Business

Kodak says settles patent claims with Matsushita

2007-12-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

Eastman Kodak Co (EK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd (MEI) (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed to settle their patent infringement claims, Kodak said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

Kodak said no monetary consideration was paid under the agreement reached on December 21, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kodak also said it reached a technology cross-license agreement with MEI, which will allow each company access to the other's patent portfolio.

Kodak also settled its claims with Victor Co of Japan Ltd (6792.T: Quote, Profile, Research), which was also a defendant in Kodak's suit against MEI.

www.reuters.com

Netscape browser's last days

2007-12-29T15:11:00.000-08:00

Netscape Navigator, the world's first commercial Web browser and the launch pad of the Internet boom, will be pulled off life support Feb. 1 after a 13-year run.

Its current caretakers, Time Warner's AOL, decided to kill further development and technical support to focus on beefing up the company's advertising business. Netscape's usage dwindled with Microsoft's entry into the browser business, and Netscape all but faded away after the birth of its open-source cousin, Firefox.

Despite its quiet demise, it's hard to overestimate the impact the browser and the company had on Silicon Valley.

The World Wide Web was but a few years old when in April 1993 a team at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications released Mosaic, the first Web browser to integrate images and sound with words. Before Mosaic, access to the Internet and the Web was largely limited to text, with any graphics displayed in separate windows.

Marc Andreessen and many of his university colleagues soon left and moved to Silicon Valley to form a company to commercialize the browser. The first version of Netscape came out in late 1994.

Netscape fed the gold-rush atmosphere of the time with a landmark initial public offering in August 1995. Netscape's stock carried a then-steep IPO price of $28 a share, a price that doubled on opening day to give the start-up a $2 billion market value even though it had only $20 million in sales.

But Netscape's success also drew the attention of Microsoft, which quickly won market share by giving away its Internet Explorer browser for free with its flagship Windows operating system. The bundling prompted a Justice Department antitrust lawsuit and later a settlement with Microsoft.

But it was too late. Undone by IE, Netscape sold itself to AOL in a $10 billion deal completed in early 1999.

And now the company's browser will effectively go away.

Heineken buys brewer in Belarus

2007-12-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

Dutch brewer Heineken NV has announced the acquisition of one of Belarus' leading brewers Syabar Brewing Company.

Heineken did not disclose the acquisition price, saying it would buy Syabar's Cypriot parent company using existing cash resources.

The Belarus beer market is showing double-digit growth, with annual consumption now estimated at almost 4.5m hectolitres, Heineken said.

The company said the purchase "will be earnings enhancing in 2008".

It expects Syabar sales to reach 600,000 hectolitres in 2007.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Warner agrees to use MP3 format

2007-12-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

Warner Music Group is making its music available for US downloads from Amazon in MP3 format without copy protection.

Warner had been holding out against using the format because MP3 tracks are easier to share between users and may be freely burned onto CDs.

Amazon.com's download store is a major US competitor to Apple's iTunes, which uses Digital Rights Management (DRM) to restrict the use of some of its tracks.

Warner's artists include Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin and Sean Paul.

Sony BMG is now the only major recording group not signed up with Amazon.com's download service, which is only available to US customers at present.

"By removing a barrier to the sale and enjoyment of audio downloads, we bring an energy-sapping debate to a close," Warner Music chief executive Edgar Bronfman said in an e-mail to Warner employees.

Amazon launched its US download store in September after reaching agreements to sell unprotected tracks from Universal Music Group and EMI.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Apple plans online movie rental service

2007-12-28T05:32:00.000-08:00

Apple has reportedly signed an agreement with News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox to offer Fox movies for rent online through Apple's iTunes Store, the Financial Times reported. The deal would allow consumers to rent DVD releases by downloading a digital copy from Apple's iTunes platform for a limited time. Apple also has agreed to license its FairPlay copy-protection platform so the technology would be built into Fox DVDs, allowing users to easily transfer the movies from the disc to a computer or an iPod for playback.
www.mercurynews.com

Peugeot plans car plant in Russia

2007-12-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

French car manufacturer Peugeot Citroen has announced plans to build its first factory in Russia, one of Europe's fastest expanding markets.

The new plant in the town of Kaluga, southwest of Moscow, will begin work assembling mid-sized vehicles in 2010.

Peugeot Citroen hopes to sell 100,000 vehicles in 2010 and three times that number annually in subsequent years.

Many global firms build their cars in Russian plants to avoid heavy import duties for the Russian market.

Correspondents say Russia is regarded as a lucrative market.

Some 2 million new cars were sold in the country this year, but analysts say low levels of ownership mean that there is room for rapid growth in demand.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Boeing and British Airways finalize contract for 787s

2007-12-27T12:26:00.000-08:00

Boeing said on Thursday that British Airways finalized an order for 24 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, an order valued at $4.4 billion at list prices.

British Airways also has options for 18 more 787 planes and purchase rights for an additional 10, Boeing said in a statement.

British Airways had announced last September its selection of the 787 as part of its long-haul fleet renewal.

"The 787 is a fantastic aircraft and will be a welcome addition to our fleet," BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh said in a statement. "It will provide major environmental improvements in terms of global emissions, local air quality and noise."

The Dreamliner breaks new ground with a fuselage made of light-weight carbon composite, and is due to enter service next year.

"With lower operating costs and the range to fly to all our destinations, it will give us more flexibility when planning our route network and we are confident that our customers will enjoy flying on the aircraft," Walsh added.

Shares in British Airways were down 0.6 percent at 313.25 pence at 8 a.m. EST.

www.reuters.com

Amazon adds Warner Music tunes to download service

2007-12-27T12:21:00.000-08:00

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc has signed on Warner Music Group Corp to its music download service, the latest major record label to join the competitor to Apple Inc's industry-leading iTunes store.

Warner Music songs were available as of Thursday on the Amazon MP3 service, which lets users purchase the tunes and download them to Apple's popular iPod or many other digital music players.

The companies said they will also offer exclusive tracks and special album bundles from Warner, the world's No. 3 music company, whose artists include Linkin Park and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Amazon MP3 launched in September after reaching deals with music labels Universal Music Group, part of Vivendi, and EMI. The remaining major recording group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, has yet to offer its songs for the service.

It has priced about one-third of its nearly 3 million songs at 89 cents each, below the standard iTunes price of 99 cents. The retailer recently began allowing customers to purchase songs by using regular Amazon.com gift cards.

Unlike Apple's store, Amazon's shop sells all of its songs without digital rights protection, allowing them to be played on a variety of devices in addition to the iPod.

Customers "can feel confident" their songs will play on whatever music device they buy in 2008, said Pete Baltaxe, Amazon's director of digital music.

"We're very pleased with where we are," Baltaxe said of customer adoption of the music service, though he would not provide data on downloads to date or site traffic.

www.reuters.com

Samsung seeks probe of rival Sharp

2007-12-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it filed a complaint with American authorities over alleged unfair trade practices by Japanese rival Sharp, fueling an intensifying legal battle over flat panel technology.

Samsung said in a statement that it filed the complaint with the United States International Trade Commission on Dec. 21, claiming that Sharp and two U.S. subsidiaries imported and sold liquid crystal display products that infringe on four of Samsung's U.S. patents.

The complaint came after Sharp earlier this month sued Samsung in a South Korean court, also alleging patent violations for LCDs. It demanded damages and a halt to manufacturing and sales of affected TVs and display panels.

In August, Sharp filed a similar lawsuit against Samsung in federal court in the U.S. state of Texas. Samsung said Thursday it was pursuing federal lawsuits in Texas and Delaware against Sharp.

The string of lawsuits between the two companies - two of the world's biggest makers of LCD panels - highlight the bruising competition to develop better technology for products like hot-selling flat screen TVs.

Samsung said its complaint calls on the Washington-based trade commission to launch an investigation and order that Sharp products that allegedly infringe on Samsung's patents - including LCD TVs, monitors, notebook computers and mobile phones - be kept out of the U.S. market.

"Samsung has and will continue to vigorously protect itself against the infringement and unauthorized use of its intellectual property," Samsung said.

http://money.cnn.com

Dollar Strategists Forecast End of Bear Market, 3% Gain in 2008

2007-12-26T15:21:00.000-08:00

The dollar is poised to end a two- year slide against the euro in 2008 as government-backed funds in Asia and the Middle East purchase U.S. assets, currency strategists say.

The currency will gain 3.4 percent to $1.40 per euro, according to the median estimate of 42 strategists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The dollar is down 8.9 percent this year to $1.4497 per euro after weakening 10 percent in 2006.

Merrill Lynch & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos., based in New York, sold $20 billion in stakes to bolster capital eroded by credit-market losses. International purchases of U.S. financial assets totaled $114 billion in October, the Treasury Department said Dec. 17, the fastest pace in five months.

``Sovereign wealth funds are getting cheap deals by buying some of these bombed-out assets,'' said Gerry Celaya, chief strategist at Aberdeen, Scotland-based research company Redtower Ltd., whose $1.23 per euro forecast is the most bullish. ``The U.S. economy is resilient and good at clearing out all the dead wood and bouncing back, and the dollar will follow.''

The dollar depreciated this year as the worst U.S. housing slump since 1991 triggered $80 billion in writedowns at finance companies and forced the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

Japan's yen will rally for a second year against the dollar and end eight years of losses against the euro as U.S. and European economies slow, the strategists predicted in the survey.

www.bloomberg.com

Berkshire to Pay $4.5 Billion for Pritzkers' Marmon

2007-12-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will pay $4.5 billion to gain control of Marmon Holdings Inc., the Pritzker family's closely held collection of 125 companies, in what may be his biggest non-insurance acquisition.

Berkshire will take a 60 percent stake and buy the rest later, the Omaha, Nebraska-based firm said in a statement yesterday. The Pritzkers, who control Global Hyatt Corp., built Marmon into a group with $7 billion in annual sales that includes a 61,000-car railroad leasing subsidiary.

Marmon has ``businesses that are fairly niche-oriented where they have dominant positions established over time,'' said Thomas Russo, who manages about $3.5 billion at Gardner Russo & Gardner in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and counts Berkshire as its largest holding. ``They have a history under the Pritzkers of being liberated from the quarterly earnings game.''

Buffett, 77, bought the Chicago-based company after he spent October scouting for companies in Asia and lamenting that he couldn't find anything big enough to absorb Berkshire's cash hoard of about $45 billion. His biggest takeover last year was the $4 billion purchase of Iscar Metalworking Cos. from Israel's Wertheimer family.

Marmon is ``our kind of company,'' Buffett said in an interview with CNBC today. ``It's in some very basic businesses but good businesses.''

www.bloomberg.com

Amazon sells 17 Wiis per second

2007-12-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

Amazon.com said Wednesday its 2007 holiday season was its strongest to date, with Nintendo Wii game systems and the "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" DVD among its top-selling products.

The online retailer said it sold about 17 Nintendo Wiis per second when the product was available. The fifth Harry Potter movie led DVD sales, followed by "Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

Other products that sold well included Garmin GPS systems, the Apple MacBook and KitchenAid stand mixers.

Amazon.com's (AMZN, Fortune 500) said it experienced its strongest holiday sales on Dec. 10, as customers ordered more than 5.4 million items, or 62.5 items per second. The company shipped products to more than 200 countries, with more than 3.9 million units sent on its peak day.
http://money.cnn.com

Ford to make better crash test dummy for kids

2007-12-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

Ford is developing a high-tech insert for crash test dummies that is similar in size and shape to a 6-year-old's abdomen, aiming to improve tests for children's vehicle safety.

The prototype is part of an effort to make pediatric crash dummies and tests more realistic.

The hope is they'll lead to better vehicle restraints for children, the Dearborn-based automaker said in a statement.

Partners in the collaboration include Wayne State University in Detroit, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Takata, which makes automotive safety systems.

Crash tests mainly focus on head and chest injuries, according to Steve Rouhana, a technical leader in Ford's crash dummy testing.

"We really didn't have the technology before to accurately measure abdominal response," he said.

The silicone prototype features sensors that measure the severity of injuries sustained by the dummies during crash tests.

http://money.cnn.com

Jay-Z to Quit His Day Job as President of Def Jam

2007-12-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

After an unusual three-year turn in the corporate suite, Jay-Z, the rap superstar, said Monday that he would step down from his post as president of Def Jam Recordings, one of the world’s best-known record labels

Jay-Z is not revealing his plans after he leaves Def Jam Recordings, but he will continue to record for the record label.

Jay-Z made the announcement with Def Jam’s parent, Universal Music Group, as his employment contract was expiring. Under a separate long-term recording contract with Def Jam, Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, still owes the company one or more albums.

Jay-Z’s exit from the executive role comes after Universal, a division of Vivendi, declined to renew the contract under more lucrative terms he sought, according to people briefed on the talks, who requested anonymity because the negotiations were confidential. Under the deal that is expiring, Universal was to pay Jay-Z in the range of $10 million over the course of the contract, if he hit certain financial targets.

Jay-Z offered no hints at his future plans. “It’s time for me to take on new challenges,” he said in a statement.

But he is already one of music’s most ambitious entrepreneurs, with business interests that include nightclubs, an investment in the New Jersey Nets and a fashion line. His next move is unclear, though there has been speculation that he might strike a deal with the concert giant Live Nation, which has been seeking stakes in artists’ various business lines beyond concerts.

It is not clear whether Universal will fill the job Jay-Z is vacating.

Though Universal pursued Jay-Z as an executive so that he could imbue Def Jam’s then-uncertain rap business with credibility, he leaves with a mixed legacy. Under his leadership, Def Jam released two top-selling albums from Kanye West, the producer turned rapper who first came to Def Jam through Jay-Z’s own imprint, Roc-a-Fella Records.

But elsewhere, Jay-Z’s results have ranged from muddled to lackluster. The rap act Young Jeezy enjoyed a smash debut but a modest follow-up album and sales of rappers like Freeway and Beanie Sigel have been slow.

www.nytimes.com

India adds record 8.3 million wireless users in November

2007-12-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

India added a record 8.3 million wireless users in November, taking the total subscriber base to 225.5 million, the telecoms regulator said.

In October, new wireless subscribers numbered 8.05 million.

Fixed-line user base continued to dwindle as more and more users shift to mobile phones. In November, the total user base fell to 39.31 million, from 39.41 million in October.

India, which added 60.35 million new wireless users in April-November, is the world's fastest growing mobile services market.

Including fixed-line users, total telephone subscriber base grew to 264.8 million by November, 8.2 million more than the previous month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement late on Monday.

The regulator expects India's total telephone user base to top 500 million by 2010.

Bharti Airtel Ltd, with nearly 53 million subscribers in November, is the top mobile firm in India, followed by Reliance Communications Ltd, which had 39.4 million customers at the end of the month.

Other leading players include Vodafone-controlled Vodafone Essar Ltd, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Tata Teleservices and Idea Cellular.

www.iht.com

The world’s 15 richest fictional characters

2007-12-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

They say fortune favors the bold — but it also favors the fictional. The characters that make up this year's edition of the Forbes Fictional 15, our annual listing of fiction's richest, boast an aggregate net worth of $137 billion. That's enough to give $20 to every (real) person on the planet.

Flapping into the top slot on this year's list is the first non-mammal to rank as fiction's richest: Scrooge McDuck. Soaring gold prices mean the penny-pinching poultry's hoard of coins and bullion is now worth more than you can shake a tail feather at.

Born penniless in Glasgow, Scotland, McDuck shined shoes as a duckling just to make ends meet. One day a ditch digger paid him a U.S. dime to clean his boots, inspiring the fearless fowl to stow aboard a cattle ship and seek out his fortune in America. He proceeded to build an empire from scratch, and today boasts a net worth of $28.8 billion. An avid treasure hunter, McDuck often travels the world with his grand-nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie looking for even more loot.McDuck moves into the top slot vacated by last year's richest fictional character, defense contractor Oliver ''Daddy'' Warbucks. Warbucks was tragically killed by an improvised explosive device during a visit to Iraq in March. The mogul's sudden demise leaves Warbucks Industries — the world’s largest maker of depleted uranium artillery shells and cat food — without leadership. Adopted daughter Lil' Orphan Annie is now in court fighting Warbucks' former wives, bodyguards and mistresses for control of the company and estate.

All told, six billionaires fell off the list, including Atlantic City real estate magnate Mr. Monopoly, who lost everything in the subprime mortgage crash. Archaeologist Lara Croft is missing and presumed dead after her plane disappeared above the Congolese jungle. And narco-capitalist Tony Montana, aka Scarface, was finally confirmed dead by a joint CIA/FBI task force.

Taking their place is a cast of new characters including Ming the Merciless, who ranks second on this year's list. With the existence of this evil alien overlord only recently confirmed by the U.S. government, we've had difficulty separating planetary wealth from his personal fortune, but we can safely say his net worth is at least $20.9 billion, and potentially much higher. Variously described as "control freak," "micro-manager," "vile despot" or "a kinder Steve Ballmer," Ming is best known for his fixation on NASA public relations specialist Dale Arden, girlfriend of astronaut Flash Gordon.

Forbes.com

Daimler reiterates plans to grow: paper

2007-12-25T09:19:00.000-08:00

German carmaker Daimler (DAIGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) aims for higher growth and to be one of the world's most profitable car manufacturers, its chief executive told workers in a letter, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche is "confident" of achieving higher growth and profitability, he said in the letter, the German weekly paper reported in the e-mailed version of an article to be published on Sunday.

Zetsche has said before that he aims for all of Daimler's operations to grow in 2008 and t resume the company's share buyback program if profitability is in line with expectations.

www.reuters.com

Teva launches generic Protonix, ups '07 EPS forecast

2007-12-25T09:17:00.000-08:00

Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) TEVA.TA raised its 2007 earnings outlook following the launch of its generic version of Wyeth's (WYE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) ulcer drug Protonix.

Wyeth in response said it will sue Teva for alleged patent infringement on the drug, which Teva said had U.S. sales of $2.5 billion in the 12 months ended September 30, 2007.

Teva, the world's biggest maker of generic drugs, said on Monday it had been awarded a 180-day period of marketing exclusivity for pantoprazole sodium delayed-release tablets, the generic equivalent of Protonix.

Teva said it was increasing its forecast for 2007 fully diluted earnings per share to between $2.34 and $2.36, having previously predicted it would reach the higher end of its forecast range of $2.20 to $2.30.

It said it could not assess the impact of the product on its performance in 2008.

Teva shares were up 3.6 percent in afternoon trade in Tel Aviv and rose 4.4 percent to $47.18 in New York premarket trading.

"In the bottom line, this is great news for Teva at the start of 2008," Yoav Burgan, an analyst at Leader Capital Markets, wrote in a note.

www.reuters.com

McAfee posts $137M in added charges

2007-12-25T09:11:00.002-08:00

Investors filled McAfee Inc.'s stocking with coal Monday morning after the security-software maker filed long-awaited financial restatements, but said it would not start buying back shares until after it posts results for the current year.

The stock fell 72 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $37.40 after the opening bell.

Cowen and Co. analyst Walter Pritchard said the revised reports contained no "major surprises," and said that a share buyback should start by February. He kept his "Outperform" rating.

As part of the restatement, McAfee (MFE) recorded an additional $137.4 million in pretax, non-cash stock-based compensation charges due to past stock option accounting errors. The charges are mostly related to annual merit grants, grants made to new workers and changes made to employee-option agreements after employment ceased, McAfee said.

Long term, Pritchard remained bullish on the company and said shares should outperform the market by 15 percent in the next year.

http://money.cnn.com

3 big electronics makers in flat-screen TV deal

2007-12-25T09:11:00.001-08:00

Matsushita, Hitachi and Canon announced Tuesday a tie-up in their liquid crystal display businesses, the latest collaboration in the increasingly competitive flat-panel industry.

Their collaboration creates a third major force in the flat-panel industry in Japan along with the Sony's alliance with South Korea's Samsung Electronics and the Sharp and Toshiba team, which was announced last week.

"Under this alliance, the three companies will merge their strengths to accelerate the development of cutting-edge display technologies and expand their scope of application," the three companies said in a joint statement, announcing their alliance plans.

The alliance is expected to help Hitachi (HIT) restructure its sprawling portfolio of subsidiary companies and enable Matsushita (MC) and Canon (CAJ) to raise their profile in the LCD sector.

"Close cooperation among the three companies will enable stable supply of LCD panels," said Hitachi Ltd. President Kazuo Furukawa. "I am certain that the alliance will enhance our competitiveness."

Hitachi will reduce its interest in wholly owned subsidiary Hitachi Displays Ltd. to slightly more than 50 percent. The unit has been posting losses.

The remaining shares will be divided equally between Matsushita and Canon by March 31, 2008, the statement said. Canon may eventually take over a majority stake in Hitachi Displays, it said.

Hitachi Displays makes small and mid-sized LCD panels and the tie-up will allow Canon to procure a steady supply of monitors for digital cameras.

Canon Inc. also plans to further promote development of organic light-emitting diode panels, or OLEDs, with Hitachi, the statement said.

Matsushita said it will increase its involvement in IPS Alpha Technology, a joint venture between the three companies and Toshiba.

Toshiba, which on Friday signed an agreement to buy large quantities of LCD panels from Sharp, is to sell its stake to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

Matsushita plans a next-generation plant at IPS Alpha to ensure a stable supply of LCDs and may use the new plant as a possible future base for production of OLED displays, according to the statement.

"I think the three companies have considerable potential in the OLED business," said Hideki Watanabe, an analyst with Shinko Securities. "They have the basic technology."

However, he questioned Matsushita's plan to get involved in large-size displays, saying the company is behind competitors such as Sharp.

Matsushita also said it will expand and strengthen its mainline plasma display panels operations.

Next-generation technologies like OLED panels, which use light-emitting diodes based on electroluminescent organic materials, could help manufacturers boost both prices and sales, analysts say.

OLEDs are generally still considered too expensive for commercial products, and opinion is divided in the industry on which panel technology, if any, will become the standard for thin TVs. Sony is the only electronics maker that has a small TV on sale with an OLED screen.

Hitachi shares added 3.85 percent to 836 yen (US$7.33) after the announcement, while Matsushita stock rose 1.08 percent to 2,325 yen (US$20.38). Canon finished unchanged at 5,240 yen (US$45.94).
http://money.cnn.com

Toyota '08 sales would top record

2007-12-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

Toyota, in a neck-and-neck race that could dethrone General Motors as the world's top automaker this year, said Tuesday it plans to sell 9.85 million vehicles globally in 2008.

Toyota (TM) also said it plans to produce 9.95 million vehicles worldwide during the same year, up 5 percent from this year - the same percentage jump for the automaker's global sales.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s targets, announced at a hotel in Nagoya near company headquarters, far surpasses the 9.3 million vehicles General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) has given as its estimate for production this year.

GM has not given a forecast for the number of vehicles it expects to produce or sell in 2008.

GM has been fiercely fighting back and boosting its overseas business to try to retain the top industry spot, which it has held for 76 years.

Toyota has grown steadily in recent years along with the popularity of its models such as the Camry sedan, Corolla subcompact and the Prius gas-electric hybrid.

Soaring gas prices have dramatically boosted the appeal of smaller fuel-efficient models that are Toyota's trademark.

Demand for Toyota models has been growing in almost every region, including the U.S. and new markets such as China, South America, Russia and India.

If Toyota achieves the target given Tuesday, it would put the company far ahead of the industry record of 9.55 million vehicles sold by GM in 1978. GM sold 9.1 million vehicles around the world in 2006.

Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said keeping a balance between quality and quantity will be key to growth.

"These are times when we must change what needs to change but preserve what must not change," he said. "We have always said there can be no growth in quantity without raising the level of quality."

Watanabe said Toyota expects its U.S. sales to grow next year despite problems such as the subprime mortgage crisis and soaring oil prices that are likely to crimp overall auto sales. Other overseas regions will also post growth, including China and Russia, next year, he said.

After the first nine months of this year, Toyota was - at 7.05 million vehicles sold worldwide - trailing Detroit-based GM's sales of 7.06 million vehicles for the same period.

The final tally for this year's numbers won't be out until January next year.

In August, Toyota set a global sales target of 10.4 million vehicles for 2009.
http://money.cnn.com

11th-hour shopping brings relief

2007-12-25T09:07:00.001-08:00

Just weeks ago, the holiday shopping season seemed headed for disaster. But in the waning hours before Christmas, the nation's retailers got their wish - a last-minute surge of shopping that helped meet their modest sales goals, according to data released late Monday by research firm ShopperTrak RCT.

And with post-Christmas shopping to come, some malls and stores were downright optimistic.

While consumers jammed stores at the start of the season in search of discounts and hot items such as Nintendo's Wii game console, a challenging economy prompted them to hold out until the end for bigger discounts.

An extra full weekend before Christmas also caused shoppers to procrastinate. In fact, Christmas Eve was expected to be a bigger shopping day than in past years because many employers gave workers the day off.

"I'm trying to get some deals, seeing what they got out. The sales are better later on. And the stores aren't so packed right now," said Tina Fields, who was at the Circle Centre Mall in Indianapolis early Monday morning.

www.mercurynews.com

Facebook alarms privacy advocates again

2007-12-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

Six weeks after Facebook launched a controversial advertising program that tracked its members around the Internet, the Palo Alto company is quietly testing a new system that slips links to its mobile software onto smart-phones on the T-Mobile USA network without the permission of the devices' owners.

BlackBerry owners can hide the blue-and-white Facebook icon, but they can not delete it.

Brandee Barker, director of corporate communications for Facebook, said users still must choose to use the mobile application and that no personal information will be at risk. She said Facebook will not share its members' data with T-Mobile or Research in Motion, which makes BlackBerry devices. In addition, she said, neither T-Mobile nor Research in Motion is sharing the information they gather about a person's location or the contacts stored on his or her BlackBerry with Facebook.

Kara Walker, a spokeswoman for T-Mobile, said the icon, which began appearing Dec. 19 on several BlackBerry models, is designed to take users to a mobile Web site where they will be asked to agree to download the full Facebook application. "It's not an application until you choose to use it," she said. (However, the icon, at least on one reporter's phone, did not always work.)

The experiment alarmed privacy advocates who have been worried about online marketing practices for months. In November, the Center for Digital Democracy and U.S. PIRG shared their concerns with the Federal Trade Commission shortly before Facebook launched Beacon, an advertising system that tracked Facebook members on sites like eBay and Netflix and then broadcast their actions in news feeds to their friends.

More than 50,000 Facebook users signed a petition against Beacon demanding the opportunity to opt out of the advertising system. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg subsequently apologized to members and said the company would change the service.

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said the distribution of the icon shows Facebook's management still has a lot to learn. "It illustrates a basic problem over at Facebook, which is their need to fatten their bank account is confounding their need to protect the privacy of their members," he said.

It is unclear whether Facebook will make any money from the distribution of the icon.

Both T-Mobile and Facebook are interested in persuading people to make greater use of mobile applications.

Barker said Facebook does not have a direct relationship with T-Mobile, which is dealing with Research in Motion. Barker said the partnership between Research in Motion and Facebook dates back to October, when the companies announced that an application to push information from Facebook to BlackBerry devices would be rolled out starting Oct. 24, first to T-Mobile customers.

www.mercurynews.com

Web giants' acquisitions stirring privacy concerns

2007-12-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

With more than $11 billion in acquisitions this year aimed at reshaping Internet advertising, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo are ready for the competition to pick up steam.

But consumers have privacy concerns.

Members of the online social network Facebook howled this month after it launched Beacon, an ad feature that tells your friends about your shopping habits. Facebook was forced to let users turn off the service.

"Beacon fell victim to a poorly thought out plan of execution," says Kevin Lee, founder of search-consulting firm Didit.

Advertisers hope to reach consumers visiting Web sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Microsoft, Google and Yahoo want to help advertisers track consumer behavior, then pitch products dovetailing with an individual's interests.

But pitfalls await tech giants' "targeted advertising." They are:

Privacy fears. The Federal Trade Commission last week approved Google's $3.1 billion merger with ad-placement giant DoubleClick. But congressional hearings on privacy are set for this spring, and consumer advocates are clamoring for limits on Google's use of behavioral data.

Lack of sizzle. Microsoft paid $6 billion for ad-placement firm aQuantive and $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook. It aims to use aQuantive's technologies and user-preferences data from Facebook to place targeted ads anywhere Windows is in use.

Too stealthy. Yahoo picked up ad-exchange network Right Media for $680 million and ad-targeting firm BlueLithium for $300 million. Yahoo must "reinvigorate its technology groups" and start "executing with precision and speed," says Lee.
www.indystar.com

Lobbying begins against Air France bid for Alitalia

2007-12-23T15:43:00.001-08:00

Air France-KLM's bid for Italy's state-controlled airline, Alitalia, has triggered a frenzy of holiday lobbying by powerful opponents who want Rome to reject an offer they say harms national interests.

Alitalia's board of directors late on Friday chose Air France-KLM for exclusive talks. The decision must still be ratified by the ailing flag carrier's top shareholder, the Italian state.

Ahead of a promised government decision by mid-January, politicians and labor leader are telling the state to find a better buyer for Alitalia -- a source of national pride even though it loses 1 million euros ($1.44 million) a day.

"It's folly," said Roberto Formigoni, governor of Lombardy region, home to Italy's financial capital Milan.

"Air France (has) a strategic interest in cutting its most significant competitor in half," he told Italian media.

Formigoni and other politicians in Italy's wealthy north predict Alitalia will be swallowed the Franco-Dutch airline, the world's biggest by revenues.

They also predict Air France-KLM would treat Alitalia as a more of a regional airline and transfer major routes to Paris to the detriment of Milan's Malpensa airport, sending businessmen there to make tedious connections when flying abroad.

A member of the northern, separatist party Northern League threatened to block the roads leading to Malpensa in protest.
www.reuters.com

China falls for Christmas -- at least in its stores

2007-12-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

China's shopping malls in late December leave little doubt that the country has been smitten by Christmas, if not in quite the way devout Christians might hope.

Christmas has secured a spot on the Chinese calendar as a cherished excuse to buy, buy, buy. And while Christianity is indeed spreading in the officially atheist country, many shoppers have only a faint idea of the holiday's religious connection.

But their manner of celebration is sure to win the blessing of at least one group: economists.

"It's not really a real holiday," said Benny Zhang, 29, a computer programmer outside a Beijing mall with his wife. "It's just a nice atmosphere for shopping and a chance to swap gifts with each other."

Economists long despaired that the Chinese propensity to save, not spend, was storing up trouble should China's exports falter and hurting the world economy because it was not buying enough from abroad.

Even as China has become wealthier, the savings culture has been reinforced by the dismantling of the social security system, which forced ordinary people to keep enough money on hand for education, medicine and old age.

But Christmas reveals that Chinese consumers, buoyed by fast rising incomes, have now burst on the scene with a fervor for shopping that someday might rival their American counterparts.

"It is hard to get away from cultural norms," said Anna Kalifa, head of research in Beijing for Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate management firm.
www.reuters.com

BMW laying off thousands of workers

2007-12-22T15:03:00.000-08:00

BMW, facing rising costs and resurgent competition from rivals like Mercedes, plans to dismiss several thousand workers, its first significant layoff in at least a decade, the company said Friday.

The cuts, which will fall mainly in Germany, are part of a sweeping campaign to restore profits at Bayerische Motoren Werke, which has hit an uncharacteristic rough patch after years of being the most successful German carmaker.

The company declined to confirm a report on the Internet edition of Der Spiegel that 8,000 jobs would be eliminated. A spokesman, Bill McAndrews, said BMW would not disclose numbers until early next year.

Layoffs have become common at German carmakers in the past few years, with Mercedes, Volkswagen and the Opel unit of General Motors all cutting thousands of workers. But BMW has had the opposite problem, trying to churn out more cars without bloating its payroll.

A large number of those affected will be employees with temporary contracts, McAndrews said. BMW will also offer voluntary buyouts and negotiate more flexible working hours with its unions. Layoffs are unlikely in the United States, where BMW is increasing production.

www.iht.com

Porsche and VW: One happy family?

2007-12-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

WOLFGANG PORSCHE still chafes at the memory of being told, as a 7-year-old, that he could not attend the 75th birthday party of Ferdinand Porsche, his grandfather and the family patriarch.

It was a glittering affair, celebrating the man who designed the forerunner of the Volkswagen Beetle and laid the groundwork for one of Germany's mightiest industrial empires. For young Wolfgang, it would have been a precious chance to see a beloved but often absent figure. Four months after the party, in January 1951, Ferdinand was dead.

Now, nearly six decades later, Wolfgang Porsche is the one making family history: he stands on the brink of uniting Volkswagen with Porsche, the elite sports-car maker founded by his grandfather and built by his father, Ferry Porsche.

It seems a bizarre mismatch: the Beetle, an enduring symbol of mobility for the masses, sharing the same garage as the 911 Turbo, the ultimate totem of privilege for Beverly Hills plastic surgeons, Russian oligarchs and anyone else with a need for speed, and $125,000 to burn.

Porsche's takeover — which began with a surprise 20 percent investment in 2005 and is likely to be completed with a majority stake next year — has inspired all sorts of bromides in the German news media: a David-and-Goliath tale, an audacious power play, a collision of mass and class.

At its heart, though, it represents a closing of the circle for one of Europe's great automotive dynasties.

"We're just a small automaker from Stuttgart, and now we're going to be one of the largest automobile companies in the world," said Porsche, a cordial, soft-spoken 64-year-old who as chairman of Porsche's supervisory board is the current leader of this sprawling German-Austrian family.

Not that he wants to be seen as taking over a $150 billion company, 14 times the size of Porsche, on sentimental grounds.

"My father and my grandfather would have been very pleased to see this, but that wasn't the reason we did it," Porsche said at Porsche's headquarters in a rare interview. "It's a nice side effect."

Porsche, he said, needed to bring Volkswagen into the fold to ensure that others do not get their hands on it. The two carmakers already collaborate in building sport utility vehicles and in developing hybrid engines. Porsche plans to use a Volkswagen assembly plant to stamp out the body of its eagerly awaited four-door sedan, the Panamera, due in 2009.

The takeover, which was the brainchild of Porsche's chief executive, Wendelin Wiedeking, is intended to lock in that partnership. By acting when it did, Porsche headed off private equity investors, which it says were circling Volkswagen in 2005.

Bluff, opinionated and combative, Wiedeking is the public face of Porsche. But Porsche is the behind-the-scenes power — a gentleman hunter and painter who has a business degree and hands-on car experience at Daimler-Benz, where he worked as a controller from 1976 to 1981.

THE youngest of Ferry Porsche's four sons, Wolfgang was overshadowed by his eldest brother, Ferdinand Alexander, who designed the 911. But with his brother now in poor health, Wolfgang speaks for a family whose fortune is worth well over $20 billion.

www.iht.com

China controlling more of U.S. economy

2007-12-22T14:57:00.000-08:00

There's a good reason schools across the country are scrambling to find people who can teach Chinese: It's quickly becoming business' second language as Wall Street seeks to tap China's $1.3 trillion in foreign reserves.

China has been making increasingly aggressive investments in some of the world's most prestigious financial companies in recent months — most of them American. Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Blackstone Group, and Britain's Barclays have all negotiated major stakes by Chinese government-controlled investment funds.

Investment banks ailing from the subprime mortgage mess are looking for money to shore up their balance sheets. And China is leading a surge of strategic investments from Asia and the Middle East that so far have sunk about $25 billion into Wall Street banks.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Credit Suisse to mop up as rivals squirm

2007-12-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) expects to steal a march on rivals in competing for business and talent next year as many of Wall Street's giants are distracted by mounting losses, a senior executive said on Friday.

"I think we are better positioned to present a platform that will continue to grow as opposed to dealing with some of the instability and some of the reorganizations that are happening amongst our competitors," Lito Camacho, vice chairman of the Swiss bank's Asia Pacific business told Reuters.

"We can continue to invest."

This week, Bear Stearns (BSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unveiled massive write-downs as the crisis from risky mortgages spreads. Chief executives at Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) have lost their jobs after reporting losses ranging from $8-14 billion.

In comparison, Credit Suisse was hit by writedowns of more than 2.2 billion Swiss francs ($1.9 billion) in November.

www.reuters.com

Amazon in agreements to move headquarters

2007-12-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

Amazon.com Inc said on Friday it signed real estate lease deals to move its corporate headquarters and consolidate its office space in Seattle after 2011.

Amazon will occupy some 800,000 square feet of office space for about $700 million under agreements with entities associated with City Investors LLC and Schnitzer West LLC, the company said in a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filing released on Friday.

That charge includes rent, operating expenses and tenant improvements.

On completion of development in 2010 and 2011, Amazon will begin leases with terms of up to 16 years, it said.

Amazon will also have the option to occupy up to another 800,000 square feet for up to about $800 million, subject to a $40 million termination fee if it elects not to occupy the additional space.

www.reuters.com

Intesa to pay $469.9 million in Parmalat settlement

2007-12-22T14:49:00.002-08:00

Banca Intesa Sanpaolo Group said on Saturday it agreed to pay 327 million euros ($469.9 million) to settle a lawsuit brought by Parmalat over the Italian dairy company's 2003 collapse.

Intesa (ISP.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), Italy's No. 2 bank by market share, denied any wrongdoing and said it only settled the dispute to avoid prolonged and costly litigation in which Parmalat (PLT.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) had sought 3.2 billion euros in damages.

"Intesa Sanpaolo once more declares that the Group had been absolutely fair in its behavior and totally unaware of the Parmalat state of insolvency," it said in a statement.

Parmalat, Italy's biggest listed food company, buckled under about 14 billion euros ($19.15 billion) of debt after uncovering a 4 billion euro ($5.47 billion) hole in its accounts.

It was restructured and relisted on the Milan bourse in 2005, and has since successfully sued several banks that worked with the previous Parmalat management.

www.reuters.com

Microsoft's piracy fight gains momentum in China

2007-12-22T14:49:00.001-08:00

In his first official visit to the United States in 2006, China President Hu Jintao arrived for dinner at Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) Chairman Bill Gates' house with a gift for the host.

Shortly before Hu's Seattle visit, the Chinese government had issued a decree requiring all personal computers manufactured in China to come with a licensed operating system before leaving the factory gates.

Now, nearly two years later, that gift keeps giving. The software company co-founded by Gates is seeing the benefits of more stringent intellectual property policies in China, with a decline in piracy rates and improved results at its mainstay Windows division.

China is by no means the worst offender.

More than a dozen other countries -- including Indonesia and Ukraine -- have higher software piracy rates, according to a study from the Business Software Alliance and IDC. None of those countries, however, offers the promise of China, the world's second-largest PC market, growing at more than 10 percent a year.

China's piracy rates, the level of pirated software in a particular country, dropped to 82 percent in 2006 from 90 percent in 2004, the study said.

"In China, where piracy is the way things are done with respect to software, any marginal money Microsoft gets back is super important," said Kim Caughey, portfolio manager and senior analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group.

www.reuters.com

Coach, Best Buy Lure Shoppers With Instant Checkout

2007-12-22T14:46:00.001-08:00

U.S. retailers, confronting what may be the worst holiday-sales season in five years, are trying to get shoppers out of their stores.

The FAO Schwarz toy store in New York increased the number of transactions checkout clerks must make each hour. Circuit City Stores Inc. says customers can pick up purchases in stores 24 minutes after ordering on-line. Charlotte Russe Inc. has installed 1,600 faster registers at its apparel stores.

As what is expected to be the busiest holiday shopping weekend approaches, chains are trying to get customers in the door with the lure of a quick checkout. The shorter the wait time, the greater the likelihood clients will return to a store, according to a survey by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, a trade group based in Dallas.

``I saw the queues,'' said Tina Archer, a tourist from London, in the Apple Inc. emporium on Fifth Avenue in New York, where employees ring up sales and e-mail receipts on hand-held devices. ``When I found I didn't have to stand in them, I thought, `Great.''' The speed of the roving checkout clerk ``definitely would make me come back and shop,'' she said.

The Cupertino, California-based Apple first introduced the machines two years ago and now uses them at all of its 178 U.S. stores.

Surveys show that consumers are completing their holiday gift-buying later this year than in the past three seasons at least, said Michael Niemira, chief economist of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

www.bloomberg.com

News Corp. to Sell U.S. TV Stations for $1.1 Billion

2007-12-22T14:45:00.001-08:00

News Corp., the media company controlled by Rupert Murdoch, agreed to sell eight of its Fox network-affiliated television stations in the U.S. to Oak Hill Capital Partners LP for about $1.1 billion in cash.

The sale probably will be completed in the third quarter, New York-based News Corp. said in a statement e-mailed today. The transaction leaves Fox with 27 owned-and-operated stations, the company said. Oak Hill will add the new stations to nine others it owns in eight midsize markets, according to its Web site.

``It is part of News Corp.'s strategic decision to shed low- growth, non-core assets,'' said Richard Dorfman, managing director of New York-based investment firm Richard Alan Inc., who doesn't own any shares. ``News Corp.'s focus today is much more on Internet properties, such as MySpace, and cable.''

Network television spending fell 3.8 percent and cable television revenue fell 0.3 percent in the first half from the year-earlier period, while spot advertising rose 3.2 percent, Nielsen Monitor-Plus reported.

``It was a classic private-equity play,'' Dorfman said. ``Oak Hill made a smart decision. Ad dollars are migrating to the Web, but it's a government-licensed franchise that can throw off good cash flow and reliably service debt for private equity firms.''

www.bloomberg.com

FedEx hit with $319 million tax hit

2007-12-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

FedEx was ordered to pay $319 million in back taxes by the IRS over a disagreement on how the company classified workers for its ground-delivery business, it said in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday.

The IRS ruled that in 2002 workers that FedEx considered independent contractors were actually employees of the company, requiring them to pay back taxes for the year.

FedEx said in its filing that it will appeal the decision. It also said the IRS is continuing to look into its employee reporting practices for the years 2004 through 2006.

FedEx faces numerous lawsuits across the country because it classifies its drivers as contractors rather than full employees.

Shares of FedEx (FDX, Fortune 500) closed Friday at $94.29 on the New York Stock Exchange.

http://money.cnn.com

Genentech offers reassurance

2007-12-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

Despite earlier concerns, most physicians should have no trouble continuing to obtain a relatively inexpensive Genentech drug to treat the eye disorder macular degeneration, executives at the South San Francisco company and two doctors' groups have announced.

Genentech had dismayed some doctors in October when it informed them it no longer would allow compounding pharmacies, which specialize in mixing drugs, to obtain Genentech's Avastin from drug wholesalers as of Nov. 30. Many doctors had relied on those pharmacies to make the proper dose of Avastin for patients suffering from the eye disorder.

Avastin is only approved for sale as a cancer treatment. But doctors are allowed to use it for macular degeneration and many do so because it seems effective for that purpose and is far cheaper than Genentech's Lucentis, which is approved for the eye disorder. A dose of Lucentis costs $1,950 vs. about $40 for a comparable dose of Avastin.

Genentech noted in October that doctors still could obtain Avastin directly from wholesalers and it later extended the date to Jan. 1 when it would stop pharmacies from purchasing the drug. But Dr. H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., executive vice president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, said it remained unclear whether the wholesalers would deliver Avastin to compounding pharmacies at the doctors' behest.

After his group and the American Society of Retinal Specialists conferred with Genentech, however, Hoskins said it has been determined that doctors generally should have no problem getting the drug sent to the pharmacies.

"Really, nothing has changed" about Genentech's position, added company spokeswoman Krysta Pellegrino, except that doctors have been reassured they can still obtain Avastin from the pharmacies next year.

Genentech executives have said the decision limiting Avastin sales stemmed largely from concerns raised by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the drug may not be safe for treating macular degeneration, particularly when it is repackaged by pharmacies. They also have denied their action was driven by a desire to sell more of the expensive Lucentis.

Nonetheless, the company's action prompted an inquiry by Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of Congress' Special Committee on Aging. Noting that most of those with the eye disorder are on Medicare, Kohl estimated that if doctors were forced to stop prescribing Avastin and switch to Lucentis, it could cost the federal insurance program up to $3 billion more each year.

www.mercurynews.com

Social-networking sites for the anti-social

2007-12-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

Fed up with Facebook? Whatever your opinion, a new kind of backlash against the way social-networking sites value, or devalue, actual friendship has found its snarky expression in sites such as Snubster and Hatebook.

It's not a zero-sum game. You don't have to snub Facebook to indulge in Snubster, which now ports its feature into Facebook. So if somebody you think is really creepy wants to be your Facebook friend, and if they won't take no for an answer, you could put them on your Dead To Me List, compliments of Snubster.

Snubster's creator, Bryant Choung, told Reuters he started the site as a kind of satire on the social-networking craze: "I didn't understand these fake-friend war chests that people were so busy building online."

A quick visit to Snubster reveals the misanthropic spirit. The logo is a round frowny face. For the Dead To Me feature, the dot eyes are replace by two X's. Hatebook, meanwhile, seems mostly a bulletin board for rants, some profane. For example: "I hate the . . . government for covering up the UFO conspiracy (even if aliens told them to)."

But a visit to Enemybook proved disappointing: It's an advertising marketplace, pushing services like "criminal background check." You can also find a private eye here.

www.mercurynews.com

Circuit City posts wide loss

2007-12-21T06:52:00.000-08:00

Circuit City reported a much wider-than-expected third-quarter loss Friday that the company blamed on its ongoing store reorganization and double-digit sales declines of gadgets like camcorders, DVD players and video imaging systems.

The Richmond, Va.-based company - No. 2 electronics retailer after Best Buy - reported a loss from continuing operations of $208 million, or $1.26 a share.

Shares declined 26 percent in pre-market trading.

Excluding certain items related to tax adjustments in the quarter, the retailer posted a loss of 64 cents a share.

"We are very dissatisfied with our third quarter results," Circuit City CEO Philip Schoonover said in a statement. "We underestimated the financial impact from the disruption of our transformation work."

Schoonover went on to say that Circuit City's "issues are primarily self-induced and are within our control to improve."

Anthony Chukumba, analyst with FTN Midwest Securities, said Schoonover is under even more pressure now given "Circuit City's string of poor earnings results."

"This company has had a lot of turnover in its executive suite and its being outperformed by Best Buy," he said.

Circuit City shares have slumped 65 percent so far this year versus a 5 percent gain in Best Buy shares.

Earlier this week, Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) reported its third-quarter sales and profits that topped estimates, although it cautioned that fewer sales reporting days in December this year could hurt its fourth-quarter results.

On Thursday, Circuit City announced retention awards for a number of top executives, including its chief financial officer and other senior vice presidents.

However, the company said Schoonover was not included in the retention plan.

Chukumba said he was not reading too much Schoonover's exclusion, for now. "A company shouldn't have to give its CEO more incentives just to do his job," Chukumba said.

http://money.cnn.com

Wal-Mart to run advocacy group for Wal-Mart

2007-12-21T05:34:00.000-08:00

One of the battle groups in Wal-Mart's two-year-old public relations war with labor unions is about to undergo a change.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday it will take over the advocacy group Working Families for Wal-Mart, which was created and run by its public relations firm to counter political-style campaigns against the retailer started in 2005 by two large unions.

Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar said the Bentonville, Ark.-based company will retool the group and its Web site as a platform for employees and consumers to speak out in favor of the world's largest retailer, rather than the outside supporters it has featured so far.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Philips Agrees To Buy Respironics For EUR3.6 Billion

2007-12-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

Royal Philips Electronics (PHG) of The Netherlands Friday said it would acquire U.S.-based health care firm Respironics Inc. (RESP) for EUR3.6 billion, or $5.1 billion, in cash.

In joint statements, the companies said they had reached a definitive merger agreement under which Philips will acquire all of Respironics' outstanding shares for $66 a share.

Respironics, of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, is a leading provider of sleep therapy and respiratory health care solutions, and the deal places Philips as a global leader in the fast-growing home health-care market by adding new product categories in obstructive sleep apnea and home respiratory care to its existing businesses in this field.

Respironics has approximately 5,300 employees worldwide.

"Respironics is an excellent strategic fit and will significantly drive our growth in health care both in the hospital and in the home," said Gerard Kleisterlee, president and chief executive of Royal Philips Electronics in a statement. "The acquisition of Respironics is another major milestone towards the completion of our objective to build market leadership positions in high- growth, high-margin businesses across the three market sectors of health care, lighting and consumer lifestyle."

Cost synergies expected from this transaction will be primarily based on supply chain optimization and savings in general, and administrative expenses including IT related synergies to be achieved by leveraging Respironics' IT infrastructure, Philips said.

The combined businesses will profit from cross-selling opportunities leveraging Philips' strengths in the hospital and the home. The transaction will be immediately accretive to revenue growth as well as Ebita margin to Philips and Philips Healthcare.

Over a 12-month period ending in September, 2007, Respironics reported sales of approximately $1.2 billion with an Ebita margin of 19%.

The tender offer is expected to commence by Jan. 8, 2008, and is not subject to any financing contingency. The acquisition will be effected pursuant to a merger agreement and is subject to the terms and conditions of that agreement.

These include the tender of a majority of the outstanding Respironics shares, as well as customary U.S. and European Union regulatory clearances. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008 upon which Respironics will become the headquarters for Philips Home Healthcare Solutions group within Philips Healthcare.

http://money.cnn.com

Chrysler CEO: We're 'operationally' bankrupt

2007-12-21T05:30:00.000-08:00

Chrysler Corp., the troubled automaker bought by private equity just four months ago, is scrambling to sell assets amid indications of huge losses, as access to cash becomes increasingly scarce, according to a published report Friday.

"Someone asked me, 'Are we bankrupt?'" the Wall Street Journal quoted Chrysler boss Robert Nardelli telling employees at a meeting earlier this month. "Technically, no. Operationally, yes. The only thing that keeps us from going into bankruptcy is the $10 billion investors entrusted us with."

To raise money, Chrysler is looking to sell over $1 billion in land, old factories, and other holdings, even if it has to let those properties go for under book value, the Journal said.

In an interview with the Journal, Nardelli confirmed the comments and declined to give a financial forecast for 2008, saying only that Chrysler "will make a pretty significant improvement" over the $1.6 billion the company is set to lose this year. The Journal said Nardelli originally hoped to turn a profit in 2008.

The rush to raise capital comes amid constricting access to money as more banks and other lenders face heavy losses related to subprime mortgages.

Chrysler's owner, Cerberus Capital Management, is now facing serious subprime-related losses from GMAC Financial Services, which it bought from General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) for $12 billion, and is also trying to walk away from a now pricey deal to buy United Rentals Inc., (URI) the Journal said.

Cerberus bought Chrysler from German automaker Daimler in a deal that closed in August.

In the arrangement, Daimler (DAI) essentially paid Cerberus to take the automaker, which fell to No. 4 in U.S. sales behind Toyota Motor (TM) in 2006, in an effort to get out from under a $1.5 billion loss from last year, along with continued obligations to union members and retirees.

http://money.cnn.com

Music group claims win vs. Yahoo China

2007-12-21T05:29:00.000-08:00

An industry group says it has won a new round in a court battle with Yahoo's China arm, which is accused of helping online music pirates.

A Beijing appeals court on Thursday upheld a ruling against Yahoo China over its search engine's links to outside Web sites that carried illegally copied music, the International Federation of Phonographic Industries said.

Court officials would not confirm the report. A spokesman for Alibaba Group, the local partner that manages Yahoo's China arm, said he had not seen the ruling and could not comment on it.

But the spokesman, Porter Erisman, said Yahoo China hoped to reach an agreement with music companies to create a licensed download service.

China is a leading source of pirated copies of music, movies and other goods. Operators of pirate Web sites offer music, games and other services to attract users and make money from advertising or online commerce.

Industry groups have won a series of lawsuits against companies accused of profiting from piracy but say violations are growing despite increased Chinese government enforcement.

In the latest case, the IFPI - representing companies including Warner Music Group, (WMG) Sony BMG and Universal Vivendi - accused Yahoo China of violating copyrights because of links between its search engine and Web sites with 229 illegally copied songs.

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled in April that Yahoo China facilitated the infringement of copyrights and awarded $27,000 in damages.

Yahoo China appealed, arguing that search engines should not be liable for content on outside Web sites. The IFPI said that appeal was rejected by the Beijing Higher People's Court.

Music companies lost a similar lawsuit earlier against Chinese search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) But China changed its laws on enforcement of copyrights and other intellectual property after that, and Yahoo China was sued under the new system.

Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., owns 40 percent of Alibaba.

http://money.cnn.com

Toshiba and Sharp in LCD alliance

2007-12-21T05:27:00.000-08:00

Japanese electronics rivals Toshiba and Sharp are tying up in the liquid crystal display business, company officials said Friday, the latest development in the intensifying competition in flat-panel TVs.

At a joint news conference at a Tokyo hotel, the presidents of the two companies said Toshiba will purchase LCD panels from Sharp. In turn, Sharp will buy more computer chips for use in LCDs from Toshiba as part of the expanded partnership.

Speculation has been growing recently that Japanese electronics makers will need to join forces in the panel business to compete against each other and formidable rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, Taiwan makers and others.

The biggest players now in LCDs include Sharp, Samsung, which has a joint venture with Sony, and Hitachi.

Recent media reports have said that Hitachi (HIT) will drop out of LCD panel production by selling its stake in a joint venture it has with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products.

Matsushita Electric (MC) has been eager to expand its LCD operations. Its current focus is on another technology called plasma display panels.

Kazuharu Miura, analyst with Daiwa Institute of Research, said the decision reflects Toshiba's strategy to partner with Sharp to ensure a steady supply of panels for Toshiba brand TVs while not producing the panels on its own.

"Many TV makers don't make the panels. The important issue for them is making sure there's a reliable panel-maker for purchasing the panels," he said.

The selection as Toshiba's supplier is a victory for Sharp, Miura said.

Toshiba had earlier been a member of the Matsushita-Hitachi LCD partnership. The Nikkei, Japan's top business daily, reported earlier this week that Japanese camera-maker Canon will join the Matsushita-Hitachi LCD partnership.

The report said they will also work together in another panel technology OLED, a new light-emitting display based on electroluminescent organic materials to deliver clear image quality.

The technology is generally still considered too expensive for a commercial product, and opinion is divided in the industry on what panel technology, if any, will become the standard for thin TVs. Sony is the only electronics maker that has a small TV with an OLED screen.

Like Samsung, Sharp is among the world's biggest manufacturers of LCD panels, including large-size panels measuring 60 inches for TVs.

http://money.cnn.com

'Practical' robot wins in Japan

2007-12-21T05:24:00.000-08:00

A mechanical arm that can grab 120 items a minute from a conveyor belt won Japan's Robot of the Year award Thursday, defeating a dozen flashier finalists, including a walking humanoid and a transparent torso for simulating surgery.

The government prize is the latest effort in an aggressive campaign to trumpet Japan's robotics technology as the nation's best vehicle to growth.

The award, now in its second year, sent a clear message that utility and business, rather than entertainment or academia, are at the forefront of the robotic push. Last year, a vacuum-cleaner robot won the contest.

Entries ranged from parts and Mindstorms software from Danish toy maker Lego Group to an industrial robot from Fuji Heavy Industries - maker of Subaru cars - a container-on-wheels that can lug 440 pounds of pharmaceuticals.

The three assembly-line mechanical arms from Fanuc that won were distinguished for their practicality. They are already being used at food and pharmaceutical plants, where sanitation is critical and human error can be disastrous, said Ryo Nihei, a Fanuc manager.

Swiveling frenetically, they analyzed digital images of items scattered randomly on a swiftly moving conveyor belt and picked up the items using suction cups that blow air in and out at their tips. They then worked together to line up the items in rows inside boxes.

www.mercurynews.com

Nissan and Chrysler Discussing a Pact

2007-12-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Nissan Motor Company, Japan’s third-largest carmaker, is in talks with Chrysler on a possible manufacturing agreement, the chief executive of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, said on Wednesday.

“There have been talks between Nissan and Chrysler,” Mr. Ghosn said. The meetings have been a discussion about original-equipment manufacturing, “not talks for an alliance accord,” he said.

Mr. Ghosn confirmed the talks after reports last week that Nissan and Chrysler, the third-largest American carmaker, may share technology to develop pickups, small cars and engines.

A Chrysler spokeswoman, Lori McTavish, declined to comment.

Chrysler and Nissan executives have said they are seeking alliances and partnerships to pare manufacturing costs and expand.

www.nytimes.com

2 Young Hedge-Fund Veterans Stir Up the World of Philanthropy

2007-12-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

As hedge-fund analysts, Holden Karnofsky and Elie Hassenfeld made six-figure incomes deciding which companies to invest in. Now they are doing the same thing with charities, for a lot less pay.

Mr. Karnofsky and Mr. Hassenfeld, both 26, are the founders and sole employees of GiveWell, which studies charities in particular fields and ranks them on their effectiveness. GiveWell is supported by a charity they created, the Clear Fund, which makes grants to charities they recommend in their research.

Their efforts are shaking up the field of philanthropy, generating the kind of buzz more typically devoted to Bill Gates and Warren E. Buffett, as charities ponder what, if anything, their rigorous approach to evaluation means for the future.

“I think in general it’s a good thing,” said Thomas Tighe, president and chief executive of Direct Relief International, an agency that GiveWell evaluated but did not recommend. Like others in the field, however, Mr. Tighe has reservations about GiveWell’s method, saying it tends to be less a true measure of a charity’s effectiveness than simply a gauge of the charity’s ability to provide data on that effectiveness.

Mr. Karnofsky and Mr. Hassenfeld met at Bridgewater Associates, an investment management company in Westport, Conn., which they joined at roughly the same time.

In the fall of 2006, they and six colleagues created what Mr. Karnofsky calls a “charity club.” Each member was assigned to research charities working in a specific field and report back on those that achieved the best results. They were stunned by the paucity of information they could collect.

“I got lots of marketing materials from the charities, which look nice, you know, pictures of sheep looking happy and children looking happy, but otherwise are pretty useless,” said Jason Rotenberg, a former member of the club and now a $50,000 donor to the Clear Fund. “It didn’t seem like a reasonable way of deciding between one charity and another.”

By the end of that year, Mr. Rotenberg and other club members were frustrated, but Mr. Karnofsky and Mr. Hassenfeld soldiered on, at once fascinated and discontented by their inability to get data that would illustrate charities’ impact.

“There are huge foundations out there whose job it is to find great organizations doing great things,” said Robert Elliott, a club member who is now the Clear Fund’s chairman, “but when you call them and say you’d like to leverage the information they’ve already collected to make a smart donation, it’s a closed book.”

GiveWell’s findings are available on the Internet, without charge, at www.givewell.net. In evaluating charities, Mr. Karnofsky and Mr. Hassenfeld press them for information, analyzing the numbers in much the same way they did at Bridgewater. The Smile Train, for instance, a charity that repairs cleft palates, was asked how much it spent in each region and each country to treat how many patients in each.

Mr. Karnofsky and Mr. Hassenfeld argue that widely available existing systems for charity evaluation, which rely largely on the charities’ tax forms, known as 990s, are basically worthless because charities are given wide latitude in how they classify information. For example, some charities count fund-raising costs as money spent on programs.

Charity Navigator, a Web site that rates charities based on their tax forms and has some five million users, is Mr. Karnofsky’s particular bête noire.

“I have literally read thousands of 990s, and they tell you nothing about whether a charity helps people,” he said. “I can tell you exactly how to get a four-star rating on Charity Navigator without doing anything charitable at all.”

Trent Stamp, the president of Charity Navigator, is put off by their approach. “I truly do wish them well,” Mr. Stamp said, “but the way they’re going about it seems a bit counterproductive to me. I’m not sure why they feel the need to tear down those who are also attempting to help donors, nor why they need to tell donors who use those services that they’re stupid.”

www.nytimes.com

Female bosses evaluated as ‘office moms’

2007-12-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

Female bosses are expected to play "office moms," while male bosses are held to a lower emotional standard, a new study finds.

As many know, workplace dynamics can eerily resemble those of a family. New research shows that female managers' skill at accurately read others' emotions impacts whether they get "gold stars" from subordinates.

The same isn't true for men. Employees don't evaluate male managers on their ability to read facial expressions or sense tones of voice. "It seems female managers may be expected to be sensitive to others' emotions and to demonstrate this sensitivity by providing emotional support," said researcher Kristin Byron of the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in New York.

She added, "Because of this, female managers' job performance is judged on them being understanding, kind, supportive and sensitive."

www.msnbc.msn.com

McDonald's sees restaurants as green laboratories

2007-12-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

From low-flow water faucets to converting French fry oil to fuel, McDonald's Corp (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is testing ways to reduce the impact its 31,000-plus restaurants have on the world's resources.

The hamburger chain, whose iconic brand and presence in 118 countries has made it the target of anti-globalization activists, is using its scale and broad franchise ownership to address the issue. It is trying out a slew of individualized environmental initiatives, said Bob Langert, vice president of corporate social responsibility, in an interview, adding that it did not make sense to force one solution onto its entire system.

"In Japan, which is very land constrained, it's about waste. In Australia, the big issue is water," Langert said. "There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to environmental initiatives."

In the last 20 years, McDonald's has made a variety of environmentally driven changes that are, for the most part, invisible to customers. They included reducing the amount and type of packaging it was using, moving a third of its fish purchases to more sustainable sources and implementing a program to buy goods made from recycled materials.

Langert became involved with the company's environmental initiatives after working on its 1988 move to eliminate containers made with chlorofluorocarbons, which were found to contribute to ozone depletion.

"We've eliminated the low-hanging fruit and medium-hanging fruit through the last 20 years," Langert said, but added that the pace of environmental change at McDonald's is picking up.

www.reuters.com

Tribune goes private as buyout closes

2007-12-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

Tribune Co.'s $8.2 billion buyout closed Thursday after an 8 1/2-month wait to secure final approval and financing, taking the ailing newspaper and TV company private under the control of real estate billionaire Sam Zell.

Zell, who previously agreed to assume the role of chairman when the deal was complete, also became CEO and made immediate changes to the board of directors and senior management.

He added five directors and named two new executives: Randy Michaels as executive vice president and chief executive officer of Interactive and Broadcasting and Gerald Spector as executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

More changes are coming, he made clear.

"We have a tremendous opportunity to take the great brands of Tribune Company, and the enormous talent within the company, to a new level," Zell said in a prepared statement. "Tribune, along with the newspaper industry, has been mired in its monopolistic origins, and we intend to create a fresh, entrepreneurial culture that is fast and nimble, and which rewards innovation."

Zell said the goal is to provide "a sustainable, relevant product for our customers and communities."

Tribune's stock was to cease trading at the market's close on Thursday.

The closing came after Tribune received the final cash installment from the four banks financing the deal -- JP Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500). The lenders had given the deal last-minute scrutiny because of declining conditions at Tribune and in the public markets, but the company cleared all the benchmarks needed to secure financing.

The other obstacle to approval, getting the Federal Communications Commission to clear the way for the deal, was removed Nov. 30.

The swift initial moves by the 66-year-old Zell, a self-described "professional opportunist" who has never before run a media company, confirm his reputation as a no-nonsense manager who doesn't hesitate to shake up the status quo.

He plans to add Jeffrey Berg, Brian Greenspun, William Pate, Maggie Wilderotter and Frank Wood to the board - a mix of people with ties to both the media and Zell among them.

Berg, 60, is chairman and CEO of International Creative Management Inc. Greenspun, 61, is chairman and CEO of The Greenspun Corp., president and editor of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper and a "significant investor" with his family in Tribune.

Pate, 44, is chief investment officer of Equity Group Investments, Zell's firm. Wilderotter, 52, is chairman and CEO of Citizens Communications. Wood, 65, is CEO of the venture capital firm Secret Communications and a former lawyer who spent 33 years in the radio broadcasting business.

Two existing board members were re-elected as directors: William Osborn, the chairman and CEO of Northern Trust Corp., and Betsy Holden, a senior adviser to McKinsey & Co. and former co-CEO of Kraft Foods Inc.

No one knows exactly what cutbacks, asset sales or other moves to expect from the fiery Zell -- known as a brilliant investor and bargain-hunter in industries other than media. But even a man who long ago dubbed himself "The Grave Dancer" for his ability to revive moribund properties faces a tough task in trying to turn around the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, its revenues still in free fall.

A first task, while eyeing other assets, is likely to be to push ahead with auctioning off the Chicago Cubs, whose sale he insisted on as a condition of the transaction.

http://money.cnn.com

Bear Stearns Reports First-Ever Quarterly Loss

2007-12-20T09:47:00.000-08:00

Bear Stearns reported a steep loss for its fourth quarter, its first ever in its eight-decade history, exceeding analysts’ fears about how much the investment bank would suffer from subprime mortgages bets.

The investment bank said it lost about $854 million, or $6.90 a share, for the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $563 million, or $4 a share, for the same time last year. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected a loss of $1.82 a share.

Bear Stearns also said it had written down $1.9 billion of its holdings in mortgages and mortgage-based securities, up from the $1.2 billion it had anticipated last month. As a result of its disastrous results, Bear Stearns said its management will not receive bonuses this year.

The news caps a disastrous year for the investment bank, one of the nation’s largest underwriters of mortgage bonds. Beginning this summer with the housing slowdown, Bear Stearns has stood as the prime example of how Wall Street’s big bet on securities based on risky home loans went bad.

While many of its peers, including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, have announced far more in devaluations, Bear Stearns draws far more of its profit from its trading operations. That was reflected in its fixed income unit, which reported a net loss of $1.5 billion, down sharply from the $1.1 billion in profit the bank reported for the same time last year.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com

Central Asia on front line in energy battle

2007-12-20T09:46:00.000-08:00

In the scrub brush desert south of this ancient Silk Road town, the natural gas wellheads are built on modest concrete platforms about the size of basketball courts. Because the gas is naturally pressurized, pumps are not needed to bring it to the surface. Pipes simply kiss the ground and gas pours through them.

The issue is where the gas goes from there.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the United States and its European allies sought to ensure that Central Asia's enormous oil and gas wealth would flow through pipelines bypassing Russia. It was the latest version of the Great Game, the 19th-century contest between Imperial Britain and Czarist Russia for dominance in the region. Lately, however, the West is falling behind, as a torch lighting ceremony last month made clear.

Executives from Lukoil, the Russian oil company, and government officials from Moscow had come to inaugurate the latest Central Asia gas field to come online. Developed by Lukoil, the Khauzak field is estimated to hold 400 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which Lukoil has sold in advance for the next 32 years to Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant.

Coming as some political developments in the region had renewed Western companies' hopes of doing business in Central Asia, the Nov. 29 ceremony — held before a planeload of Moscow-based journalists flown in for the occasion — seemed tailored to remind the world of Russia's lead in the new Great Game.

www.iht.com

U.S. agency says 17 states can't set car emission rules

2007-12-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday denied California and 16 other states the right to set their own standards for carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles.

The EPA administrator, Stephen Johnson, said the proposed California rules were pre-empted by federal authority and made moot by the energy bill signed into law by President George W. Bush on Wednesday. Johnson said California had failed to make a compelling case that it needed authority to write its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks to help curb global warming.

"The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution, not a confusing patchwork of state rules," Johnson said in an evening conference call with reporters. "I believe this is a better approach than if individual states were to act alone."

Other states affected by the ruling included New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The decision immediately sparked a heated debate over its scientific basis and whether political pressure was applied by the automobile industry to help it escape the proposed California regulations. State officials and environmental groups vowed to sue to overturn the edict.

The 17 states had waited two years for the Bush administration to issue a ruling on an application to set stricter air quality standards than those adopted by the federal government. The denial of the request, technically known as a Clean Air Act waiver, is the first of more than 50 applications that the federal government has refused to allow California to set its own pollution rules.

The emissions standards California adopted in 2004 — but not been approved by the federal government — would have forced automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and light trucks by 2016, with the cutbacks to begin in 2009 models.

That would have translated into roughly 43 miles per gallon for cars and some light trucks and about 27 miles per gallon for heavier trucks and sport utility vehicles.

The new federal law will require automakers to meet a 35-mile-per-gallon fleetwide standard for cars and trucks sold in the United States by 2020. It does not address carbon dioxide emissions, but such emissions would be reduced as cars were forced to become more fuel efficient.

California's proposed rules had sought to address the impact of carbon dioxide and other pollutants from cars and trucks that scientists say contribute to the warming of the planet.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California said the states would go to federal court to reverse the EPA decision.

"It is disappointing that the federal government is standing in our way and ignoring the will of tens of millions of people across the nation," Schwarzenegger said. "We will continue to fight this battle."

He added, "California sued to compel the agency to act on our waiver, and now we will sue to overturn today's decision and allow Californians to protect our environment."

Twelve other states — New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — had proposed standards like California's, and the governors of Arizona, Colorado, Florida and Utah have said they would do the same.

If the waiver had been granted and the 16 other states had adopted the California standard, it would have covered at least half of all vehicles sold in America.

Automakers praised the decision. "We commend EPA for protecting a national, 50-state program," said David McCurdy, president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "Enchancing energy security and improving fuel economy are priorities to all automakers, but a patchwork quilt of inconsistent and competing fuel economy programs at the state level would only have created confusion, inefficiency and uncertainty for automakers and consumers."

In recent weeks, the chief executives of the Detroit auto companies were in Washington to lobby for less-stringent regulations.

Industry analysts and environmental groups said the EPA decision had the appearance of a reward to the industry, in return for dropping its opposition to the energy legislation. Auto industry leaders issued statements supporting the new energy law, which gives them more time to improve fuel economy than California would have.

State officials reacted with dismay. The California attorney general, Edmund Brown Jr., called the decision "absurd." He said it ignored a long history of waivers granted California to deal with its special topographical, climate and transportation circumstances, which require tougher standards than those set nationally. Brown noted that federal courts in California and Vermont upheld the California standards this year against challenges by the auto industry.

www.iht.com

Orient Express Hotels of Britain battles largest shareholder

2007-12-20T09:44:00.000-08:00

A war of words is heating up between a British-run hotel company and its largest shareholder, Indian Hotels.

Orient Express Hotels of Britain, parent company of the 21 Club in New York and Venice's Hotel Cipriani, has been ignoring overtures by Indian Hotels for cooperation since it acquired a 10 percent stake in September.

Politicians and the media in India say that racism and old-fashioned thinking are behind the short shrift.

In the latest salvo, the Indian Hotels vice chairman, R.K. Krishna Kumar, sent a letter to the Orient Express chief executive, Paul White, dated Dec. 19 and distributed to the media on Thursday. It charged that the British hotel operator "has an entrenched board and management that does not meet the needs of its shareholder base, nor respect the most basic tenants of corporate governance."

Indian Hotels and Dubai Holdings, the two largest shareholders of Orient Express, have been "unable to enter into any meaningful dialogue" with the Orient Express board, Kumar wrote.

Economists divided over World Bank data on China's output

2007-12-20T09:43:00.001-08:00

New calculations by the World Bank, suggesting that the Chinese economy may not be as large as previously thought, are setting off a debate among economists over whether the calculations are accurate and what they should mean for the West's currency policies toward China.

The World Bank issued preliminary figures Monday that recalculated what would be the economic output of 146 countries - including China - after excluding differences in domestic prices and currencies.

The so-called purchasing power parity calculations, which compare the buying power of citizens around the world, showed that China's output was 40 percent smaller than previous World Bank estimates.

The World Bank had previously calculated China's output was worth $8.8 billion in 2005 at purchasing power parity. It was revised this week to $5.3 billion.

China's economic output in 2005 was worth $2.24 trillion at market exchange rates, the calculation most commonly used and the best indicator of a country's output of internationally traded products, from oil to steel to computers. Purchasing power parity figures are often a better indicator of living standards, however.

www.iht.com

Nike posts 10 percent rise in earnings

2007-12-20T09:39:00.002-08:00

Nike Inc.'s second-quarter profit grew 10 percent, largely fueled by international sales growth, the athletic shoe and clothing company said Wednesday.

Nike reported second-quarter net income of $359.4 million, or 71 cents per share, up from $325.6 million, or 64 cents, in the same period a year earlier.

The results exceeded analyst expectations.Shares of the Beaverton-based company rose $1.71, or nearly 3 percent, to $63.80 in after-hours trade Wednesday.

Quarterly revenue grew 14 percent to $4.3 billion for the quarter ending Nov. 30. Changes in currency accounted for 4 percentage points of that growth.

The company benefitted from a weaker dollar, which makes exports less expensive and more competitive abroad.

The company registered its largest revenue growth overseas. Revenue grew 19 percent in the Americas region, with Europe following closely at 18 percent, while and the Asia-Pacific regions jumped 17 percent.

Analysts said the growth in international business was much stronger in Asia and Europe than expected.

"With the continued growth in China and some of the markets they hadn't talked about in the past, like Turkey and Russia, those are all positive indications," said John Shanley with Susquehanna Financial Group.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Oil wavers after report on scarce supplies

2007-12-20T09:39:00.001-08:00

Oil prices fluctuated Thursday as traders weighed forecasts for a warmer winter — which could lower demand for heating and crude oil — against data suggesting supplies are falling.

Natural gas futures fell after the government reported that inventories declined less than expected last week.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday that the beginning of winter will be warmer than normal in the eastern two-thirds of the nation, which includes the heating oil-dependent Northeast, Dow Jones Newswires reported.Warmer weather could mean lower demand for heating oil and natural gas.

On the other hand, the government on Wednesday reported that supplies of heating and crude oil fell sharply last week. Heating oil supplies are nearly 30 percent below five-year average levels, said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa, Fla.

"We have a struggle with supplies," Cordier said.

Energy futures alternated between gains and losses. Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell 37 cents to $90.87 on the Nymex, while January heating oil fell 0.54 cent to $2.5924 a gallon.

January natural gas futures fell 12.8 cents to $7.051 per 1,000 cubic feet on the Nymex after the government reported that inventories fell last week by 121 billion cubic feet, less than analysts had expected.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Boeing to bring manufacturing jobs to India

2007-12-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

Boeing Co. has tentatively agreed to send as much as $1 billion in aerospace manufacturing work to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. in India over the next 10 years.

Under the agreement announced Thursday, Boeing will share some its key business and manufacturing tools with Hindustan Aeronautics, said Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing's defense aerospace business.

The U.S. aircraft maker will help the Indian company in developing manufacturing processes and capabilities needed for the production of military hardware for Boeing and its subcontractors.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Letterman reps to meet with striking writers

2007-12-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Leaders of striking television writers plan to meet Friday with David Letterman's production company in an attempt to reach a separate deal that could make the "Late Show" the only late-night TV program on the air with a writing staff.

The union's announcement last week that it would negotiate separately with production companies was seen as an indication that writers would work out something with Worldwide Pants, the Letterman-owned company that produces his show and Craig Ferguson's CBS talker.

It has not worked out that way, a sign that some in the Writer's Guild may be having second thoughts. Meanwhile, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel have all said they would resume their programs on Jan. 2 without their writing staffs.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Opera CEO sets up new browser war with Microsoft

2007-12-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

A small Norwegian software company says with a level playing field it can take on mighty Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) in a new battle of the browsers because it has a better product, picking up where the now-defunct Netscape left off in the 1990s.

Opera, which like Microsoft and Firefox manufactures Web browsers, says the humble browser has become increasingly more important to consumers as the years have passed.

"These days people spend more time in front of their Web browser then they do in front of their television set," said Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive of Opera Software of Norway.

The company that controls Web browsers could potentially change the underlying operating system without upsetting users, because so much of what they do is on the browser.

That would threaten Windows, which enjoys a 95 percent share of operating systems on PCs worldwide.

Today people use email, do banking, make airplane and hotel reservations, read newspapers, play games, do research and look at photos and operate virtually all Google operations without leaving their browser.

At work, people submit expenses, ask for vacation time off and deal with customers on their browser.

U.S. courts found nearly a decade ago that Microsoft so feared the power of the browser that it used its Windows operating system to illegally force out rival Netscape.
www.reuters.com

Mobile-Phone Spending in U.S. Sets Record on IPhone

2007-12-20T09:26:00.000-08:00

It took a computer maker and a pager company to convince Americans a mobile phone is worth paying for, and now shoppers are splurging.

U.S. customers shelled out 40 percent more for handsets last quarter than a year earlier, just as Apple Inc. put its Web- browsing iPhone on sale and Research In Motion Ltd. brought out BlackBerry e-mail phones with video features. Spending rose to a record and jumped the most since at least 2005.

Americans, previously hard-pressed to pay $50 for a phone, are now more like their European and Asian counterparts and paying $300 to $400 for the top devices. That will translate into higher sales for Apple and Research In Motion and may bolster rivals Nokia Oyj and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd., which tried for years to promote camera and music phones to U.S. buyers.

``The iPhone has made the U.S. consumer appreciate the value of the mobile phone,'' said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner Inc.

The trend will continue this holiday season, said analyst Ross Rubin at NPD Group, which collects retail data.

Sales of pricier handsets such as the iPhone almost tripled last quarter and made up 11 percent of phones sold in the U.S., Port Washington, New York-based NPD said. Shoppers spent $3.2 billion on phones, or $83 each, up from $2.2 billion a year earlier and the most since NPD's records began in 2005.

Investors will look for proof today that the pace held up over Thanksgiving when Research In Motion reports fiscal third- quarter earnings. Net income probably doubled to $351 million in the period through Dec. 1, while sales almost doubled to $1.65 billion, analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated.

www.bloomberg.com

FedEx profit falls on higher fuel costs

2007-12-20T09:23:00.001-08:00

Package delivery company FedEx Corp. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 6 percent, as the impact of high fuel costs and a weakening U.S. economy overshadowed international growth.

The company also released a third-quarter outlook under Wall Street's expectations and reaffirmed its outlook for the fiscal year.

For the quarter ended Nov. 30, the company earned $479 million, or $1.54 per share, compared with a year-ago profit of $511 million, or $1.64 per share.

Revenue rose 6 percent to $9.45 billion from $8.93 billion in the prior-year period.

Analysts were expecting a profit of $1.50 per share on revenue of $9.32 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

"High fuel prices and weak U.S. economic growth year over year have impacted our business," said Frederick W. Smith, FedEx Corp. (FDX, Fortune 500) chairman, president and chief executive, in a statement. "We continue to benefit from solid international growth, which helps mitigate softness in U.S. industrial production. While we see challenging near-term economic trends, we remain confident about long-term prospects in all our business segments."

For the fiscal 2008 third quarter, the company expects to earn $1.15 to $1.30 per share, compared with $1.35 per share a year-ago.

http://money.cnn.com

Feds approve Google's $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick

2007-12-20T09:15:00.000-08:00

Google took one more step toward world Internet domination this morning when federal regulators approved its $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising company DoubleClick.

However, Google must still jump through a rather large hoop before it seals the deal. European regulators must also sign off. The European Commission, which has an April 2 deadline, has emerged as a much tougher obstacle to approving large mergers.

But back on Google's home shores, the Federal Trade Commission voted 4-1 to approve the deal. The commissioners accepted Google's arguments that there was little overlap between is online ad sales and the tools that DoubleClick provides that allow other companies to make money from things like banner adds.

"The FTC's strong support sends a clear message: this acquisition poses no risk to competition and will benefit consumers," Eric Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said in a press release this morning. "We hope that the European Commission will soon reach the same conclusion."

The deal was announced in April, but immediately prompted opposition on two main fronts. Google rivals such as Microsoft tried to argue that deal would give Google too large of a share of the online advertising market. And privacy advocates opposed the deal because they worried Google would have far too much information about what its customers did online.

The result has been an intense campaign on the part of Google to secure approval. The company beefed up its lobbying team in the nation's capital over the past year as it sought to persuade regulators and politicians.

While the FTC has said it lacks authority to block deals on privacy grounds, it offered an unusual aside to its approval today. The FTC proposed a set of privacy guidelines for the online advertising industry, something the commissioners said were targeted not just at Google, but the entire industry.

Google's stock rose $5.49 to $682.86 in early trading.

www.mercurynews.com

Nanotechnology Companies Planning to Sell Shares

2007-12-20T03:33:00.000-08:00

NANOTECHNOLOGY companies, nurtured on billions of dollars in government grants and venture investments through most of this decade, are getting ready to go public.

Being near taking such a step is another stage in the evolution of nanotechnology, the science of materials measured at billionths of a meter or one-500th of a human hair.

Experts note that nanotechnology-enabled products are already used in industry.

“There are 200 commercial products in cosmetics, apparel and sporting goods in which nanotechnology plays a role,” said Lynn E. Foster, emerging technologies director for the law firm Greenberg Traurig and author of the 2006 book “Nanotechnology: Science, Innovation and Opportunity.” He cites clothing with a coating of nanoparticles — from the Nano-Tex Corporation of Oakland, Calif. — that repels stains.

And increasing numbers of nanotech products are in the offing. Mihail Roco, senior adviser for nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation and an architect of the government’s research effort, predicted in an interview on the Web site of the National Nanotechnology Initiative that by 2015 nanotechnology will play a crucial role in $1 trillion worth of products, “which would require two million workers.”

Companies in nanotechnology speak of adapting their research to medical innovations, in which nanoparticles would deliver medicine directly to individual cells, and to solar energy, in which nano-enabled photovoltaic coatings would capture and store the sun’s energy at a lower cost than today’s solar panels.

The NanoGram Corporation in Milpitas, Calif., is aiming some of its research efforts toward such solar ambitions. “We have 58 of our 69 employees working in R.& D. in the clean technology area, including solar power,” said Kieran Drain, chief executive of NanoGram, which earns revenues by licensing innovations to manufacturers of optical and electronic products.

NanoGram has a venture with Nagase & Company of Japan, a manufacturer of light-emitting diode, or L.E.D., screens for digital devices. “Our nanomaterials enable the screens to emit more light,” Mr. Drain said. In its 11-year history, NanoGram has spun off or sold operations to other companies in communications and medical electronics. In the last two years, the company has raised almost $27 million in venture capital backing and looks to go public in 2009 “when we’ll have become larger in annual revenues,” Mr. Drain said.

www.nytimes.com

Zimbabwe to issue new banknotes

2007-12-20T03:28:00.002-08:00

Zimbabwe is to issue new banknotes in an effort to tackle the serious cash shortages afflicting the country.

From Thursday, notes worth 250,000, 500,000 and 750,000 Zimbabwean dollars will enter circulation.

At the same time, the highest value note now in use - the 200,000 dollar bill - will be phased out, despite only being introduced in July.

Rampant inflation above 8,000%, mass unemployment and shortages of fuel and basic goods have blighted the economy.

Zimbabwe's central bank governor, Gideon Gono, blamed the economic crisis on the country's senior officials.

"Our economy has fallen prey to a high level of indiscipline and corruption prevalent in the economy as well as diminished economic patriotism on the part of most people holding positions of authority in our economy and society," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Indian airlines in merger plans

2007-12-20T03:28:00.001-08:00

Two of India's airlines have unveiled a plan to merge in an attempt to boost profitability amid rising costs and falling air fares.

Deccan, Indian's first discount carrier, is entering a tie-up with the more upmarket Kingfisher Airlines.

Kingfisher is owned by alcohol baron Vijay Mallya and is named after his flagship beer brand.

There is intense competition in India's aviation sector as more people become able to afford plane travel.

There are currently 10 Indian carriers, up from three in 2003, with at least 14 more airlines seeking government approval to start flying in India.

The merger follows earlier consolidation in the sector. The country's largest domestic carrier, Jet Airways, bought Air Sahara for $340m in April.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Burger King plots Asia expansion

2007-12-20T03:23:00.000-08:00

Burger King (BKC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is confident of beating its target of 15 percent net profit growth in fiscal 2008, as the world's top hamburger chain after McDonald's (MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) gears up to open 300 outlets across China in five years as part of an Asian expansion.

Chief Executive John Chidsey told Reuters the regional drive would help the company rake in half its revenue from non-U.S. markets in four to five years, as the burger chain returns to markets such as Japan which it pulled out of in the 1990s, pummeled by heated competition.

Non-U.S. markets contribute just a third of overall revenue for the company that invented the Whopper hamburger but is a perennial runner-up to McDonald's Corp.

"We will certainly do better than that. We are very comfortable with the guidance we have given for the year," Chidsey said in an interview on Thursday, referring to his target of 15 percent profit growth.

Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates expect net profit to grow around 18 percent to $177 million in the year to June.

Burger King Holdings Inc operated 11,290 outlets worldwide as of September 30 but is a bit player in an Asian fast-food arena dominated by McDonald's and KFC-operator Yum Brands (YUM.N: Quote, Profile, Research). It derives two-thirds of its turnover from the United States.

Now the U.S. restaurant chain intends to aggressively accelerate its expansion, especially into China, where its 10 outlets are vastly outnumbered by arch-foe McDonald's 800.

"Asia, certainly in the next two to three years, will become the most important and fastest-growing piece of our business," Chidsey said in Hong Kong, where he was presiding over the opening of an outlet.
www.reuters.com

Taj Mahal Won't Accept Bush Dollars as India Laments Lost Value

2007-12-20T03:13:00.000-08:00

The Taj Mahal, one of the world's architectural masterpieces, welcomes about 2.5 million visitors each year -- provided they don't try to buy tickets with dollars. India's most popular shrine announced in November that it would stop accepting the U.S. currency and take only rupees, hurling yet another insult at the once mighty greenback.

The dollar, which has been snubbed by everybody from government officials in Kuwait and South Korea to top-earning Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, may not recover its luster. Economists say the currency, which has declined in five of the past six years against the euro, is caught in a downdraft as investors pour into Asia, prompting a tectonic shift in economic power from the U.S.

``Can it be turned around? Probably not totally,'' says Riordan Roett, a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. ``The century of Asia has arrived, and the U.S. and its European allies will need to adjust to that.''

In Asia, an investment boom has boosted local currencies. China's roaring economy has grown an average of 10.4 percent in the past four years, fueled by record exports and a flood of foreign funds. That's pushed up the yuan since the government ended the currency's peg to the dollar in July 2005. As of Dec. 19, the yuan -- managed against a basket of currencies -- climbed 12 percent against the dollar.

In India, the economy has grown at its fastest pace in the past four years since independence in 1947. That's helped lift the rupee 12 percent against the U.S. currency in 2007 through Dec. 19.

www.bloomberg.com

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft pay up in ad suit

2007-12-20T03:11:00.002-08:00

The three largest Internet companies have agreed to pay a combined $31.5 million to settle federal civil allegations they took ads for illegal gambling, the U.S. Attorney for eastern Missouri said Wednesday.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) also agreed to stop accepting ads for sports wagering and other online gambling, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said.

The investigation, conducted by Hanaway's office, along with the IRS and the FBI, dates to 2000, she said. Negotiations have been going on for 12 to 18 months, she said.

"This is a very profitable business that had a lot of money to spend on marketing," Hanaway said of the online gambling firms advertising on the Web.

All three companies said they stopped taking the ads years ago.

"I do think it will have a major impact, Hanaway said. Obviously these are three of the largest online organizations in the world."

Microsoft's $21 million portion of the settlement includes a $4.5 million forfeit, $7.5 million to be paid to the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children and $9 million in public service ads over a three-year period starting next year.

The public service campaign will be aimed at informing users, especially those of college age and younger, that online gambling is illegal.

Microsoft said it stopped accepting ads from sites associated with online gambling nearly four years ago.

"This agreement reflects our ongoing commitment to online safety," the company said in a statement. "We're hopeful that our educational campaign will stop young people from gambling before they start."

Yahoo's $7.5 share of the settlement includes a $3 million forfeiture and $4.5 million in public service ads over three years.

"Yahoo stopped accepting online gambling advertisements years ago, and after the U.S. Attorney's office contacted Yahoo with its concerns, we worked cooperatively over several years to reach this settlement," spokeswoman Kelley Benander said in a statement.

http://money.cnn.com

MTV to break into video games

2007-12-20T03:11:00.001-08:00

With a long list of credits for blockbuster movies and hit TV shows under his belt, Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer is branching into video games.

Bruckheimer, whose movies and TV shows include the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy and the "C.S.I" franchise, will set up a gaming lab with MTV Games, the company announced Wednesday.

"It's pretty exciting what's going on in that arena," Bruckheimer said.

The joint project is part of a $500 million push by Viacom (VIA) unit MTV Networks into interactive entertainment over the next two years.

MTV did not disclose financial terms of the agreement.

"He's been able to kind of reinvent genres. We're hoping he'll do the same in the video game space," said Bob Picunko, MTV's vice president of electronic games and interactive products.

Bruckheimer didn't say what kind of games he would create, but he said he expected them to mirror his work in film and television, where his hallmark is action-packed drama featuring explosions and car chases.

Bruckheimer said some of his movies have been made into video games, and he is producing a film based on the "Prince of Persia" video games.

As part of MTV's video initiative, the network recently released "Rock Band," a music-focused game developed by Harmonix, which MTV acquired in 2006.

Other Hollywood heavyweights including Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and the Wachowski brothers have deals to develop video games.

http://money.cnn.com

More teens move their social lives online

2007-12-20T02:41:00.001-08:00

The Internet is becoming ever more central to the social life of America's teenagers, especially girls, with greater numbers communicating with friends and creating content on sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, a new survey shows. And when not online, they are gabbing more on cellphones and exchanging text messages.

To which America's teens may say: "Well, duh."

In fairness, no actual teen used that phrase when the Mercury News conducted its own unscientific survey at the food court of Oakridge Westfield Shoppingtown. But they were thinking it. The margin of error was, like, whatever, but a series of brief interviews largely corroborated the findings of a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project of persons between 12 and 17 years of age.

Pew's "Teens an Social Media" study, released Wednesday, showed marked increase in Internet use between 2004 and 2006. The findings may already be considered a year out of date - a very long time considering the rapid acceleration of Web culture.

All considered, Pew's findings should comfort Silicon Valley's bustling Web enterprises that are relying on the medium as a source of revenue, through advertising and sales. "The use of social media - from blogging to online social networking to creation of all kinds of digital material - is central to many teenagers lives," Pew declared. The report may add to the worry of parents who think their teens may be spending too much time socializing via the Web.

Among the more striking trends:

- Nearly two-thirds of teens - 63 percent - have a cell phone. Among teens with cell phones, 55 percent say they use them to talk with friends every day. - More girls than boys said they wrote blogs and kept up with friends via MySpace and Facebook, sites that came into existence only a few years ago. This conformed to one of Pew's findings: "Girls continue to lead the charge as the teen blogosphere grows."

Pew found that 35 percent of all online teen girls blog, compared with 20 percent of online teen boys.

"Virtually all of the growth in teen blogging between 2004 and 2006 is due to the increased activity of girls," the study found. "Older teen girls are still far more likely to blog when compared with older boys, but younger girl bloggers have grown at such a fast clip that they are now outpacing even the older boys." The survey found that 32 percent of girls ages 12 to 14 blog, compared to 18 percent of boys age 15 to 17.

- But YouTube and other video sharing sites tend to be the domain of boys. Online teen boys are "twice as likely" as girls to post video files online, by a 19 percent to 10 percent margin. "Not even older girls - a highly-wired and active segment of the teen population - can compete with boys in this instance; 21 percent of older boys post videos, while just 10 percent of older girls do so," PEW said.

- The growth in blogs tracks, but does not completely overlap, the teens' use of social networking sites. Fully 41 percent of teens who use MySpace, Facebook or similar sites say they send messages to friends via those sites every day. More than half of teens - 55 percent - reported having a profile on sites like MySpace or Facebook, and 42 percent of those teens said they also blog, while 70 percent said they read the blogs of others, and 76 percent reported posting comments to a friend's blog on a social networking site.

- Nearly half of online teens have posted photos where others can see them, and 89 percent of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least "some of the time." Teens who post videos report considerable feedback, with nearly three quarters receiving comments on their videos. - The survey also suggested that there is room for growth, since many teens have yet to fully embrace the Internet. Pew found that while 93 percent of teens say they use the Internet, it also found that 64 percent of those "online teens" have "participated in one or more among a wide range of content-creating activities," up from 57 percent in 2004.

http://origin.mercurynews.com

Oracle Serves Up Another Big Quarter

2007-12-20T01:11:00.000-08:00

Technology investors got some bright news Dec. 19 as software industry mainstay Oracle shucked off concerns that slowing economic growth would cause key customers to throttle tech spending. An expansion into specialty software markets and a tight rein on expenses helped Oracle turn in a strong second quarter and issue an upbeat outlook for the third.

Oracle (ORCL)'s net income rose 35%, to $1.3 billion, or 25¢ a share, in the quarter that ended Nov. 30. Revenue increased 28%, to $5.3 billion, surpassing the $5.04 billion expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial (TOC). Excluding the cost of issuing stock options to employees, profit was 31¢ a share, compared with the 27¢ expected by analysts. Sales of new software licenses, a closely watched indicator of future revenue, climbed 38%, exceeding Oracle's forecast that the bookings would increase between 15% and 25%.

Troubles Trickling Down on Tech?

"We're selling more products to more customers in more industries," Oracle CFO Safra Catz said during a conference call with Wall Street analysts after the results were released Dec. 19. "Each deal is a little bigger than in the past." Oracle has been buying makers of specialty software for industries including retailing, utilities, and telecom, and Chief Executive Larry Ellison said during the call that Oracle plans to expand into additional industry areas. "That's our strategy for growth," he said.

Oracle also said revenue would increase between 21% and 24% in the current quarter, which ends in February, and that it would earn 29¢ or 30¢ per share, excluding option expenses. Analysts expected Oracle to earn 29¢ and revenues to increase by 18% in the third quarter.

The results could start to reassure investors concerned that the slower growth forecast for the U.S. economy will trickle down to hurt technology companies, and that banks and other financial-services companies will curtail new technology projects as they weather losses tied to subprime mortgage lending. Cisco Systems (CSCO) and other technology vendors have pointed to signs of weaker IT spending (BusinessWeek.com, 10/15/07) that could extend into 2008.

www.businessweek.com

The unrecognized (and much used) glovebox

2007-12-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

In the age of global position systems and sonar proximity sensors, one feature is still pretty much the same as it has been since automobiles were called "horseless carriages" — the glove compartment.

The makers of Packard's earliest horseless carriages probably didn't know, or even care, but according to auto historians, they basically invented the glove compartment. Turn-of-the-century tire-kickers considering a 1900 Packard were promised soft and stylish storage for their traveling accoutrements. "The body of the carriage shows the best possible coachwork and upholstering," boasted the original sales literature from the Packard dealership. "Instead of a leather dash, there is a boot or box forming part of the body. In this is ample space for parcels, waterproofs, etc."

The glove compartment, or the glove box, as it's often called, is perhaps one of the most misrepresented parts of the automobile, being that gloves have always been only a small part of its inventory. Over the past century, these mini car closets have been used to store handbags, driving goggles, six packs of beer, sunglasses, keys to other cars, cell phones, and even small dogs.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Toyota to develop cars that aid senior safety

2007-12-19T11:27:00.000-08:00

For those feeling nervous behind the wheel as old age kicks in, savvy cars may be the answer.

Prof. Ryuta Kawashima, who helped develop Nintendo's "Brain Age" games, is teaming with Toyota to develop cars that help seniors drive safely, the researcher said Tuesday.

"We envision future cars will be able to monitor brain and emotional activity to back up elderly drivers," said Kawashima, a Tohoku University scientist who worked on Nintendo Co.'s best-selling "Brain Age" games — and whose smiling image is the guide in the series.Among technologies on the table is one that can determine a driver's driving patterns and curb any dangerous activity, Kawashima said. It could, for example, slow the car if it senses the driver is hitting the gas pedal for no reason.

Future developments could involve a navigation system and temperature controls that help drivers stay alert, he said.

"Ultimately, we hope to develop cars that stimulate brain activity, so that driving itself becomes a form of brain training," Kawashima said.

Toyota Motor Corp. representatives are attending sessions of Kawashima's "Mobility and Smart Aging" study group, which he set up in May to discuss senior-friendly cars, he said. The automaker and Tohoku University "are done with brainstorming and ready to start making some of the technologies," Kawashima said, saying some of the technology could appear in cars in five years.

Toyota spokeswoman Kayo Doi said company engineers are working with Tohoku University but aren't ready to announce any specific technologies.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Growing number of Americans expect recession: poll

2007-12-19T11:22:00.000-08:00

A growing number of Americans expect a U.S. recession in the next year as the housing slump and steep food and energy prices sour sentiment, a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday shows.

Of the likely voters surveyed, 43.4 percent said they expect a recession, up from 40 percent a month earlier. The worsening mood was apparent across nearly every age and ethnic group, and both sides of the political spectrum, pollster John Zogby said.

"The recession mentality has settled in. It's in the bloodstream now," he said. "It's an across-the-board funk."

Zogby said the economic mood on Main Street was worse now than in 2001, the most recent U.S. recession, and was unlikely to improve quickly, even if the Federal Reserve continued lowering interest rates and the housing market stabilized.

The Fed has cut its benchmark interest rate three times since mid-September as it tries to insulate the broader economy from the housing slump and tightening credit conditions. It is expected to cut rates further in the coming months.

Only about one in five of those polled gave U.S. economic policy high marks, although 55 percent rated their own personal financial situation "good" or "excellent".

The poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted December 12-14, about one week after President George W. Bush unveiled a plan aimed at helping homeowners with subprime mortgages who are at risk of foreclosure.

www.reuters.com

Bosses Bleak About Prospects For 2008

2007-12-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

A survey of more than 500 bosses showed that only two out of five were optimistic about the year ahead, a fall of more than 10% compared with a similar study a year ago.

Many company managers believe that 2008 will be a tough year for business because of rising costs, higher levels of debt and a shortage of skills.

Most of those questioned by the Chartered Management Institute said the rising cost of energy will have a negative impact on their business.

Four out of five predicted an increase in household debt, with fewer than one in three believing that consumer spending will increase.

The survey also showed that half of managers are worried that a lack of skilled executives will also have a negative impact on their organisation next year.

"In the current climate, it is natural for employers to feel some degree of uncertainty," said the Chartered Management Institute's Jo Causon.

"However, the decline in organisations developing their managers is a great concern.

"If employers fail to invest in the skills needed for long-term success, the UK will find it difficult to compete on a global scale in the future.

"It is encouraging that some individuals are taking the initiative and planning to develop themselves through qualifications and higher education in the New Year."

http://news.sky.com

India's Super Rich Get Even Richer

2007-12-19T11:06:00.000-08:00

The mansion of Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India, is something more than the average dream house. When construction is completed next year, his home will top 570 feet - the equivalent of a 60-story skyscraper - and include a helipad, six floors of parking, and 600 servants for a family of six.

Rising from a Bombay (Mumbai) neighborhood where rents run at $2,000 per square foot, the home is a monument to the enormous wealth generated by India's stock market - and how it has created a class of Indian superrich.
Since February 2007, the value of India's stock market has doubled to 20000 points, and the biggest winners have been India's richest. Based on these gains, India's four wealthiest men are now worth more than China's 40 wealthiest combined.

It is, in part, a quirk of South Asian business practices, where even the largest multinationals remain family-run enterprises with almost all their wealth and authority residing in one man. Yet some critics say it is also the result of India's inequitable investing laws, which are forcing small investors to the fringes.

As the stock market becomes a part of Indian cultural parlance, more investors further down the economic chain are finding ways to get involved. Yet the top-heavy distribution of India's stock-market billions is further amplifying the extremes of rich and poor in a country where an estimated 400 million people - more than the population of the United States - live on less than $1 a day.

"Most of the money in the market is still principally owned by the rich and by institutional investors," says Chris Butel, chairman of Invest India Market Solutions (IIMS), a research firm that has studied Indian investment patterns.

The result, he and others say, is that a very small number of people are accumulating fantastic wealth almost overnight. Mr. Ambani's fortune, estimated at $49 billion by Forbes, is built largely on the success of the stock of his company, Reliance Industries Ltd., which runs oil rigs and supermarkets, among other things. Last year, when stocks hit 10000, his wealth was one-quarter of its current total.

Likewise, the initial public offering (IPO) of Indian real estate developer DLF Enterprises earlier this year instantly made owner Kushal Pal Singh the world's richest property entrepreneur. Forbes puts his wealth at $35 billion.
www.cbsnews.com

Microsoft, Viacom announce partnership

2007-12-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

Viacom Inc. and Microsoft Corp. today announced a five-year, $500-million strategic partnership under which Viacom will supply Microsoft with movies, videos and games, and Microsoft will sell advertising for Viacom's Internet sites.

Under the deal, which the companies announced in a joint press release today, Microsoft will license, on a nonexclusive basis, entertainment content from Viacom's MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures movie studios and BET Networks, for use on its MSN website and on its Xbox 360 game system.

Microsoft also will buy advertising on Viacom sites, and the companies will collaborate on promotions and sponsorships for award shows on MTV Networks and BET Networks, they said.

The agreement makes Microsoft the exclusive seller of remnant display advertising - or unsold ad inventory - on Viacom's U.S. websites. Microsoft's Atlas division will become the ad server for Viacom's domestic websites as well, the companies said.

"This landmark alliance brings valuable promotional power and increased monetization to our wide portfolio of branded websites, which collectively represent the leading entertainment presence online," Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said in a statement. He added, "Microsoft's superior assets and expertise in the ad serving and sales business will drive enhanced value to our digital operations."

Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services division, said: "Viacom's portfolio of original content and strong consumer brand connections are a terrific complement to Microsoft's Web, gaming and digital advertising assets. This deal is another milestone in our quest to build a world-class advertising platform to serve the broad needs of advertisers and publishers. If ever there was a 'win-win' partnership across two companies, this is it."
www.latimes.com

Desperate hours: Stores stay open late

2007-12-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

Don't worry if you haven't started your Christmas shopping yet. You'll have plenty of time to get it all done before Tuesday as long as you don't need to sleep.

J.C. Penney Co. stores will be open until midnight Friday and Saturday. At Mervyns, you'll be able to keep buying until 2 a.m. all weekend, and the chain will throw in $10 gift cards for the first 200 people through the doors each day at 5 a.m. In case you have nothing else to do, Kmart will stage a nonstop 64-hour sale beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday at most of its stores around the nation.

The record may be set on the East Coast, where many Macy's stores in the Greater New York area will remain open for 83 consecutive hours. The Macy's in Queens Center Mall will unlock its doors at 7 a.m. Thursday and not close them until 6 p.m. Monday -- 107 hours later.

"There's a lot of desperation out there," said Candace Corlett, a principal at WSL Strategic Retail, a strategy firm. "This is a weird, wacky holiday."

And not necessarily a happy one for retail companies.

The International Council of Shopping Centers said Monday that sales last week were up just 2.1% in the weakest year-over-year advance since July as "storms and a procrastinating consumer" got in the way. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, shaved his holiday forecast this week, saying sales at stores open a year or more would rise 1.8%, not 2%. It was his lowest forecast in a decade.
www.latimes.com/business

China frees banks to invest in Britain

2007-12-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

Britain yeserday became only the second destination, after Hong Kong, in which Chinese banks can invest their clients’ money.

The reforms are expected to boost investment in London’s biggest companies as well as bring a welcome injection of liquidity into global markets. However, analysts said yesterday that the change would not happen “overnight”.

China’s Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor program (QDII) will allow banks to direct some of their funds to Britain. They may only invest in countries whose regulators have signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

The move is the latest development in a Chinese scheme to encourage limited capital flows out of the country and to relieve upward pressure on the yuan.

Banks will soon receive permission to invest QDII funds in US stocks and mutual funds as well.
Chinese brokers and mutual funds with a total QDII quota of nearly $US40 billion ($A46.7 billion) are already allowed to invest their customers’ funds in stocks in 33 countries.

While the relaxation is unlikely to result in a sudden rush of money into London, fund managers yesterday said the change would benefit FTSE 100 companies and global markets in the long term.

Brian Dennehy, a fund manager at Dennehy Weller, said: “This is a process rather than an event. On balance it will be positive as it is another serious source of liquidity to global markets at a time when this is a key measure in improving the UK economy.”

He added: “London is recognised as a place for Chinese banks to get global exposure so FTSE 100 companies in particular will benefit, although I can’t see this having a great impact for small and mid-cap stocks unless some great value is recognised there.”

China’s domestic investors have traditionally shown a preference for markets closer to home, such as Hong Kong, with which they are more familiar and where a number of Chinese companies are listed.

In addition, the banks’ clients must invest a minimum of 300,000 yuan ($A47,400) in those funds - an enormous sum for most Chinese.

www.theaustralian.news.com.au

BANK UNDER ATTACK FOR BUNGLING CREDIT CRISIS

2007-12-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

British Bankers’ Association chief executive Angela Knight said London’s reputation as a financial centre had been severely damaged by the Bank’s failure to manage the money market freeze.

She said US and European central banks had stood behind their industry by pumping billions into the system. “London does rather look like its dropped the ball,” she said.

“When push comes to shove, other authorities managed the problem and London didn’t.”

Her comments came as the Bank made late amends by injecting £11billion into the money markets. Sources said demand for the £10billion the Bank offered for three months was strong, with the allocation being oversubscribed.

Demand was even greater for £1.35billion in loans covering six, nine and 12 months.

The moves came as the Bank’s governor, Mervyn King, warned the credit crisis was likely to worsen. He said commercial banks had plenty of cash but were unwilling to lend because they did not trust their rivals which might still be sitting on massive losses relating to the global credit crisis.

The situation was unlikely to ease until the first quarter of next year at the earliest, when the banks published their annual results.
www.express.co.uk

Economy Key in South Korea Election

2007-12-19T05:58:00.001-08:00

As South Koreans headed to the polls for their country’s presidential election on Wednesday, voters appeared ready to choose Lee Myung-bak, a pro-business candidate identified with the nation’s economic growth but bedeviled by corruption charges.

According to Reuters, the National Election Commission said turnout as of mid-afternoon was down by about 7 percent from the same time five years ago, when the race was very close.

Pollsters say they expect about 60 percent of the country’s 37.7 million voters to cast ballots, down from 71 percent in 2002.

South Koreans’ concern about their economy, squeezed between high-tech Japan and low-cost China, runs so deep that renewed charges this week of ethical lapses by Mr. Lee failed to shatter their belief that it was time to elect a man considered capable of reviving the economy, pollsters said.

To many here, Mr. Lee, the conservative candidate from the opposition Grand National Party who has promised to become the “economy president,” represents “old Korea,” an era when an ability to create jobs and keep the economy growing was seen as paramount for a national leader.

www.nytimes.com

Home demand to drive Japan growth

2007-12-19T05:57:00.001-08:00

Domestic demand will fuel economic growth in Japan in the next financial year, its government has said.

The economy is forecast to expand by 2% in the 12 months from April 2008, although the government warned that a US slowdown could jeopardise this.

However, government minister Hiroko Ota said that in the current financial year, Japan would see GDP growth of 1.3% - lower than previously forecast.

The Bank of Japan is this week expected to peg interest rates at 0.5%.

Lacklustre growth and lingering deflationary pressures in the world's second largest economy mean that the bank is expected to refrain from raising its key rate until the latter half of 2008, analysts say.

Mrs Ota said that while domestic demand would be playing a key role in boosting the nation's economy, growth in consumption would be limited because "wage increases will likely continue to be moderate".

She also warned that if the slowdown in the US - Japan's largest export market - continued then next year's growth "may be lower than the projection".

Higher crude oil prices could also have an impact, Mrs Ota said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

EU proposes CO2 fine on carmakers

2007-12-19T05:55:00.000-08:00

Carmakers that fail to meet carbon dioxide (CO2) emission limits by 2012 will face fines, the European Commission has proposed.

Penalties will start in 2012 at 20 euros ($28.80; £14.35) per gram of carbon dioxide over a target, and will grow to 95 euros in 2015.

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU was "committed" to being a world leader in cutting CO2.

However, Germany's BMW and France's Peugeot criticised the move.

BMW said the proposals were "naive" steps that would distort the market in favour of makers of smaller cars.

Peugeot said: "These plans are anti-ecological, anti-social, anti-economical and anti-competitive in relation to non-European Union carmakers."

http://news.bbc.co.uk

China's economy not as mighty as thought

2007-12-19T05:54:00.000-08:00

The World Bank said the economies of China and India are about 40 percent smaller than earlier estimates after it revised calcuations using consumers' relative purchasing power to measure economic might.

The new figures released by the World Bank on Monday differ from conventional gross domestic product figures, which are calculated by simply converting local statistics into U.S. dollars — but don't take into account the wide variations in the purchasing power of a dollar from country to country.

A dollar converted into 7.4 yuan will generally buy more food in China, for example, than it would buy in the U.S.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Paul Allen applies to bid in U.S. wireless auction

2007-12-19T05:53:00.001-08:00

A venture led by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) co-founder Paul Allen has applied to bid in an upcoming U.S. auction of coveted wireless airwaves, according to auction documents released late on Tuesday.

Allen was listed with an entity called Vulcan Spectrum LLC among the applicants who filed to bid in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction of 700-megahertz spectrum, which is scheduled to begin on January 24.

Allen heads an investment company called Vulcan Capital and is also a majority shareholder in U.S. cable operator Charter Communications (CHTR.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

Allen and Vulcan Spectrum were on a list of scores of potential bidders who filed applications ahead of a December 3 FCC deadline. The list was made available on the FCC's Web site late on Tuesday.

The auction applicants also included, as expected, Internet leader Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and U.S. wireless providers AT&T Inc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research). Also listed was Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

www.reuters.com

Honda eyes global sales rise in 2008

2007-12-19T03:33:00.000-08:00

Honda Motor on Wednesday predicted it would beat this year's record car sales in 2008, and said it would step up its research and development functions by building a dedicated facility for its premium Acura brand.

This year, Japan's second-biggest automaker increased its global sales by 6 percent to an estimated 3.762 million cars as it grew in all regions except the shrinking domestic market.

Expansion was especially brisk in the emerging markets of China and South America but Honda, along with domestic rival Toyota Motor Corp, also charged ahead in the mature U.S. and European markets to grab a bigger slice of the pie.

At a news conference to sum up 2007 and provide an outlook for next year, Chief Executive Takeo Fukui said he expected Honda's car sales to continue growing in 2008, including in the tough Japanese market with the roll-out of four new products. It launched three cars in Japan this year, including the Accord-based Inspire sedan unveiled on Wednesday.

"Sales will grow in all regions, so (global sales) will rise again," Fukui said.

In the crucial U.S. market, where industry watchers and executives have grown increasingly downbeat due to the subprime loan fallout, Honda aims to sell 1.59 million vehicles next year, up 3 percent from the 2007 estimate of 1.55 million.

"We've set our forecast at a cautious level," Executive Vice President Koichi Kondo said, predicting the total U.S. market would inch down to 15.9-16.0 million vehicles in 2008 from around 16.1-16.2 million this year.

www.reuters.com

EU to give MasterCard months to change fee-source

2007-12-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

The European Commission will give credit card company MasterCard (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) six months to reconfigure the fee it sets for processing transactions or face daily fines, an industry source said on Wednesday.

"MasterCard will be told they have to cease and desist from applying the current interchange fees and if they don't do it within six months they will start getting fined," an industry source said.

"This order does not prevent MasterCard and member banks from adopting an entirely new multilateral interchange fee that can be clearly proven to fulfill four conditions of article 81.3 (of the EU treaty on fair competition)," the source said.

The European Commission is set to make its ruling on MasterCard on Wednesday.

EuroCommerce, which represents millions of retailers across the 27-nation EU, had complained to the EU executive about the interchange fees set by MasterCard for cross-border purchases.

Shops and other providers pay fees to their banks for each MasterCard purchase. The U.S. card firm sets many fees, which together average around 1 percent of the purchase price.

The seller's bank then pays the "interchange" fee to the cardholder's bank.

MasterCard has said it should keep the principle of setting its own fees and that the EU executive has no power to cap them.
www.reuters.com

ArcelorMittal exec says wants more ore, coal: paper

2007-12-19T03:31:00.000-08:00

Steel maker ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) aims to lift its self-sufficiency in iron ore to 90 percent by 2018 from 47 percent today and also wants to secure other commodities, an executive told French newspaper Les Echos.

Malay Mukherjee, head of ArcelorMittal's mining strategy, said the company was also looking at expanding its power generation activities through joint ventures in South Africa and Trinidad where it has big electricity needs.

In the interview Mukherjee declined to comment when asked if ArcelorMittal could be interested in mining groups Xstrata (XTA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) or Eramet (ERMT.PA: Quote, Profile, Research).

He also declined to comment on whether ArcelorMittal could bid for French steel tube maker Vallourec (VLLP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research). He said, however, ArcelorMittal could meet its target to become one of the world's top three steel tube makers through organic growth.

"We don't consider mining activity to be a business in itself. Our approach is to cover our own needs...and we still have lots of work to cover our needs," he told Les Echos.

"Our aim is to be 75 percent self-sufficient in iron ore by 2012 and 90 percent by 2018 compared with 47 percent today."

www.reuters.com

IAC in Web video deal with Brightcove

2007-12-19T03:29:00.000-08:00

Internet conglomerate IAC/Interactive Corp (IACI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has signed an agreement with online video syndication service Brightcove Inc to create and distribute video on the Web for IAC's brands, the companies said on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, any IAC business will be able to use Brightcove to publish video content to their Web sites, manage the syndication of the video and integrate advertising with it.

"By making this platform available across IAC we can continue to deepen engagement with our online audiences, expand the reach of our brands, and open powerful new revenue streams through online video advertising across our sites," IAC chief executive Barry Diller said in a statement.

Ticketmaster, Citysearch and 23/6 are the first among the IAC businesses to use the service, the companies said. IAC is home to more than 60 Internet brands from search site Ask.com to dating service Match.com.

www.reuters.com

Ireland `Celtic Tiger' Economy May Withstand Property Collapse

2007-12-19T03:28:00.000-08:00

Ireland's ``Celtic tiger'' economy may continue to purr even if some of the roar has gone, says the economist who coined the term in 1994.

While ``the economy won't grow at the same ferocious rate that it did over the last decade,'' it ``won't give up the gains of the boom,'' says Kevin Gardiner, head of global equity strategy at HSBC Holdings Plc in London, who as a Morgan Stanley economist labeled Ireland a new ``tiger'' economy to rival Asia's.

Ireland's growth was fueled by a fourfold increase in property prices over the past decade. Now a 184-billion euro ($265 billion) government plan to rebuild roads, bridges and power stations, coupled with investments by companies such as Microsoft Corp., may help overcome a construction slump triggered by a real-estate reversal.

Ireland's economy will expand 3.5 percent in 2008 after 4.9 percent this year, the European Commission forecast on Nov. 9. While that's down from an average 5.3 percent in the previous five years, it still beats the 2.2 percent forecast for the euro region and the 1.7 percent predicted for the U.S.

As in the U.S. and Spain, the predictions for economic growth depend on Ireland's ability to weather a housing recession.

Home prices are falling after eight interest-rate increases by the European Central Bank since late 2005 doubled borrowing costs. Prices declined 1.3 percent in October, the most in at least 11 years.

``The construction slowdown is overshadowing the fact that the rest of the economy is doing fine,'' says Alan Barrett, an economist at the Dublin-based Economic and Social Research Institute. ``The pessimism is overdone.''

www.bloomberg.com

Apple working to bring iPhone to Japan

2007-12-19T03:26:00.000-08:00

Apple Inc. is negotiating with Japan's top mobile phone carrier to launch the iPhone in Japan, though the cut of subscriber revenue that Apple wants has been a sticking point, according to a report published Tuesday.

NTT DoCoMo spokesman Shuichiro Ichikoshi said company President Masao Nakamura met recently with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs. Shuichiro declined to comment further.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, reported Tuesday that Jobs and Nakamura discussed launching the iPhone in Japan.

Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) has said it plans to launch the device in Asia in 2008 but has not provided details.

NTT DoCoMo (DCM) had nearly 53 million subscribers and commanded more than half of Japan's mobile phone market at the end of September, but has struggled to add new users in recent months amid fierce competition from KDDI Corp. and Softbank Corp., (SFTBF) which have slashed rates and launched aggressive sales promotions.

Google to show YouTube clips at Davos forum

2007-12-19T02:37:00.000-08:00

Google is inviting YouTube users to submit videos for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that discuss what can be done to improve the world. For the January conference, YouTube is asking users to answer "the Davos Question," which is: "What one thing do you think that countries, companies or individuals must do to make the world a better place in 2008?" Viewers can rank the videos starting Jan. 1, and the top-rated clips will be shown in Davos, Google said Tuesday on its blog. The annual conference, which begins Jan. 23, draws thousands of top executives and policy-makers to the ski resort. Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have both attended the forum.

Americans want fit finances before fit body, study says

2007-12-18T14:42:00.000-08:00

After a year of record mortgage foreclosures and slumping home prices, Americans are more determined to shape up their flabby finances in 2008 than their bodies, according to a study released by Countrywide Bank on Tuesday.

Some 67 percent of the 1,002 adults surveyed nationwide said that becoming financially fit is a top New Year's resolution, while 57 percent are committed to becoming physically fit in 2008.

"The results of the survey are an indicator that people are finally putting financial health on par with physical health," said clinical psychologist Dr. Melody Alderman in a statement from Countrywide.

By gender, women are more insecure about their finances, with 37 percent saying they are financially fit, compared with 55 percent for men. Dads are more confident about finances than moms, and single people feel more secure than the married.

Geographically, U.S. Northeasterners felt better about their money, with 52 percent saying their are financially fit. The Midwest and South were tied at the bottom with 43 percent feeling secure about finances.

Countrywide Bank is part of Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest mortgage lender in the United States with a big stake in the troubled subprime mortgage market. It has been battered by escalating loan defaults.
www.reuters.com

Interviewing at Google

2007-12-18T05:41:00.000-08:00

Working at Google

2007-12-18T05:40:00.000-08:00

Morgan Stanley hires ex-Fidelity executive

2007-12-18T05:10:00.000-08:00

Ellyn McColgan, a former senior Fidelity executive, is to become one of the top women on Wall Street after being appointed Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management.

Ms McColgan will take over day-to-day responsibility for the wealth management arm from James Gorman, who was recently promoted to co-president of the group.

Ms McColgan, 53, who had been seen as a potential successor to Ned Johnson, chief executive of Fidelity, quit her post in August after Rodger Lawson was brought in over her.

She is credited with expanding Fidelity’s private client brokerage business to become the biggest in the US. Most recently, she was president of distribution and operations.

John Mack, Morgan Stanley’s chief executive, said that Ms McColgan was “the ideal executive to carry forward the progress that James Gorman and his team have made in transforming our global wealth management business into an industry leader”.

She would bring to Morgan Stanley’s management committee a breadth and depth of experience that was “unmatched in our industry”, he added. She will join the company in April.

The appointment of Ms McColgan – who was named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 most powerful women in business last year – follows the ousting last month of Zoe Cruz as Morgan Stanley’s co-president. Ms Cruz was widely seen as the most powerful woman on Wall Street.

Other top women on Wall Street include Sallie Krawcheck, who runs Citigroup’s wealth management arm.

www.ft.com

Global hunger set to worsen says FAO

2007-12-18T05:09:00.001-08:00

Record prices for major agricultural commodities and a reduction in the volume of food aid means there is a serious risk that global hunger will worsen next year, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday.

The warning came as wheat prices on Monday jumped to an all-time high, soyabean prices hit a fresh 34-year high and corn rose to an 11-year high on strong demand and tight supplies reflected in extremely low global inventories.

Jacques Diouf, FAO director general, saw “a serious risk of poor people getting less food next year because of the impact of high food prices and a reduction of volume of food aid”.

Food aid has been reduced because agricultural commodities prices are going up while the big aid agencies’ budgets – including that of the UN’s World Food Programme, which feeds almost 90m of the world’s poorest people – remain stagnant.

“Urgent and new steps are needed to prevent the negative impacts of rising food prices from further escalating and to quickly boost crop production in the most affected countries,” Mr Diouf said at a press conference in Rome.

The FAO on Monday asked for financial support for a voucher system to help farmers in poor countries buy seeds and fertilisers, both of which are rising in price, in an effort to boost local production. Although the voucher system is a small-scale project with an initial FAO budget of $17m, Mr Diouf said it had the potential to increase crop production in poor countries by up to 20 per cent.

Rising prices for crude oil and natural gas prices, a major feedstock for fertiliser, and robust demand have pushed manure prices to levels not seen in the past two decades. Seed prices have risen on higher demand from emerging countries.

“Assisting poor vulnerable households in rural areas in the short term and enabling them to produce more food would be an efficient tool to protect them against hunger and undernourishment,” Mr Diouf added.

www.ft.com

African media group buys Tradus

2007-12-18T05:06:00.000-08:00

Africa's largest media firm, Naspers, is to buy UK internet auction firm Tradus for £946m ($1.90bn) in order to expand into central and eastern Europe.

Tradus was formerly called QXL, and Naspers said the deal would consolidate its existing presence in Poland.

Under the deal, Johannesburg-based Naspers will pay £18 for each Tradus share, a 19% premium to the closing price of £15.10 on 6 November.

Naspers shares closed 5% down on fears it may have overpaid for Tradus.

Abri du Plessis, chief investment officer at Gryphon Asset Management said: "It's probably seen as not a good thing spending a lot of money going for risk at a time like this."

Naspers owns South Africa's biggest daily newspaper, the Daily Sun, and African pay TV unit Multichoice.

The media group has been investing in the internet for 10 years and has previously been building up a presence across Africa, in China, and in Russia.

Tradus has sites in most central and eastern European nations, as well as Denmark, Norway and Switzerland and the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

ECB lends $500bn to lower rates

2007-12-18T05:05:00.000-08:00

The European Central Bank has allocated 348.67bn euros($502bn; £249bn) to banks at a below-market rate in a refinancing move to ease tightened credit markets.

It is one of five central banks that have injected billions in emergency cash into money markets.

The aim is to cut the cost of lending between retail and commercial banks, which has jumped in the past few weeks.

All banks with enough collateral, and which submitted bids of at least 4.21%, received funds from the ECB.

The ECB move - making the extra cash available over the next two weeks -will ease fears of a credit meltdown over the Christmas period, when banks need extra cash.

http://news.bbc.co.uk