RSS feed[Galleon] Galleon rat report
Okay, okay, that’s just a lame little joke.
Call ‘em what you will — stoolies, narks, informer, a grass, co-operative witnesses. Either way, FT Alphaville does not condone illegal activity in any form.
Google set for fresh expansion
Google on Thursday declared the worst of the recession over and paved the way for a return to heavy spending on expansion as it reported a surprisingly strong 8% jump in net revenues in its latest quarter.
Apple director quits Google amid probe into board links
The close boardroom ties between Google and Apple were loosened further yesterday as Art Levinson, a director of both companies for five years, quit the board of the internet group with immediate effect,
Twitter, the new Reuters witness
Yeah, we know, glass houses. But we couldn’t help noticing the following Reuters headline on Thursday:
RTRS-SOME GOOGLE GMAIL USERS REPORT TECHNICAL PROBLEMS ACCESSING CONTACTS – REUTERS WITNESSES,
Google’s Schmidt quits Apple board
The close personal link that sealed an unusual alliance between Silicon Valley’s two most prominent companies was broken on Monday as competitive conflicts forced Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive,
Microsoft in free software assault on Google
Microsoft on Monday escalated its battle with arch rival Google, reacting to an assault on one of its core businesses with the announcement of a free online version of its widely used Office software, to be launched next year,
Inflation expectations, Google datapoint du jour
Obviously not a scientific process — but then populist inflation expectations can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Those are the results from Google’s predictive search function. You can see the results for inflation outstrip those for deflation by a cool nine to one.
Financial figures through Google goggles
Guido Fawkes has alerted us to the fun to be had with the new predictive function on Google searches.
While most of them reveal a worrying anti-semitic streak (even in the case of Allen Stanford, who by all accounts is a rather fervent Christian) and an obsession with public figures’ wives,
Google’s growth spurt ends
Google’s revenues in the first quarter of this year fell below the preceding quarter for the first time in the company’s history as the global recession brought an end to its unprecedented 11-year growth spurt.
Google poised for VC launch
Google on Tuesday moved to extend its already outsized influence over Silicon Valley with plans to join the top venture capital firms that dominate the region’s thriving start-up business. Though it planned to invest just $100m in its first year,
The wisdom of China’s online crowds
HT to Standard Chartered for the title of this post and the research.
The bank’s China team are looking at Google Trends as an indicator of the country’s consumer appetite.
It’s not scientific per se (only 23 per cent of China’s population is online and of those only about 27 per cent use Google as a search engine) but it is interesting.
Genius or dingbat?
This man, Stephen Wolfram, reckons he is close to unveiling the next generation of search – the next step beyond Google.
No, wait. He says it’s a “new paradigm for using computers and the web.”
Wolframalpha.com will offer answers to questions,
Day of gloom for tech leaders
Microsoft on Thursday announced its first company-wide job cuts in its 34-year history, capping a day of gloom for the technology sector. The software giant’s plans to cut up to 5,000 jobs came as Sony plunged deeper into crisis after the electronics and entertainment group warned it would suffer its first full-year operating loss in 14 years,
Microsoft denies Yahoo interest
Software giant Microsoft on Friday dismissed speculation it might still be interested in a takeover of internet company Yahoo, reports Reuters. “We made an offer, we made another offer … We moved on,”
Google jilts Yahoo, abandons legal fight
Google has abandoned its search advertising partnership with Yahoo in the face of an antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking the deal. The US Justice department had been reviewing the agreement, announced in June,
Prepping your portfolio for a consumer recession
Citigroup’s chief US equity analyst,Tobias Levkovich, is not a natural bear. Up until October 8th, he was the most bullish of 9 senior market strategists tracked by Bloomberg – he’s now the least optimistic.
[MoneyTech] NASDAQ, NYSE and the battle for (free) US financial data
Interesting nugget from Reuters (via @defrag): Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) now generate more revenue from selling market data than from equities trading. At Nasdaq, the market data accounts for 20 per cent of revenue,
Yahoo agrees deal with Google
Yahoo on Thursday sealed an alliance with search giant Google, leaving rival suitor Microsoft out in the cold as it seeks to revive its own flagging internet fortunes. The alliance between the two biggest web search companies,
Microsoft revives Yahoo race
Microsoft has proposed a deal to Yahoo that goes further than a partnership, although it still stops short of a full buy-out of the internet concern, said a person familiar with the situation. The comments add to indications over the weekend that the software company has launched a bid to buy a significant part of Yahoo’s operations,
Microsoft renews approach to Yahoo
Microsoft has made a fresh approach to Yahoo about a deal to combine part of their online businesses, reports the FT, although this time, the proposal stops short of a full acquisition, Microsoft said Sunday.
Pink Picks
Comment and analysis in the FT
Lex: Call off the search
And the winner is … Google. The shadow cast by the internet search giant has formed the backdrop to Microsoft’s bid to take over Yahoo all along.
Quattrone gets in on Google action
Former star technology investment banker Frank Quattrone is advising Google as the websearch leader mulls its strategy amid Microsoft’s pursuit of Yahoo, reports Reuters. Quattrone underwrote some of the biggest IPOs during the late-1990s technology boom while at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Microsoft and News Corp talk on Yahoo
News Corp is in “serious talks” with Microsoft over a joint bid for Yahoo, reports the WSJ, although the NYT says the talks are at a “sensitive stage”. Meanwhile, Yahoo and Time Warner’s AOL are nearing a deal to combine their internet operations,
Yahoo plays for time – and more money
There is a consensus that Yahoo will reject the unsolicited offer from Microsoft, with the Yahoo board having met on Friday and decided that the $41.5bn bid, worth $31 a share, massively undervalues the internet company.
Microsoft hits back at Google
Microsoft hit back at Google on Monday over the search company’s attempt to derail its bid for Yahoo, threatening to fight back through the regulators if its ambitions were stymied by any partnership between the two.
Google warns on Microsoft’s Yahoo bid
Google on Sunday weighed in against Microsoft’s unsolicited $43bn cash-and-stock offer for Yahoo, launched Friday, arguing it could open the way for the software giant to extend its PC monopoly to the internet.
Japan stocks rise on Microsoft factor
Shares in Softbank soared as much as 16% and Yahoo Japan was untraded due to a flood of buy orders on Monday in Tokyo, on hopes a potential Microsoft acquisition of Yahoo would boost the Japanese firms’ competitiveness,
US clears Google-DoubleClick deal
The fate of Google’s controversial acquisition of online advertising group DoubleClick is set to be decided early next year by regulators in Europe, following Thursday’s decision by US antitrust regulators to clear the deal without conditions.
Brussels to probe Google’s DoubleClick deal
Google’s ambitions in the online advertising business suffered a potential setback Tuesday as the European Commission said it was opening an in-depth review of the internet company’s proposed $3.1bn takeover of DoubleClick.
That Facebook faceoff and the sport of business journalism
Is this mad or is it plain wrong? Or is it just overcooked journalese. (In which case, who are we to tut tut?)
The New York Post reported on Wednesday that Google is threatening once again to beat rival Microsoft to the deal punch,