Business - SlashGear

‘business’ Stories

Google Earnings show lowest quarter of 2011

Chris Burns, Jan 19th 2012 Discuss [0]

The fourth quarter earnings for the 2011 season for Google have been reported this week, results showing up as a slightly less impressive jump than analysts suspected. Google's fourth quarter earnings rose by 6.3%, but as this did end up being the slowest revenue increase of all four quarters of 2011, estimates jumped the gun - meanwhile shares in Google today fell 9.7% amid news in after-hours trading to $577.92. Perhaps its time to buy then, said those who wished they'd invested in Google when they had the chance all those years ago, as a 34% increase was seen over last year's Google ad clicks overall, this being also a 17% increase over the 3rd quarter of 2011. Read The Full Story

Google-Motorola deal approval deadline set for February 13 in Europe

Rue Liu, Jan 19th 2012 Discuss [2]

The European Commission has set a February 13 deadline to decide whether or not to approve Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola. The new date comes after the commission suspended the January 10 deadline to wait for additional documents from Google. Read The Full Story

Megaupload is down, Piracy indictment to blame

Chris Burns, Jan 19th 2012 Discuss [8]

One of the most notoriously popular media uploading and downloading sites in the world has been shut down today amid allegations of piracy and charges amounting to $500 million in lost revenue for pirated content. These charges come from federal prosecutors in Virginia and are being leveled against the founder and others involved with the site. If found guilty, needless to say, Megaupload's owners will stand no chance of revival any time soon. Read The Full Story

TED talk video on SOPA and PIPA makes it all crystal clear

Chris Burns, Jan 18th 2012 Discuss [17]

The result of groups across the web making an effort to bring the damaging effects of SOPA and PIPA to light has been a nice cross-section of explanatory posts made to educate the masses, and what we've got here is a TED talk video of Clay Shirky taking all of that and making it so clear your grandmother could understand it. The video in this post has Shirky, a man who goes by many names, American writer, teacher, consultant, and specialists on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. He knows his stuff, he's very well spoken, and this is the video that'll make it clear for you why SOPA and PIPA are beyond dangerous, they're absolutely unacceptable. Read The Full Story

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang resigns from board

Rue Liu, Jan 17th 2012 Discuss [1]

Yahoo has announced that co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang has resigned from its Board of Directors. Yang has also resigned from all other positions with the company, specifically from the boards of Yahoo Japan and Alibaba. The resignation is effective today and sees Yang leaving the company he co-founded nearly 17 years ago. Read The Full Story

Featured

SlashGear 101: SOPA and PIPA explained in plain English

Chris Burns, Jan 17th 2012 Discuss [29]

If you’ve not heard of either SOPA or PIPA in the last few weeks and months in your journeys through the internet, now’s the time to get educated, and quick. While the most recent news has been that the White House reaction to the SOPA bill specifically has effectively curbed it, there’s no reason why it can’t pop up again with a different name or a couple of simple changes that allow it to pass silently. These two bills, SOPA and PIPA, are amongst the most dangerous pieces of legislature ever to be written up for passage by the United States government in regards to innovation and the free market on a global scale today: this post will tell you why.

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Netflix being sued by angry investors over information withheld

Chris Burns, Jan 17th 2012 Discuss [3]

The big red envelope at Netflix is about to be full of court-related documents as angry investors have hit them with a class-action lawsuit saying they've withheld information from them just prior to a stock fall late last year. This lawsuits is being filed down in Northern California in U.S. District Court by the City of Royal Oak Retirement System, and is being filed on behalf of "all plaintiffs similarly situated." What they're saying, essentially, is that the Netflix senior management staff didn't let known to their investors that quite a few contracts surrounding online streamed content would be renegotiated at much higher costs than they'd been worked out at before. Read The Full Story

RIM again tipped to be selling out to Samsung

Chris Burns, Jan 17th 2012 Discuss [9]

When the going gets tough, the tough sell out to Samsung, or at least that's what Research In Motion's investors seem to be hoping will happen now that BlackBerry is in a downward spiral the likes of which have never been seen in the mobile industry before. A source trusted by Jonathan Geller of BGR has reportedly tipped off some inner workings of the RIM team saying that amongst the many possible buyers looking into purchasing RIM outright, Samsung is the current front-runner. What on earth Samsung would do with a massive set of business users tapping away only because their bosses wont allow them to move over to Androids, it's not quite clear. Read The Full Story

Kobo’s $315 million acquisition by Rakuten closes

Rue Liu, Jan 11th 2012 Discuss [0]

The $315 million acquisition of Kobo by Japan's Rakuten, announced back in November, has now successfully closed. All outstanding shares of Kobo owned by founding company Indigo Books & Music will go to Rakuten, while Kobo's management team will remain with the company and stay headquartered in Toronto. Read The Full Story

Samsung to overtake Nokia in 2012 mobile phone shipments

Rue Liu, Jan 10th 2012 Discuss [9]

Samsung has already beat Nokia in terms of revenue, but now the South Korean company believes it will overtake the Finnish group in total shipments as well. Speaking to reporters in Las Vegas, Samsung CEO Choi Gee Sung revealed that the company had surpassed Nokia in revenue in the latest reported quarter and is confident it will be able to top Nokia in shipments, becoming the world's largest cellphone maker in 2012. Read The Full Story