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‘business’ Stories

Sony set to buy EMI for $2.2 Billion with EU clearing

Chris Burns, Apr 19th 2012 Discuss [0]

The European Union has had competition regulators investigate and subsequently OK a plan this week to allow an investor group lead by Sony Corporation to purchase the music-publishing devision of EMI Group LTD. for a whopping $2.2 billion dollars. While this amount may seem strikingly low considering the recent purchase of the application Instagram by Facebook for $1 billion, it appears that the music market and the mobile market simply are not working on the same level at the moment. Those of you wondering where Michael Jackson (mentioned several times in the proceedings) comes in to all this are not alone - it's the Sony/ATV 50/50 joint venture between Sony and the estate of Michael Jackson that are purchasing EMI this week. Read The Full Story

Google execs and James Cameron backing asteroid mining project

Rue Liu, Apr 18th 2012 Discuss [0]

A mysterious company called Planetary Resources will be unveiling itself next Tuesday, April 24, according to an announcement received by MIT's Technology Review. The company is described as a space exploration company that is aimed at expanding Earth's resource base and is backed by Google execs Larry Page and Eric Schmidt as well as film maker and explorer James Cameron, among other big names. Read The Full Story

Oracle vs Google: tech pundits weigh in

Chris Burns, Apr 18th 2012 Discuss [0]

There’s no lack of opinions out there this week on the long-coming case between Oracle and Google on who holds sway over the data they’re disputing, data used in Android that Oracle says is theirs. Where everyone seems to agree, it seems, is that this situation could be serious. Should Oracle be found in their own rights to get a piece of the Android action after Google’s been using code of theirs for the time Android has been live, Google could be in for a rather sizable chunk of payments coming up quick. If Oracle is found incorrect, on the other hand, Google will finally be free of accusations from one of their biggest looming legal threats.

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RIM open to “all opportunities” for market share

Rue Liu, Apr 18th 2012 Discuss [0]

RIM has been losing market share rapidly to Apple's iPhone and smartphones running Google's Android, but the BlackBerry maker isn't going down without a fight. The company said today that it is considering "all opportunities" for regaining consumer interest, but is focused on selling more BlackBerry smartphones and tablets. Ahead of its next platform launch, it will concentrate on pushing BlackBerry devices in its key markets India and Indonesia. Read The Full Story

Verizon to sell 700MHz spectrum to gain AWS cable spectrum

Rue Liu, Apr 18th 2012 Discuss [0]

Verizon Wireless announced today that it will be selling all of its block A and B 700MHz spectrum to get approval for its purchase of AWS spectrum from a group of cable companies to expand its 4G LTE network. The move comes as the FCC and the Department of Justice are mulling over the transaction, which has faced opposition from smaller carriers, including T-Mobile and MetroPCS. Read The Full Story

Yahoo CEO says the company has been doing “way too much”

Shane McGlaun, Apr 18th 2012 Discuss [0]

Yahoo has been taking a beating for a long time now as the company loses market share and key employees. Yahoo's CEO Scott Thompson spoke recently at the company's earnings call after his first full quarter as CEO and talked about shedding some of the things Yahoo has been doing. According to Thompson, Yahoo has been doing too much. Read The Full Story

Intel reports flat $12.9 billion revenue in Q1 2012

Rue Liu, Apr 17th 2012 Discuss [0]

Intel reported its Q1 2012 earnings today, revealing a 13 percent drop in profit due to flat sales and higher operating expenses. The chip giant earned $2.7 billion or 53 cents per share on a revenue of $12.9 billion. Despite the dip in revenue across all of Intel's business divisions, the results did manage to beat Wall Street estimates, which expected earnings of 50 cents per share on a revenue of $12.84 billion. Read The Full Story

Livescribe and Dropbox bring handwritten notes to the cloud

Rue Liu, Apr 16th 2012 Discuss [0]

Livescribe has partnered with Dropbox to make its Echo smartpen even more productive for busy note-takers. The Echo smartpen will now be able to automatically sync its notes directly to a user's Dropbox account. And since about 46 percent of Livescribe users also use Dropbox, this is a perfect match for storing handwritten notes in the cloud to be conveniently and securely accessible from anywhere. Read The Full Story

Best Buy drops list of 50 store closures – are you amongst them?

Chris Burns, Apr 15th 2012 Discuss [0]

Everyone working in the United States at a Best Buy Big Box store that've been on-edge about the future of their branch will today either be sighing with relief or breaking out their resumes as Best Buy has released a final list of USA closures. The giant list of 50 closures has been brewing now for many weeks, with the final 42 closures being listed by Best Buy this week. Included in these are one location in Kansas City Missouri, another in Scottsdale Arizona, and a whopping five in Best Buy's home state of Minnesota - each of them in the Twin Cities. Read The Full Story

Facebook’s next app grab is TagTile

Chris Burns, Apr 13th 2012 Discuss [0]

The cash Facebook has on hand isn’t nearly ready to run out, this evidenced by the purchase this week of TagTile, a startup dedicated to making mobile payments as easy as possible. This company’s purchase comes amid Facebook changing the mobile landscape by picking up Instagram for a whopping 1 billion dollars. Neither Facebook nor TagTile have yet announced the purchase price for the latter company as yet, but in that Facebook today launched their coupon program called Facebook Offers just this morning, we’re guessing it wasn’t a cheap pick-up (if TagTile was smart, that is.)