies "close" an operation by merging it into something different or killing its "old media" operation and moving that business online. For example, this was done by The Christian Science Monitor when it closed the print form of the paper and moved all of its content to its website.

For the purposes of this analysis "fold" means that a property no longer exists in its current state. If the Miami Herald becomes part of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, it has folded even if its name survives. If Entertainment Weekly shuts it print edition and keeps only EW.com open, Entertainment Weekly has, in effect, folded

The Miami Herald is already for sale. It is owned by McClatchy, a company which simply may not make it. McClatchy had operating income of $40 million last quarter, but its debt service was $34 million. In addition, McClatchy revenue dropped 16% for the quarter. Based on the figures the company has posted over the last several months, the top line is dropping more rapidly, especially at its Florida and California properties. Classified sales are down over 30% in these regions. For the six months ending last September, daily circulation at the Miami paper was down 11.8% to 240.000. A large daily newspaper operation that covers a huge metro area is simply too expensive to run with this enormous audience loss. The Herald won't be sold. There is too much risk here for a buyer. The most likely fate of the paper is that it will be merged with the Ft. Lauderdale paper or some other media in south Florida.

A number of media reports say that the Minneapolis Star-Tribune will file for Chapter 11 early this year. Creditors may take the paper over, but what will they do with it as the industry falls apart? Go online? Maybe, but that would involving firing most of the current staff. The only other realistic arrangement would be a sale of the paper's assets to the neighboring St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Press could significantly reduce the costs of running two papers which are so geographically close to one another. The Star-Tribune lost 4.3% of its daily circulation in the last measurement period and 8.6% of its Sunday circulation. The numbers for St. Paul were up slightly. A combination of these properties might be a template for mergers in other regions including Dallas/Fort Worth and LA/San Diego. Two years ago, hardly anyone would have imagined putting two competitors together.

The New York Daily News operates in the most competitive newspaper market in the US and it is not clear that any of the properties in this fight makes a dime. New York City is home to both The New York Post and The New York Times. The Newark Star Ledger is competition from New Jersey and Newsday competes from Long Island. The Daily News is owned by billionaire Mort Zuckerman who also owns the money-losing magazine, US News. Circulation at The Daily News dropped 7.2% in the last measurement period to 762,595. Some newspaper analysts put the annual loss for the paper in 2008 at over $30 million. It does not help that Zuckerman's main business is real estate and that he is writing checks to keep US News in business as well. A second NYC paper at risk is The New York Observer. It has carried a very modest amount of advertising over the last three month. It probably employs at least 50 people and has to cover the printing costs of about 60,000 copies a week. An annual subscription is under $30. The paper's website, observer.com, has a very small audience of 764,000 visitors each month. It is another property with an owner in the real estate business.

The San Francisco Chronicle is owned by the privately-held Hearst Corporation which has said it will sell or close its paper in Seattle within the next 60 days. Media experts say that the Chronicle has lost money for several years. The faltering California economy will only make this worse. Because of the digital culture of northern California, there is a small chance that the paper could move completely online. More likely, it would be merged into the local MediaNews Group papers which include the dailies in San Jose and Oakland. It is not out of the question that print papers around SF will become multiple geographic editions of one newspaper. It may be what they have to do to survive.

According to MIN, Playboy has lost advertising pages each of the last four years, falling from 685 pages in 2004 to 463 pages last year. In the September quarter, Playboy's parent company lost $2.7 million on revenue of just over $70 million. This revenue figure was down from almost $83 million in the same period the year before. The firm has a modest cash position of $25 million. Playboy's publishing operations do not make money. Its entertainment and licensing businesses do. Playboy's comment about print emphasized falling sales: "Advertising revenues decreased $1.0 million, or 16%, for the quarter and $3.5 million, or 19%, for the nine-month period." Playboy's major enemy is the amount of adult material that is available online, most of it much more provocative than what the magazine can publish and still keep its advertising. But, Playboy is still one of the most recognized brands in the world. Moving completely online with both ad supported and subscription servers gives it a more realistic chance of success than most magazines would have.

SmartMoney is the personal finance magazine which is jointly owned by Hearst and Dow Jones. It is unlikely that either company wants to support the losses at the publication which are almost certain to grow substantially over the next year. The property is in a crowded field which includes Money, Kiplinger's, and the personal finance sections of several large publications and newspapers from BusinessWeek to The Wall Street Journal. Smart Money's ad pages fell 30% last year to 503 compared with the year before. In 2004, the figure was 784 pages. The January 2009 issues were down another 24%. This magazine will close.

Gourmet will probably not see the end of the year. Its parent company, Conde Nast, can no longer rely on the huge profits of the newspaper portion of the Newhouse family business. The magazine operation needs to go on a diet. Conde Nast reaches the "food" market several ways. It owns Gourmet, Bon Appetite, and epicurious.com. Conde Nast simply owns too many titles in this category. From 2004 to 2008, Gourmet’s ad pages have dropped from 1,364 to 955, with a 24% drop last year. January’s ad pages were down another 32% according to MIN. Gourmet can survive since it has a competitive audience of web visitors to its food site, but it will have to migrate totally to its website.

For this analysis there is not enough access to data to say whether all four major car magazines (Automobile, Motor Trend, Car & Driver, and Road & Track) will make it through the year. The troubles of the automobile industry will surely affect them all.

Answers.com is a very large web property that many people haven't heard of. According to comScore, the answers.com websites had almost 25 million unique visitors in October, making it No. 34 among the top 50 websites in the US. But, the company makes little if any money on all of that traffic. In the third quarter, Answers Corp, which is a public company, had revenue of only $3.6 million and an operating loss of $112,000. That is a astonishingly low revenue-yield-per-visitor. Most of the firm's revenue comes from online advertising. Answers Corp has $9 million in cash. The company calls itself a "leading answers engine."

Eons.com is a social network and information website for baby boomers. Unfortunately, it is not growing the way most social networks are. Quantcast shows its audience is currently well below where it was in the late summer of last year. In March 2007, the company raised $22 million lead by led by Charles River Ventures. Recently, it has become clear that social networks are poor media for advertising. The valuations of very large properties, particularly Facebook, have crumbled. Eons runs a tremendous amount or remnant display advertising which means that its revenue is certainly very modest. Even in a better economic climate social networks would be struggling to bring in advertising revenue with the smaller one would be fighting to survive.

PlanetOut has been one of the premiere sites for gays and lesbians for years. Its parent company, which has the same name, has been struggling to sell its businesses. The firm's shares have dropped from a 52-week high of $6.20 to $.50. PlanetOut's market cap is down to $2 million. Last week the company was sold to Here Media. The deal is too late to save the website. Compete.com shows that its audience has declined 25% over the last year to a fairly small 61,000 unique visitors. That is not enough traffic to keep a media and ecommerce site alive.

Douglas A. McIntyre began his career at Time, Inc. He was the president of Financial World Magazine for twelve years. He was also the president of Switchboard.com when it was the No.10 website in the US according to MediaMetrix. His father was in the newspaper industry for 50 years.

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 9:27 am

Economy fear hits global stocks (Reuters)

Reuters - Equities kicked off the week on a down note and the euro fell on Monday with recurrent worries about the global economy pushing investors away from riskier assets and also driving oil below $40 a barrel.

Source: Yahoo! News: Stock Markets News | 12 Jan 2009 | 9:17 am

State to own 43% of merged Lloyds-HBOS

Dearth of interest from institutional shareholders in the two banks' secondary placings leaves the Treasury to take up 99% of the unsuscribed new shares
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 12 Jan 2009 | 9:15 am

Media Digest 1/12/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

According to Reuters, Citigroup (C) is near a deal to form a venture putting its brokerage business together with the one at Morgan Stanley (MS) Citi would be paid about $2 billion.

Reuters reports that Obama is working on decisions about what to do with the rest of the TARP.

Reuters reports that US bank earnings might be "frightful"

Reuters says that GM (GM) could seek further loans beyond the money it has already been pledged.

Reuters reports that the PC market is being hit by the slowdown.

Reuters reports that Sen. Levin wants details of the Citigroup funding from Treasury.

Reuters reports that the efforts to sell Volvo and Saab are accelerating.

Reuters reports that international investors are expected to up their investments in the US.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Citigroup board expressed support for its CEO even though the bank may lose $10 billion for the last quarter.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Toyota (TM) picked a member of the founding family to run the firm.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Honda (HMC) will cut US inventory.

The Wall Street Journal reports that dealers are not ordering more Chryslers due to their own bloated inventories.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the UK and its major banks are working on a deal so that firms can dump bad debt.

The Wall Street Journal reports that chemical company Tronox filed for Chapter 11.

The Wall Street Journal reports that there will soon be a wave of retail bankruptcies.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Dubai will increase spending in 2009.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Exxon (XOM) may buy a rival energy company.

The Wall Street Journal reports that CBS's (CBS) online product will have more offerings.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft (MSFT) will launch a marketing program to show businesses that software can save money in lean times.

The Wall Street Journal reports that hedge funds are losing interest in IPOs.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the recession may cause protectionism.

The Wall Street Journal reports that earnings could further undermine confidence.

The Wall Street Journal reports that T Rowe Price will offer a fund based on risky investments.

The Wall Street Journal reports that investors will focus on executive compensation.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft (MSFT) is betting on PC touchscreen tech.

The New York Times reports that Citigroup is being urged to dump its chairman.

The New York Times reports that Hollywood's bet on 3D is being hurt by expensive equipment.

The New York Times reports that "Mary L. Schapiro, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to lead the S.E.C., has been accused of making misleading statements to quickly complete a merger of regulatory bodies."

The New York Times reports that AOL has built 70 specialty sites, many without the AOL name.

The FT reports that Obama plans to overhaul the TARP.

Bloomberg reports that Citi (C) may reports a $10 billion gain on its brokerage deal with Morgan Stanley (MC).

Bloomberg reports that China will allow more bad debt and ease loan rules.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 9:07 am

Gazprom says Ukraine signs gas monitoring deal

Ukraine has signed a fresh copy of a gas transit monitoring agreement and removed earlier conditions, Gazprom, Russia's state-owned gas giant, said in a statement
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:39 am

Asia Markets And Europe Open 1/12/2009

Markets in Asia were lower.

The Nikkei did not trade due to a holiday.

The Hang Seng fell 3% to 13,946.

The Shanghai Composite was off .2% to 1,900.

At the open in Europe, the FTSE was down .2% to 4,440. The Daxx fell ,5% to 4,460. The CAC 40 dropped .2% to 3,294.

Data from Reuters and MarketWatch.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Source: 24/7 Wall St. | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:22 am

Taxpayer to own 43% of merged Lloyds TSB and HBOS

Lloyds TSB marked its transformation into Britain's new "super bank" today by revealing that investors had shunned its merger with HBOS and admitting it has paid £180 million to US regulators after allowing clients to side-step US sanctions.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:17 am

GM says could seek further loans

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said the struggling automaker had enough funding to last through March but could still seek additional U.S. government loans beyond the $13.4 billion it has already been pledged.

Source: Reuters: Business News | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:09 am

China's Shangri-La is gateway to region's tourism, prosperity

Leaders are pushing ecotourism at the area's Pudacuo National Park and plan four more parks. Yang Xuemei grew...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:00 am

Five key steps to meeting leadership challenges

The authors of 'The Leadership Code' use insights from themselves and others to come up with rules for effective management. ...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:00 am

Financial scoundrels have little to fear from the law

If experience is any guide, the titans behind the system's meltdown, and the regulators who watched it take shape, won't pay for their irresponsibility. ...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:00 am

Carmakers' hopes ride on minis

GM unveils the Spark at the Detroit auto show, another sign the industry is thinking small. With the economy crashing,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:00 am

Jittery Wall Street braces for earnings reports

Coming off its worst week since November, Wall Street is now wondering whether its late-2008 optimism about the economy was misguided -- or at least premature.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNPaperBusiness | 12 Jan 2009 | 8:00 am

Australian stocks: Market closes 1.4pc lower

MELBOURNE - The Australian stock market closed 1.4 percent lower on Monday, with falls in the resource and banking sector weighing on the local bourse. At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 52.4 points, or 1.4 percent,...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 7:12 am

NZ stocks: Market begins week with modest gain

The New Zealand share market posted modest gains today in contrast to a weak Australian market. Brokers cautioned against reading too much into the day's trading as volume was extremely light. Prices reflected flows and orders...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 5:59 am

Currency: Dollar dips at end of lacklustre session

The New Zealand dollar dipped in late afternoon trading after spending most of the session in a narrow range just under the US59c figure. The NZ dollar was US58.58c at 5pm, down from US59.20c at 8am and US59.19c at 5pm Friday. It...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 5:27 am

Five Things Google Could Do For Newspapers

While the New York Times was given an early death sentence this week by The Atlantic, Google C.E.O. Eric Schmidt was asked by Fortune magazine what Google should do to save the ailing newspaper industry. He reiterated his previous “moral imperative” sentiment to do something, but failed to come up with any concrete solutions.

The internet behemoth thrives on curating the flow of information from media outlets, so it has a stake in the future of newspapers. But should Google necessarily intervene? Some think not.

“[The news] has changed permanently, Google is part of that change, Craigslist is part of that change, Facebook is part if that change,” said Jeff Jarvis, media blogger and author of the new book What Would Google Do. “That doesn’t mean they’re responsible for those who don’t adapt to that change. They’re not.”

Here are five things Google could do for newspapers, however, if it decided to implement its own bailout of print media.

1. Buy Them.

One solution the interviewer suggested was acquiring newspapers and bringing them under Google’s corporate umbrella. Schmidt shot that one down.. at least for now.

“The good news is we could purchase them. We have the cash. But I don't think our purchasing a newspaper would solve the business problems,” said Schmidt.

“I think the solution is tighter integration. In other words, we can do this without making an acquisition. The term I've been using is 'merge without merging.'”

Google doesn’t want to put money into a company lacking a strategy for success. N.Y.U. journalism professor Jay Rosen tweets: “Eric Schmidt is saying: Charity we can always do. But it's like giving up on the patient.”

2. Do More Do Goodism.

Schmidt makes it clear that Google is in the advertising business, and philanthropy should remain separate from the business side. But if it chooses to throw some of its extra cash at the media, there are a number of possibilities.

Dan Froomkin lists a few suggestions at Harvard University’s NeimenWatchdog, including contributing to non-profit projects like ProPublica (which Schmidt also mentions), adopting papers to help improve their technology, and creating its own non-profit news organization.

Then there’s always Spot.us, the crowd-funded journalism project run by Knight Foundation grant winner (and wired.com alum) David Cohn. Funding grassroots journalism to bring some organization to that particular open-source movement may be the Next Big Thing in news. What better place to make that twain meet than at established news organizations?

3. Inform the Masses.

Google hosts outreach programs for the media to teach journalists about the tools available for them to use. While many newspapers already utilize Google’s products using search optimization, Google maps and AdSense, it couldn’t hurt to amp up the efforts and campaign to inform the out-of-touch. Frankly, we aren't overwhelmed with Google's efforts to promote this initiative and wonder how many people actually know they even exist.

4. Improve News Search.

While some folks in Belgium are of a different mindset, Google News is great at consolidating stories from across the web. But the search could use a bit of an upgrade to help give more exposure to smaller papers and maybe even prevent incidents like the UAL-Tribune debacle.

“It’s tuned for relevancy over currency,” says Jarvis, who has spoken with several industry execs who share the same opinion.

5. Bring Classifieds Back From the Dead.

Craigslist has been accused of single-handedly killing the newspaper industry by conditioning people to pay as little as zero for classified ads. Craig Newmark famously knows he is leaving perhaps 10s of millions of dollars on the table, and famously could not care less. Meanwhile, the traditional lifeblood for newspapers for your used car is being drained dry by this international classified ad network and by slightly-more-expensive-and-more-complicated auction services like eBay. You can’t blame Craiglist for innovating—despite their business model, they clean up, thank you very much—just like you can’t blame Google. You’d have to blame the entire internet.

Craigslist did donate $1.6 million to UC Berkeley's 'New Media' program, so it’s not exactly the bad guy. Scott Outing from Reinventing Classifieds wrote an open letter to Craig and Jim Buckmaster last summer with some suggestions on an intervention, and later posted one to Google which readers could help write (though few did).

Maybe now's the time to make that effort again. Google could pick up a few tips and possibly work with newspapers to build a new network of classifieds. They might start with 2005's "Craigslist Killer" Google Base.

Related Links
Google Goes Big; Specifics Be Damned
Earnings: Is Google Feeling Lucky?
Why Increase in Online Ad Spending Hurts Print Publishers

Source: Portfolio.com: Top 5 | 12 Jan 2009 | 5:00 am

India appoints new Satyam bosses

The Indian government appoints three leading businessmen to the board of scandal-hit software firm Satyam.
Source: BBC News | Business | World Edition | 12 Jan 2009 | 4:30 am

CBS steps up online video fight

The US broadcaster launches a revamped TV.com site with added content from several media partners in its battle for supremacy with YouTube and Hulu
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 12 Jan 2009 | 3:23 am

Aussie investment bank suspends share trading

Australian investment bank Babcock and Brown has asked for trading in its shares to be suspended, as it continues to await word from its bankers on a business plan to escape insolvency. Babcock requested the suspension from the...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 2:50 am

Telecom axes loss-making Ferrit website

Telecom is shutting down its loss-making online retail store Ferrit. It says the decision to shut down Ferrit "reflects that there has been a range of changes in both the telecommunications landscape
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 2:30 am

Auckland property prices fall 4.7 pc in 2008

Sales figures released today by Auckland's biggest real estate company show that property prices did indeed fall last year - but not as much as many observers predicted. Barfoot & Thompson's average sale price for the 12 months...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 2:00 am

Aussie exodus highlights retirement savings split

The exodus of New Zealanders to Australia is putting the spotlight on the differences in saving for retirement in the two countries, says business consultancy Mercer. Australia's system encourages self-funded retirement, according...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:30 am

Ring in the new year? The party's over for automakers (Reuters)

Reuters - Automakers put on a brave face at the world's biggest auto show on Sunday, with the sales outlook bleak for the coming year and fabled firms struggling for survival despite massive government aid.

Source: Yahoo! News: Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 1:10 am

Slow year predicted for new Stock Exchange listings

Private equity players bringing businesses back to the market or selling them to listed trade buyers could be the best hope for new listings this year in what is expected to be another tough year for the New Zealand stock exchange. Last...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:30 am

Adding rooms with a view to long-term gain

Why, you might think, would a hotel chain be thinking of expansion now? The downturn is deepening by the day, consumers are keeping their pounds in their pockets and the leisure industry, from pubs and restaurants to holiday companies, is bracing itself for a tough, competitive year ahead. And hotels are in the front line: PricewaterhouseCoopers, for example, predicts a 10 per cent fall in revenues during 2009.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

Hovis owner Premier Foods aims to sell slice to private equity

Premier Foods, the owner of the Hovis and Mr Kipling brands, is pushing lenders to sanction a ground-breaking rights issue in return for relaxing banking covenants on its £1.8 billion debt mountain.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

Recession: Financial sector to lose 15,000 jobs and confidence in the City plunges

Up to 15,000 jobs in financial services are likely to be lost over the next three months as confidence plummets along with levels of business.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

Coming soon, technology to give shops a ringing endorsement

As you walk along the high street, your mobile phone rings. You look to see who is calling and it is the shop you are standing next to, urging you in to check out their half-price deals.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

Mayfair says 'goodbye' to good old days of soaring rents

For a decade it was the preferred location for hundreds of hedge fund managers as they deserted the City and set up shop nearer to their well-heeled clients.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

Weary retailers muster to fight business tax plans

A planned 30 per cent rise in local government tax poses a new threat to the survival of beleaguered shop owners, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Business rates paid by retailers will rise to £7 billion by 2010, from £5.45 billion in the last financial year, under proposals to be voted on by Parliament today.
Source: Latest Business News from Times Online | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

US car makers at Detroit motor show - A New Hope ?

DETROIT - Just weeks after ending a year marked by dismal sales and a federal bailout of GM and Chrysler, US car makers are touting new fuel efficient vehicles they say will ensure that their cars and trucks will keep rolling off...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 12 Jan 2009 | 12:00 am

Citi nears deal on brokerage

Citigroup is to reap a much-needed capital gain of up to $6bn, as well as a cash payment of $2.7bn if it clinches a deal to spin off its brokerage unit into a joint venture controlled by Morgan Stanley
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 11 Jan 2009 | 11:43 pm

Investors back Peloton founder

Geoff Grant, co-founder of the failed Peloton Partners hedge fund, has launched another fund in the latest example of how quickly investors can forgive managers
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 11 Jan 2009 | 11:31 pm

Harbinger Capital imposes limits on withdrawals

Harbinger Capital, the activist US hedge fund that shot to fame in 2007 with a lucrative bet against subprime mortgages, has joined the list of funds restricting withdrawals for investors
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 11 Jan 2009 | 11:31 pm

Downturn hits rates of debt recovery

Severity of the downturn and complex way corporate debts were structured leaves investors with the prospect of much steeper losses
Source: Financial Times - US homepage | 11 Jan 2009 | 11:31 pm

Cruising NZ steams ahead

For many people mention of the words "cruise ship holiday" brings images of elderly people playing shuffleboard accompanied by the sounds of The Love Boat to mind. But it seems the old cliches are becoming further from the truth...
Source: New Zealand Herald - Business | 11 Jan 2009 | 11:00 pm

Blogs : Humor pages | Norkay's Blog | Kids Stories | Indian Recipes | Database Tech Blog

Sundries : World Video Clips | Songs Clips | Indian Video Clips |