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	<title>All About Gadget &#187; san</title>
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		<title>Groupon IPO on hold as SEC questions remain</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/groupon-ipo-on-hold-as-sec-questions-remain/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:18:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Groupon founder and CEO Andrew Mason attends the second day of the Allen and Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 7, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Anthony Bolante By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Tue Sep 6, 2011 4:36pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon is going to wait at least a couple of weeks before launching the final phase of its initial public offering because regulators still have questions for the daily deals website and the stock market is too volatile, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. Groupon had been planning to go public in mid to late September. To hit that unofficial deadline, the company would have had to launch a roadshow to attract potential investors this week or next week. A Groupon spokesman declined to comment. Groupon filed for a $750 million IPO in June, when the stock market was higher and less volatile than it is now. In such an environment, it would be difficult being the first IPO to hit the market after Labor Day, the person said. Some on Wall Street have questioned Groupon's financial disclosures, while others are concerned the company's rapid growth is starting to slow in North America. Groupon Chief Executive Andrew Mason sent a memo to employees recently that was widely reported in the media, in which he blasted critics in the press and on Wall Street. The company has received questions from the SEC about the memo, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Regulations limit what companies can say ahead of a planned IPO. The newspaper also said Groupon had scheduled a roadshow for next week, but has called that off now. The company is not canceling its IPO, but it's reassessing the timing of an offering on a week-by-week basis, the newspaper added, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter. (Reporting by Alistair Barr; editing by Andre Grenon ) ]]></description>
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		<title>&quot;Grossly excessive&quot; award axed in Oracle-SAP case 
    (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/grossly-excessive-award-axed-in-oracle-sap-case-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:01:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; A federal judge on Thursday threw out a "grossly excessive" $1.3 billion verdict that Oracle won against SAP in a landmark intellectual property case, possibly setting the stage for another circus-like showdown between the two technology companies. The decision was a surprising twist in a 4-year-old case that's been filled with them. There will be a new trial if Oracle Corp. formally rejects a lower $272 million award, which it has indicated it will do. While Thursday's ruling was a victory for SAP AG, a German maker of business software, it's not necessarily as much of a setback for Oracle, which stands to humiliate SAP again even if it can't secure the higher award. If the second trial is anything like last year's, expect more high-wire theatrics from Oracle's outspoken CEO, Larry Ellison, who has pilloried SAP for its amateurish theft of software and customer-support documents from password-protected Oracle websites. SAP has admitted that a now-shuttered subsidiary, TomorrowNow, committed the offense. Oracle is the leading maker of database software, which helps companies organize their information. Its aggressive expansion into business applications has forced Oracle into a faceoff with SAP, the leader in that space. Oracle argued that the stolen information helped SAP steal customers by offering similar services at cheaper prices. SAP argued that TomorrowNow wasn't that great at stealing customers with the information anyway and should have to pay only $40 million for accounts that SAP did manage to lure away. The jury ultimately awarded Oracle more than 30 times that amount after a three-week trial last November. It was one of the largest verdicts in a case involving software-related theft and showed how severely jurors were willing to punish corporations for intellectual-property theft from rivals. Although the amount was less than what Oracle asked for, it was far more than what SAP had budgeted. SAP had set aside $160 million to pay anticipated damages and had already spent $120 million of that in payments to Oracle's lawyers. The punishment amounted to more than half of SAP's total profit in the prior year. Thursday's decision by Judge Phyllis Hamilton in in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., is a major victory for SAP. She said the size of the penalty was "contrary to the weight of the evidence, and was grossly excessive." Oracle can now choose whether to accept the lower award of $272 million or proceed with a new trial before a different jury. The $272 million amount was based on an earlier estimate from an Oracle expert on what profit Oracle lost and SAP gained. Whatever happens, Oracle has already scored repeated public relations wins because of the case. The case gave Ellison a platform to taunt another foe, former SAP CEO Leo Apotheker, who is now CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. Oracle is increasingly battling HP in the market for computer servers, straining a decades-long technology partnership. Oracle, which is based in Redwood Shores, Calif., tried to summon Apotheker to testify at the trial, and the company pushed the image of a "Where's Waldo?"-type manhunt involving private investigators and a vanished executive. Apotheker wasn't spotted within the jurisdiction of the Oakland court in time, and he didn't appear. HP, based in Palo Alto, continually skirted questions about Apotheker's whereabouts at the time, presumably because there was little to be gained in allowing him to testify. HP accused Oracle of harassing its new executive and said Oracle had ample time to question Apotheker in an earlier deposition. SAP said it was very gratified with Thursday's decision. "We believed the jury's verdict was wrong and are pleased at the significant reduction in damages," the company said in a statement. "We hope the court's action will help drive this matter to a final resolution." Oracle said it plans to fight for the full amount it was awarded. "There was voluminous evidence regarding the massive scope of the theft, clear involvement of SAP management in the misconduct and the tremendous value of the (intellectual property) stolen," Oracle said. "We believe the jury got it right and we intend to pursue the full measure of damages that we believe are owed to Oracle." Oracle's stock fell 23 cents, or 0.8 percent, to close Thursday at $27.84. SAP's stock fell 75 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $53.76. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Netflix stock falls as talks on Starz deal unravel 
    (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/netflix-stock-falls-as-talks-on-starz-deal-unravel-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:01:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; Netflix's negotiations to keep a key piece of its Internet video library have collapsed, dealing a major blow to the largest U.S. video subscription service as it raises the prices for most of its 25 million customers. The setback triggered a nearly 9 percent drop in Netflix Inc.'s stock price. Starz Entertainment delivered the bad news Thursday in a terse statement announcing that it won't renew a contract that allows Netflix to show a lineup of recently released movies and TV shows over high-speed Internet connections. That means Starz content will be removed from Netflix's streaming service starting in March. Starz' library includes movies from Walt Disney Co.'s assorted studios and, until recently, Sony Corp. The talks fell apart after the two sides disagreed over the value of the Starz content and how it should be sold to Netflix subscribers, according to people familiar with the negotiations. The people asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. The content from Starz' cable TV channel played an instrumental role in increasing usage of Netflix's Internet service and helped Netflix add nearly 17 million subscribers since the deal was signed in October 2008. That growth probably wouldn't have happened without the boost that the Starz deal gave to Netflix streaming, said Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Tony Wible. "What created (Netflix's success in streaming) is frankly, initially getting Starz, getting that content, which got you more subscribers, which allowed you to buy more content," Wible said. "The virtuous cycle that has made Netflix what it is could work against it. If you lose content, you lose subscribers; ... it could be a downward spiral from here." Netflix had been expected to work out a new contract with Starz, although at a much higher price than the estimated $30 million a year that it had been paying under the current agreement. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings acknowledged earlier this year that the company might have to pay as much as $250 million a year to retain the Starz rights when the current contract expires in February. But those hopes were dashed, if not blown up completely, with Thursday's bombshell dropped by Starz CEO Chris Albrecht. The timing of the announcement was seen a way to kick Netflix in the shins at a particularly vulnerable time. It came on the first day of a new Netflix pricing system that will hit U.S. subscribers with price increase of as much as 60 percent if they want to continue to get DVD rentals through the mail along with unlimited streaming of Internet video. The new pricing system has incensed a large group of Netflix subscribers who have threatened to cancel their accounts, a backlash that could intensify if it looks like Netflix's streaming library is becoming less attractive. Albrecht said Starz had decided against a renewal "to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content." The contract renewal talks broke down when Netflix refused to meet demands that could have driven up the annual licensing rights to $300 million or more, according to one person familiar with the negotiations. A major sticking point arose when Starz insisted its content be corralled on a higher-price tier, another person said. Instead of making their content available to any Netflix subscriber paying just $8 per month, Starz executives wanted viewership limited to people paying at least $16 per month for a package that bundles DVD rentals with Internet video. That stipulation was seen as a way to preserve Starz' relationship with cable and satellite TV distributors, who include Starz in channel packages that cost far more than the $8 monthly fee for Netflix streaming. Albrecht said Starz, part of Liberty Media Corp., is in an "excellent position" to make more money from other sources besides Netflix. Netflix tried to downplay the possible loss of the Starz relationship. The company, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., said it would spend the $250 million that Hastings had earmarked for the Starz renewal to buy audience-pleasing content from other distributors. Hastings has left no doubt that he intends to invest heavily in Netflix's Internet video library because he wants more subscribers to use that option. That would allow Netflix to cut postage and other costs to mail DVD rentals to its customers. As it is, Starz has become less important to Netflix as the service expanded its streaming rights. In June, Sony also stopped allowing its movies, which include "Easy A" and "Grown Ups," to part of Starz streaming in June. Those factors have reduced Starz's share of Netflix streaming viewership in the U.S. to 8 percent, according to Netflix. The rising cost for Internet streaming rights is one of the reasons that Netflix raised its prices for people who want to rent DVDs through the mail and stream video. The changes don't affect customers who subscribe to the streaming-only plan. Starz's decision to end the talks with Netflix underscores the escalating tensions with pay-TV services that view Netflix's popularity as a competitive threat. Time Warner Inc.'s HBO has consistently refused to license its shows for Netflix streaming, and Showtime recently has declined to make some of its top series, including "Dexter" and "Californication" available to the service. Morningstar analyst Michael Corty said he thinks Netflix can salvage the Starz deal, given there is still six months before the current contract expires. To do that, Netflix will likely have to pay even more than it intended because Starz appears to have more negotiating leverage, Corty said. Although Albrecht's statement made it sound as if there is little chance of a new deal, Netflix left the door open. "We have tremendous respect for the Starz creative team, and we look forward to someday licensing some of their original or licensed content," Netflix said in a statement. The falling out with Starz added to the worries of Netflix investors already fretting about the higher prices driving away subscribers. Netflix's stock plunged $19.97 to $213.30 in extended trading Thursday, after the announcement by Starz. ___ Nakashima reported from Los Angeles. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>AT&amp;T gearing up for rare antitrust fight with DOJ 
    (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/att-gearing-up-for-rare-antitrust-fight-with-doj-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/att-gearing-up-for-rare-antitrust-fight-with-doj-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:24:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; The Justice Department's rejection of AT&#038;T's proposed purchase of T-Mobile USA will test new federal guidelines on challenging mergers and the companies' resolve in forming the nation's largest wireless carrier. A courtroom battle is likely and could wring out information that the companies would prefer to keep private. Still, AT&#038;T Inc. has a big incentive to fight: If the deal is called off, the company has to pay a $3 billion breakup fee and surrender some of its unused spectrum for wireless communications. AT&#038;T is promising to fight the Justice Department's decision. The department filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block the $39 billion deal, saying it would reduce competition and lead to price increases for customers. If AT&#038;T follows through on that, it could produce the biggest antitrust showdown since business software maker Oracle Corp. squared off with the federal government seven years ago. That dispute, triggered by the government's decision to block Oracle's proposed purchase of rival PeopleSoft Inc., exposed several well-kept corporate secrets and required Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to testify before a packed courtroom. In the end, Oracle pulled off something few companies have done in the past 30 years: It persuaded a federal judge that the Justice Department didn't have grounds to block its PeopleSoft deal. Oracle closed its $11.1 billion takeover four months after getting the favorable court ruling. Usually, not even the most powerful companies bother to fight government regulators in an antitrust dispute. Google Inc., for example, backed off in 2008 when the Justice Department threatened to sue to block a proposed Internet search partnership with Yahoo Inc. Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, pulled out of a deal to buy Intuit Corp. in 1995 after the Justice Department objected. The Justice Department filed 138 antitrust cases in federal courts from 1999 to 2008 and lost just four of them, according to the latest breakdown from the agency. One reason that the Justice Department has such a good track record is because it rarely challenges a deal unless it's very confident it can win, said Joseph Bauer, a University of Notre Dame law professor and antitrust expert. Knowing AT&#038;T would probably go to court, the Justice Department may have wanted to signal that it intends to get tougher on corporate marriages between rivals in markets with few other competitors. A union between AT&#038;T and T-Mobile USA would leave Verizon and Sprint as the only other major cellphone carriers in the U.S. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of German telecom company Deutsche Telekom AG, is currently the No. 4 wireless carrier, while AT&#038;T is second. Combined, AT&#038;T would be the largest. In a sign of its confidence, the Justice Department decided to strike down the deal even though it could have taken about three more months to study the pros and cons. The timing stunned AT&#038;T, which said it didn't get any advance warning. "It was an aggressive and impressive move by the DOJ to take the battle right at AT&#038;T," said Daniel Wall, a San Francisco attorney who represented Oracle in its 2004 fight to win the right to buy PeopleSoft. "It sent a statement that the DOJ intends to fight this one all the way to the finish line." Wall said AT&#038;T may have a tougher time proving its case than Oracle did against the Justice Department. In the PeopleSoft deal, Wall said, antitrust enforcers seemed to be manipulating the definition of the business software market. "This time, it looks to me that they have a pretty solid market definition," Wall said. "They don't appear to be playing games." University of Iowa law professor Herbert Hovenkamp said the Justice Department is being guided by a set of new guidelines, issued late last year, which make it clearer when mergers should be challenged on antitrust grounds. "I don't think they are overreaching here," Hovenkamp said. "If there is a broader message here, it's that the government intends to enforce these new guidelines." Besides being forced to divulge potentially damaging information, AT&#038;T will face other risks if it doesn't settle with the Justice Department. Going to trial will take months, or even years, leaving the company in a legal limbo that could depress its stock price and cause customers and key employees to defect. There's another risk to going to trial: as they try to prove their case, antitrust lawyers sometimes obtain confidential e-mails that contain embarrassing snippets and present other evidence that can make companies look bad. Those are some of the reasons why AT&#038;T mayl try to reach some kind of settlement with the government. If AT&#038;T persists, antitrust experts said that it's better off going up against the Justice Department than the Federal Trade Commission, which also handles antitrust reviews. That's mainly because lawsuits with the Justice Department are contested in federal courts. By contrast, the threshold for the FTC to block deals is generally lower, and the ensuing legal skirmishes occur in administrative law proceedings that drag on longer. "The merging parties usually have a better shot when they are going up against the DOJ than the FTC," said D. Daniel Sokol, a University of Florida professor specializing in antitrust law. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Amazon may sell 3-5 million tablets in Q4: Forrester</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/amazon-may-sell-3-5-million-tablets-in-q4-forrester/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/amazon-may-sell-3-5-million-tablets-in-q4-forrester/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Aug 2011 09:09:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ A dedicated iPad station is seen in front of an iPhone at the Apple store in New York May 23, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Mon Aug 29, 2011 3:27pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc may sell as many as 5 million tablet computers in the fourth quarter, making the largest Internet retailer the top competitor to Apple Inc in this fast-growing niche of the consumer PC market, Forrester Research said on Monday. Amazon.com has to price its tablet "significantly" below competing products and have enough supply to meet demand, but if the company can pull this off it can "easily" sell 3 million to 5 million units in the final three months of 2011, Forrester's Sarah Rotman Epps predicted. Apple has sold almost 30 million iPads since launching its tablet in April 2010. Rival products from companies including Samsung Electronics Co, Research in Motion and Motorola Mobility have failed to mount a serious challenge to that early lead. This month, Hewlett-Packard scrapped its TouchPad after sales languished. "Thus far, Apple has faced many would-be competitors, but none have gained significant market share," Epps wrote. "Not only does Amazon have the potential to gain share quickly but its willingness to sell hardware at a loss, as it did with the Kindle, makes Amazon a nasty competitor." One problem with iPad rivals has been that developers have so far waited before creating a lot of applications, or apps, for the devices, Forrester noted. Apple claims about 100,000 custom-built iPad apps, while Google's Honeycomb platform, which is the tablet version of the Android operating system, has attracted fewer than 300 apps, according to Forrester. "If Amazon's Android-based tablet sells in the millions, Android will suddenly appear much more attractive to developers who have taken a wait-and-see approach," Epps said. Amazon's Kindle e-reader is lighter and smaller than the iPad, but Apple's tablet has a browser and other services for enhanced reading and researching, Fred Wilson, a venture capital investor and principal at Union Square Ventures, said in a recent blog. "What we all want is a hybrid of the two -- a Kindle that is a full-blown tablet computer with a browser, apps, and an OS," Wilson added. "It looks like Amazon is going to bring that to market this fall ... It looks like a killer product." Amazon shares were up 3.4 percent at $206.03 in afternoon trading on Monday, leaving them up more than 10 percent so far this year. Apple shares were up 1.6 percent at $389.87. The stock is up almost 19 percent so far in 2011. (Reporting by Alistair Barr; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Matthew Lewis ) ]]></description>
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		<title>S&amp;P upgrades Google stock days after &quot;sell&quot; view</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/sp-upgrades-google-stock-days-after-sell-view/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/sp-upgrades-google-stock-days-after-sell-view/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:09:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ A posed picture shows a Motorola Droid phone displaying the Google search page in New York August 15, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:52pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Recommendations to unload Google Inc stock are extremely rare on Wall Street. But the latest "sell" rating for the Internet company was so fleeting it existed for just three trading days. Standard &#038; Poor's upgraded Google's stock on Monday, giving it a "hold" rating, reversing its much-debated downgrade the prior week. S&#038;P had slapped Google with a Sell rating -- the only such bearish call on the Internet giant's stock among almost 40 analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S -- after a surprise August 15 announcement that it will buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion. As with other investors and industry commentators, S&#038;P voiced concern about Google's plans to enter the smartphone manufacturing business, which could weigh on its financials and create conflicts with the other handset vendors who also license Google's Android software. Shares of Google have fallen more than 10 percent from their closing price before the deal was announced, trading just a whisker below $500 in the afternoon, compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average's roughly 3 percent drop during the period. But while several analysts adjusted targets on Google's stock price following news of the deal, no other firm appears to have downgraded Google's stock, according to Thomson Reuters data. Scott Kessler, the head of technology sector equity research at S&#038;P, said the sell-off in Google's stock following the Motorola news had brought its share price down to the $500 target that he set for Google when he downgraded the stock. "It's very hard for us to say sell this stock when it's trading below its target price," Kessler told Reuters in an interview on Monday. The fact that the back-to-back Google downgrade and upgrade came from S&#038;P Equity, whose parent's unprecedented downgrade of United States sovereign debt this month roiled global markets and prompted discussion, made the move all the more striking. Kessler acknowledged it was unusual to see a stock's recommendation change so quickly. But he said the move was consistent with S&#038;P's approach to equity research. "If we made a change to our fundamental commentary or the target price, that would understandably be a little curious," he said. Google, the world's No.1 Web search engine, has 14 "strong buy" ratings, 20 "buy" ratings and 5 "hold" ratings, according to Thomson Reuters data. Google has no other "underperform" or "sell" ratings according to Thomson One (S&#038;P's research is not included in Thomson One). Although S&#038;P raised its recommendation on Google's stock a notch, Kessler said the firm's views of Google have not changed much. "We still have a lot of questions and concerns about this proposed acquisition and the impact it's going to have," he said. (Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) ]]></description>
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		<title>Analysis: HP - Dial &quot;M&quot; for mayhem</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/analysis-hp-dial-m-for-mayhem/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Aug 2011 21:46:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ HP CEO Leo Apotheker speaks to the press after delivering the keynote address at the HP Summit in San Francisco, California March 14, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Stephen Lam By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:23pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Leo Apotheker's credibility as a CEO is falling along with Hewlett-Packard's stock price. Apotheker, who gained a reputation for sharp business acumen when he headed up SAP, thoroughly flummoxed HP shareholders last week with what some analysts have called a "value destroying" $11.7 billion deal to buy British software maker Autonomy and for sticking a for-sale sign on HP's PC division -- thus scaring off clients for the year or so it will take to decide on the division's future. In a resounding rejection of Apotheker's grand vision, shareholders sent HP shares down almost 20 percent on Friday, wiping out $16 billion of value in the worst single-day fall since the Black Monday stock market crash of October 1987. Since Apotheker joined HP early last November, the company has lost almost 44 percent of its value, and he has lost a significant amount of investor support. "We wonder whether activist investors will -- and should -- begin to exert pressure on the board," said Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst with Sanford Bernstein. "If HP's results don't improve, the company will ultimately restructure its portfolio and/or replace its leadership." Pat Becker Jr., fund manager at Portland, Oregon-based Becker Capital Management Inc, which owns HP shares, noted that Apotheker has continually failed to instill confidence in his conference calls with investors. "Every time he has gotten on the call, the stock has gone down substantially," Becker said. On a conference call last Thursday following the announcements on Autonomy and the PC division, Apotheker failed to fully address key questions from analysts, including why HP was paying a large premium for Autonomy. When asked about the vision for HP's PC unit, he said the decision could range from an outright sale to a spinoff to a "potential "nontransaction." "That call -- was that an 'A' performance by a CEO on that acquisition?" asked Becker, whose firm holds HP shares. An HP spokeswoman said the "strategic transformation" is intended to position the company for a new future and drive long-term shareholder value. While investors applaud Apotheker's long-term plan to get out of HP's commoditized PC business, and the Palm WebOS tablet and smartphone business -- considered a capital sinkhole -- that goes with it, the $11.7 billion bill for Autonomy and haphazard articulation of the spin-off strategy left many shaking their heads. HP's purchase price is a stunningly rich 10 times sales of Autonomy, a cloud search specialist whose revenues are equal to only about 1 percent of HP's. HP's Personal Systems Group, which includes the PC business and the now-defunct TouchPad tablet -- faces an uncertain future, which may undermine the business and benefit Dell, whose shares ended up nearly 2 percent on Friday in a broadly weak market. Even more worrying, HP's new strategic road map marked an about-face on several crucial fronts, signaling a lack of direction. Executives as recently as May had touted how WebOS would be on every HP product from printers to PCs. In March, they had played up the advantages of serving both consumers and enterprise. In addition, Apotheker has been forced to slash HP's sales estimates three times since he took over last November. IN BIG BLUE'S FOOTSTEPS It is not the first time HP seems behind the curve. it agreed to buy Compaq in 2001 in what turned out to be a rocky merger. IBM, on the other hand, transformed itself by selling its PC arm to China's Lenovo in late 2004 and establishing its dominance in enterprise IT. HP appears to be trying to replicate Big Blue's success. Some analysts and fund managers hold out hope that the company is at least now on the right track and can still catch up by making smart acquisitions. "Just because they didn't make the move earlier doesn't mean they still can't skate to the where the puck is going," said Tony Ursillo, an analyst with Loomis Sayles Value Fund. But he added, "HP has overpaid for every acquisition it has made" in the past year. One thing that could take the sting out of the steep price tag for Autonomy is the sale of HP's PC division, which industry experts estimate could fetch as much as $10 billion. And Apotheker did make at least one correct decision by retiring the TouchPad. Sacconaghi estimates the business lost about $250 million last quarter, or 9 cents a share. INTERNAL DISARRAY But the events of last Thursday have done little to build confidence in Apotheker. The afternoon of high drama kicked off with a series of rapid-fire announcements: disclosure of acquisition talks with Autonomy; confirmation a deal had been done; announcement that HP was killing its TouchPad and other WebOS devices. HP also disclosed its results an hour earlier than scheduled, marking the second straight quarter that the company had to release earnings ahead of schedule. And in another small sign of disarray, TouchPad ads featuring "Glee" star Lea Michele continued to run on CNBC on Friday. While HP's dire competitive position was in the making well before Apotheker's arrival, shareholders do not view the CEO's track record as impressive. "I was skeptical coming in about whether he had the right background for the job," Ursillo said. "So far the results are not encouraging." (Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Peter Lauria , Edwin Chan and Leslie Adler) ]]></description>
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		<title>Hewlett-Packard overhaul exposes underdog status (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/hewlett-packard-overhaul-exposes-underdog-status-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:57:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; Hewlett-Packard, one of the world's largest technology companies, finds itself the underdog as it ditches most of its consumer businesses to become more like the well-oiled, corporate-focused machines of rivals IBM and Oracle. HP will no longer make smartphones and tablet computers and wants to leave the PC business after spending a decade assembling itself into a technology conglomerate by buying such companies as computer maker Compaq Computer for $19 billion in 2002 and smartphone pioneer Palm for $1.8 billion last year. HP's stock plunged 20 percent on Friday, a day after the restructuring announcement. That's a strong signal that investors are doubtful about HP's ability to thrive without businesses that have helped set it apart from rivals. Even though the PC division that HP wants to sell or spin off is the company's least profitable, it accounts for nearly a third of revenue. Rumors have been circulating for months that HP might try to exit the PC business, which is under pressure from tablet computers and smartphones &#8212; the ones made by Apple, not HP. Analysts generally agree that HP would be better off in shedding a thinly profitable business that faces fierce competition. However, their anxiety spiked because of how HP went about it. Some analysts worry that CEO Leo Apotheker may have done irreversible damage to the PC business by throwing its future into question. He said HP is merely considering possibilities for the business and may not shed it at all after 12 to 18 months of exploration. That uncertainty could lead to an exodus of customers, which would lower the price that HP could fetch for the division if it's able to sell it. Or it could damage its value so much that HP isn't able to unload it and is stuck with a business in decline. Even if HP does shed its PC unit, it's left with businesses that are already under pressure. In many cases, those businesses are playing catch-up to IBM, Oracle and Cisco Systems Inc., which is going through its own restructuring. HP would be left with only one major business in which it is the clear leader &#8212; printers and printer ink, a longtime cash cow. It would also still sell servers, but it is running even with IBM in that area. In other, more lucrative areas, HP is far behind. IBM is the market leader in technical services. Cisco is the leader in computer networking equipment. IBM, Oracle and Apotheker's former employer, SAP AG, rule in business software. Losing the PC business would leave a giant hole. In the past nine months, for instance, it supplied nearly $30 billion of HP's revenue of $95 billion. And that doesn't include ancillary sales, such as selling a printer to a company that has already bought a PC. HP will likely lose some leverage in those relationships, and other divisions could suffer as a result. Tablets and smartphones were a much smaller factor. HP doesn't break out that category and had included it in a catch-all category of corporate investments, which supplied just $416 million in revenue since the fiscal year started in November. But the businesses were clearly in trouble. That division lost nearly twice that amount during the same period. Jayson Noland, an analyst with Robert W. Baird &#038; Co., said the restructuring plan raises questions about HP's viability. He has downgraded HP stock to "neutral," after HP's latest quarterly results showed falling profit margins in its services and printer and ink businesses. Those are HP's most profitable divisions and would take on an even more prominent role after the restructuring. Noland said HP no longer would be a "safe haven" when the economy is rough. The transformation plan, he said, is expensive, protracted and risky. In announcing the sweeping changes, HP is trying to emulate IBM. IBM rescued itself from the brink of collapse in the 1990s by ditching its consumer businesses and focusing on services and software. But following that model puts HP at a disadvantage, because IBM has had nearly a decade to perfect it. IBM's head start confers many advantages, especially stronger investor support for the market leader. IBM enjoys a market value of about $190 billion as of Friday, nearly four times as large as HP's $50 billion. And IBM has had years to invest in areas that HP is just now exploring. More than 90 percent of IBM's income comes from services and software, areas in which it has spent billions of dollars on research and acquisitions. By contrast, just over 40 percent of HP's income is from those businesses. HP is still largely dependent on legacy businesses, particularly printer ink, PCs and servers. Services became HP's most profitable division with its $14 billion acquisition of Electronic Data Systems in 2008. But that business has suffered, and Apotheker has blamed years of neglect by his predecessor, Mark Hurd, who resigned under pressure a year ago in a scandal over ties with a former contractor. And IBM is far ahead here. Its revenue from services and software is twice as big as HP's. IBM has been down this road before. IBM's decision to sell its PC business in 2005 was one of the last steps of its transformation, but IBM's PC business was substantially smaller then than HP's. IBM had just 5 percent of the worldwide PC market at the time. By contrast, HP commands nearly 20 percent of the worldwide PC market today, making it the world's top computer maker. And its PC business makes money, unlike IBM's at the time. The fact that HP's PC business is thinly profitable will limit how much HP can fetch for it. Brian White, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities, warned investors that even if HP sold it for $12.5 billion, it would only add 6 cents per share to annual income. "A possible PC divestiture won't cure the near-term challenges," he said. Apotheker, in an interview with The Associated Press, was reluctant to discuss how IBM played into his decisions. But he said that the differences between the companies' PC businesses would allow HP to extract a higher price. IBM, which is based in Armonk, N.Y., got $1.75 billion from Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd. for its PC operations. "When IBM spun out their PC business, they spun out a money-losing business," Apotheker said. "We are very proud to have a money-making, market-leading business with the best margins in the business. We are going at this from a position of strength." The transformation Apotheker envisions would strip HP of valuable levers that have set the company apart. The consumer businesses have helped insulate HP from swings in how businesses and governments buy information technology. A downbeat report from PC maker Dell Inc. this week, and HP's cut to its full-year revenue guidance on Thursday, reinforced fears that companies and government agencies have dialed back their spending on technology. To some analysts, the restructuring has a make-or-break quality. Investor sentiment is likely to turn on the fate of the PC business. How it's handled could have ramifications for Apotheker's job security as well. He is in his 10th month on the job. By announcing the deliberations "without a clear plan or buyer in place, the company effectively set the clock ticking on the profitable PC business's viability &#8212; and value," analysts from IDC wrote in a research note. In 18 months, that business "may be unrecognizable." Shares of HP, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., fell $5.91, or 20 percent, to close Friday at $23.60. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>In nod to IBM, HP overhaul minimizes consumers (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/in-nod-to-ibm-hp-overhaul-minimizes-consumers-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:38:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ SAN FRANCISCO &#8211; Hewlett-Packard Co. is surrendering in smartphones and tablet computers and has put its personal computer division up for sale, as new CEO Leo Apotheker tries to transform the Silicon Valley stalwart into a twin of East Coast archrival IBM Corp. The restructuring announced Thursday contains an unmistakable message: HP has failed to cater to both consumers and corporations. As a result, it needs to exit most of its consumer businesses, just as IBM did six years ago. The overhaul will have three parts: &#8226; HP will stop making tablet computers and smartphones by October. &#8226; It will try to spin off or sell its PC business, the world's largest. By the end of next year, HP computers could be sold under another company's name. &#8226; The company plans to buy business software maker Autonomy Corp. for about $10 billion in one of the biggest takeovers in HP's 72-year history. HP, the largest technology company in the world by revenue, will continue to sell servers and other equipment to business customers, just as IBM now does. Those businesses currently don't generate as much revenue for HP as PCs, but they have higher profit margins. Apotheker would not say whether any jobs will be cut. HP plans to take a charge of about $1 billion for restructuring and related costs, some of which could go for severance payments. HP employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. The changes are motivated by a shift toward an IBM-style business model, which is focused on selling to corporations and governments. But the influence of Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. shouldn't be underestimated. Apple is the hottest consumer electronics company on the planet with its highly popular iPhones and iPads. "Apple singlehandedly knocked HP out of the PC, smartphone and tablet business," Gleacher &#038; Co. analyst Brian Marshall said in an interview. Rather than remain locked in a futile fight with a company that seems to have found the magic touch on making hit consumer products, HP decided to whittle its competition to the other business technology specialists &#8212; namely, IBM, Oracle Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc., Marshall said. The focus makes sense considering that Apotheker spent most of his career at German business software maker SAP AG, another company that catered to the technology needs of companies and government agencies. "This is his bread and butter," Marshall said. "Now he has to deliver." Investors appeared underwhelmed and sent HP's stock down $1.88, or 6 percent, to $29.51 during the regular trading session Thursday, after news of the changes leaked and HP disclosed them along with a quarterly forecast that was lower than expected. After the market closed, the stock fell another 10 percent to $26.61. It was a day the broader market declined, with the Standard &#038; Poor's 500 index falling 4.5 percent. Apotheker is seeking radical changes to help erase the stain of scandal and leave his imprint on a massive company he inherited last year. His predecessor, Mark Hurd, resigned under pressure a year ago, after an investigation found expense reports that were allegedly falsified to conceal a relationship with an HP marketing contractor. In trying to ditch most of HP's consumer businesses, Apotheker is reversing a decade-long binge on computer hardware. The area where HP has been most visibly lacking is mobile devices. HP has been hopelessly outmatched in smartphones and tablets despite its $1.8 billion acquisition last year of Palm Inc., whose webOS software was the crown jewel of the deal. The software powered the fledgling TouchPad tablet and HP-powered smartphones that are being discontinued in Thursday's announcement. The software was well-reviewed, but iPhones and iPads and smartphones running Google Inc.'s Android operating system have dominated the fastest-growing parts of the consumer technology market. HP was left in the margins. WebOS smartphones had a worldwide market share of less than 1 percent, according to Gartner. HP will try to find ways to keep webOS alive, which could include using it in other devices such as PCs and printers or licensing it to handset makers, Apotheker said in an interview. He said he was disappointed with the designs of HP's mobile devices and believed the business would have required too much money to turn around. "We have better opportunities to invest our capital," he said. HP executives likely decided that "they were too late to the tablet market to make a dent," said Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin. "They recognized they did not have a high probability of success." HP conceivably could try to license webOS for use in cars and consumer electronics devices made by other companies, Golvin said. But even that is challenging because Google is targeting many of the same markets with its Android system, which is free. "This begs the question of how much longer it will be before the other shoe drops and they close the Palm business entirely," Golvin said. The diminishing of the Palm business will be striking to many technologists. Jon Rubinstein, the former CEO of Palm, said in December that Palm sold itself because executives realized the business could be small and successful, but couldn't sustain itself on its own in the long run. Rubinstein, who was an Apple executive before leading Palm, said HP seemed to be the best choice because, given its size, it could help Palm bring its products to more people. In PCs, HP is acknowledging that it needs to reverse course on a path begun two CEOs ago, under Carly Fiorina. She pushed through the controversial decision to spend $19 billion for Compaq Computer. That set the stage for HP's ascent to become the world's top PC maker. PCs are HP's biggest revenue generator, but the business is also HP's least profitable, a result of falling prices for computers and brutal competition. HP's effort to jettison its PC business is another concession to Apple's increasing dominance of consumer electronics, said Shaw Wu, an analyst with Ticonderoga Securities. The PC division also had become a drag on HP's stock even though it still accounts for about 15 percent of the company's earnings, Wu said. "Apple is a such a fierce competitor that HP probably realized it was going to have to cut its losses," Wu said. "And it makes sense to cut your losses sooner than later." The decision also makes HP's trajectory look similar to rival IBM's. A key player in building the PC market in the 1980s, IBM sold its PC business in 2005 to focus on software and services, which don't cost as much in labor and components as building computer hardware. The acquisition of Autonomy mirrors a key element of IBM's transformation from stodgy mainframe seller into a software and services powerhouse, which has made IBM the envy of many large technology companies. HP's net income increased in the fiscal third quarter, which ended July 31, but its lower-than-expected outlook for the current period weighed on the stock. The company also cut its full-year revenue outlook. ___ AP Technology Writers Michael Liedtke and Rachel Metz in San Francisco and Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this report. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Dell slashes 2012 sales forecast, bodes ill for HP</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/dell-slashes-2012-sales-forecast-bodes-ill-for-hp/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2011 04:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ A customer looks at laptops at a Dell outlet in Beijing December 13, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Christina Hu By Poornima Gupta SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Tue Aug 16, 2011 6:56pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc slashed its 2012 revenue forecast as an already weak outlook for technology spending this year worsened, sending its shares more than 7 percent lower. The No. 2 personal computer maker on Tuesday cut its full-year revenue growth estimate to just 1 to 5 percent, from 5 to 9 percent previously, citing growing uncertainty about whether government and corporate spending on everything from servers to software can hold up in the face of flagging economic growth. Dell's move did not bode well for rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co. Shares of HP, a more diversified computing hardware and services vendor than Dell and more reliant on consumers, slid 1.3 percent. Industry executives warn that corporate and government spending may have begun to wane on fears of a second-half economic growth slowdown, while a high jobless rate pressures consumer income. HP, the world's No. 1 PC maker, striving for a turnaround after several disappointing quarters, will report quarterly earnings on Thursday. "We are going to see similar trends" with HP, said Brian Marshall, analyst with Gleacher &#038; Co, noting "maybe some weakness on the topline." He also noted a "pause" in technology business spending. The company founded by Michael Dell has consistently beaten Wall Street expectations this year, a result of expanding its footprint in higher-margin businesses such as servers, storage and computer services. "From a market standpoint, clearly there's a different demand dynamic as you think about revenue growth," Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said in an interview. "It's a bit of an uncertain environment." Dell slid 7.65 percent to $14.60 after hours, from a close of $15.80 on Nasdaq. AND THE BAR COMES DOWN AGAIN Before Tuesday's results, many analysts had already lowered their calendar 2011 projections as global markets tanked and economies headed for choppy waters. Corporations like Dell may be forced to reduce their full-year targets as demand slows. During an annual analysts' day in June, executives pledged to maintain their pace of acquisitions -- it completed its $960 million purchase of Compellent in February -- to gain access to corporate clients, and to safeguard margins. But Wall Street on Tuesday focused on anemic revenue growth, ignoring a 22.5 percent gross margin in the second quarter that actually exceeded analysts' projections by more than a full point. Dell, which in May forecast strong government spending and a good back-to-school season, recorded sales of just under $15.7 billion in its fiscal second quarter ended July. That marginally missed the $15.76 billion average forecast of Wall Street analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It added that sales this quarter would likely stay flat from last quarter. Dell posted net income of about $890 million, or 48 cents a share, in the quarter ended July, versus $545 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding certain items, it earned 54 cents a share. Analysts had expected 49 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, but it was not immediately clear if that estimate was comparable. (Editing by Richard Chang ) ]]></description>
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