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	<title>All About Gadget &#187; york</title>
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		<title>AT&amp;T prepares two-track plan to save T-Mobile deal</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/att-prepares-two-track-plan-to-save-t-mobile-deal/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:01:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Related Video How AT&#038;T's blocked merger affects you Thu, Sep 1 2011 The at&#038;t logo is seen at their store in Times Sqaure in New York April 21, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton By Nadia Damouni and Diane Bartz NEW YORK &#124; Thu Sep 1, 2011 9:13pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&#038;T Inc is expected to soon present a proposed solution to U.S. antitrust regulators to salvage its planned $39 billion acquisition of smaller rival T-Mobile USA, according to people close to the matter. Even as the No. 2 U.S. wireless service provider gears up for a lengthy court battle against the Justice Department, AT&#038;T is prepared to make concessions to address concerns that the T-Mobile deal is anti-competitive and could cause wireless prices to rise. This two-track plan will allow AT&#038;T to try to find a settlement before the lawsuit reaches the court. "AT&#038;T is pretty determined that they can find a solution, and they are pretty confident," one of the sources said, requesting anonymity as the talks are private. The U.S. government on Wednesday sued to block AT&#038;T's purchase of T-Mobile USA, a deal that would vault the combined company above Verizon Wireless as the No. 1 player in the United States. If AT&#038;T fails to defeat the lawsuit, it would have to pay T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom an estimated $6 billion in cash and other assets as part of the original deal. Details of AT&#038;T's proposed settlement were not available, but it is expected to include pledges to maintain T-Mobile's relatively cheap mobile subscription plans, and asset sales. AT&#038;T may have to sell up to 25 percent of T-Mobile's business, including airwaves and customers, two sources said, to address the government's concern that just three companies would control 90 percent of the U.S. wireless market if the merger goes through. Bob Doyle, a former antitrust enforcer now in private practice, said it would be difficult for AT&#038;T to reach a settlement with the Justice Department as there would have to be divestitures on both the national and regional level. While there might be several buyers for regional assets, the only possible buyers for national assets are Verizon Wireless and No. 3-ranked Sprint Nextel Corp -- which could cause another round of antitrust scrutiny. "Verizon's a no go. Sprint may be a no go also," said Doyle. AT&#038;T, led Chief Executive Randall Stephenson, declined to comment, referring questions to its previous statement that it believed in the merits of its deal and planned to fight the government's suit. JUDGE LIKES TO ACT QUICKLY U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in Washington, D.C., was selected at random to preside over the case, one of the biggest antitrust court battles in years. She has a reputation for speedy rulings, which would be welcome to AT&#038;T compared with months or even years of uncertainty. For Deutsche Telekom, it has tried for years to find a way out of its T-Mobile business, and has no Plan B. AT&#038;T has asked for an expedited hearing, and one source expects the case could go to court in two months. The carrier and regulators had been in preliminary discussions over divestures before the Justice Department filed its 22-page lawsuit on Wednesday. In those talks, AT&#038;T had offered to divest up to 10 percent of T-Mobile assets. "That was part of the frustration in that AT&#038;T expected that they would have had much more meaningful discussions and figure out where everyone was, and whether they could close the gap," the source said. AT&#038;T wants another meeting with the Justice Department as soon as possible, but "I don't know if and when a new meeting is scheduled, given yesterday's news," said a person familiar with the discussions. Still, the Justice Department could prefer a settlement to avoid the risk of losing the case in court. "It is always scary to go off to litigation. I suppose there's a chance that the government could get cold feet," said Stephen Calkins, who teaches law at Wayne State University. Antitrust regulators have a mixed record in court. The Justice Department lost in 2004 when it tried to stop Oracle Corp's purchase of PeopleSoft Inc. It also failed to prevent SunGard Data System Inc's buy of Comdisco Inc in 2001 -- a case also presided over by Judge Huvelle. AT&#038;T's lead antitrust attorney shepherding this deal is Richard Rosen of Arnold &#038; Porter LLP, a former head of the communications section of the Justice Department's antitrust division. "He was the chief over there for many years and socializes with a lot of the staff over there. He's well known and respected," said a source close to the AT&#038;T talks with Justice. Rosen was lead counsel in Cingular Wireless's $41 billion buy of AT&#038;T Wireless, as well as AT&#038;T's buys of Dobson Communications, Centennial Communications, and wireless properties divested by Verizon and Alltel. Deutsche Telekom also has antitrust star George Cary of Cleary Gottlieb Steen &#038; Hamilton LLP, who argued for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in its successful fight against the Staples merger with Office Depot in 1997. Since so few antitrust cases are litigated, Cary's success is unusual. "He's one of the best. He's exceptional. George Cary is the Lou Gehrig of antitrust," said David Balto, a former FTC policy director now in private practice. (Reporting by Nadia Damouni in New York and Diane Bartz in Washington, additional reporting by Carlyn Kolker, Peter Lauria and Nicola Leske , editing by Tiffany Wu, Gary Hill ) ]]></description>
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		<title>Starz to pull content from Netflix as talks fail</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/starz-to-pull-content-from-netflix-as-talks-fail/</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2011 06:01:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ A screen grab shows the access to Netflix online, as displayed on a television screen, in Encinitas, California July 25, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake By Lisa Richwine and Yinka Adegoke LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK &#124; Thu Sep 1, 2011 8:28pm EDT LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Starz Entertainment will pull all of its movies and television shows from Netflix Inc's streaming service early next year, depriving Netflix customers from online viewing of new releases out of two major Hollywood studios. Pay-TV operator Starz, controlled by John Malone's Liberty Media, said on Thursday it had ended talks to renew a deal that expires February 28. After that date, Starz will stop providing its content, which includes exclusive rights to first-run Sony Corp and Walt Disney Co movies, for streaming on Netflix. Shares of Netflix were down 8.7 percent at $213 in after-hours trade, from a close on the Nasdaq of $233.27. Netflix was offering to pay somewhere in the $200 million to $300 million range annually for rights to stream Starz content, a source familiar with the negotiations said. Starz balked at that offer, the source said. Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings said in June it "wouldn't be shocking" to pay up to $200 million, a figure some analysts had predicted. The original online streaming rights are believed to have been agreed for around $30 million a year four years ago, people familiar with the deal have said. Starz, in a statement, called its decision to end talks with Netflix "a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging" of its content. The news came the same day that an unpopular Netflix price hike of as much as $6 per month took effect. The breakdown with Starz was a surprise because investors had expected the parties to reach a deal, said Brett Harriss, an analyst with Gabelli &#038; Co. "Netflix just effectively raised prices by 60 percent, and a big chunk of their content walked away," Harriss said. Thursday's announcement could open up the possibility that Starz might now court another online streaming provider, such as Amazon.com Inc or Google Inc's Youtube. Starz was not immediately available for further comment. Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey said the company was "confident we can take the money we had earmarked for Starz renewal next year and spend it with other content providers to maintain or even improve the Netflix experience." Netflix said Starz movies and shows account for just 8 percent of U.S. subscribers' viewing, and the company had projected that to fall to 5-6 percent by the first quarter of 2012, right when the deal dies. Starz is the exclusive distributor of first-run Sony and Disney movies on pay-TV in the United States under an agreement that allows it to distribute the programing wholesale on multiple platforms, including online streaming. But Netflix -- which has grown faster than partners expected -- triggered a deal clause in the first quarter when it announced it now has more than 22.8 million subscribers in the United States, of which nearly two-thirds were streaming videos, sources told Reuters in June. Under terms of the original contract, the trigger allowed Sony to ask Starz for better financial terms, the sources had said. Sony's content already was removed from the Netflix streaming service while negotiations were underway. Disney movies were accessible. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by Robert MacMillan, Matthew Lewis and Carol Bishopric) ]]></description>
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		<title>HP sinks as investors flee business revamp</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/hp-sinks-as-investors-flee-business-revamp/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:57:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ Related Video HP makes dramatic choices Thu, Aug 18 2011 Breakingviews: HP strategy points to uncertain future A HP Invent logo is pictured in front of Hewlett-Packard international offices in Meyrin near Geneva in this August 4, 2009 file photograph. Credit: Reuters/Denis Balibouse/Files By Sinead Carew and Sayantani Ghosh NEW YORK/BANGALORE &#124; Fri Aug 19, 2011 2:35pm EDT NEW YORK/BANGALORE (Reuters) - Shares of Hewlett-Packard slumped by more than 20 percent to a six-year low on Friday as investors wiped about $16 billion off the market value of the world's biggest PC maker in a resounding rejection of its plan for a major shake-up. Investors also appeared to lose confidence in Chief Executive Leo Apotheker after a flurry of HP announcements on Thursday including an $11.7 billion acquisition offer, a shuttering of its mobile efforts and the potential spin-off its PC business. This was on top of disappointing financial guidance for the third quarter in a row. HP may also be risking future PC sales as its customers could flee to rivals like Dell Inc in the uncertainty, one analyst said. "They're doing too many things at the same time," said Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. Even if it makes sense in the long term, HP should not have told the world it was thinking of getting rid of its PC business, which brings in 16 percent of its profits, Wu said. "Why would anybody want to do business with them if it's up for sale," he said. "To have this in limbo for 12 months is going to be pretty material." On top of this, investors worried that HP's offer of nearly $12 billion for British software company Autonomy Corp was too high and questioned why it was giving up so soon on the mobile business it bought for $1.2 billion from Palm Inc, Wu said. HP shares fell as low as $22.76 on Friday making it the biggest loser on the New York Stock Exchange. Before the announcements its shares had closed at $31.39 on Wednesday. Investors fled to rivals like Dell, pushing its shares up nearly 3 percent, as it is expected to profit from HP's chaos. "There's not a lot of confidence in (Apotheker's) management," said Wu, noting that he had to lower guidance every quarter since he joined HP. "This is just further proof," At least two brokerages downgraded Palo Alto, California-based HP, and five cut their price targets, mainly citing uncertainty and expenses related to the restructuring. "Last night HP may have eroded what remained of Wall Street's confidence in the company and its strategy," Needham &#038; Co said in a research note. Gleacher &#038; Co analyst Brian Marshall cut his price target for the stock to $39 from $50 saying he "materially underestimated the magnitude and timing of this metamorphosis." He said however that HP "is undergoing a sound strategy transformation by focusing on high-growth, high-margin opportunities in the enterprise/commercial markets." With a forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 5.6, the company is trailing its peers, including Dell, Apple and IBM according to Starmine SmartEstimate. Before Thursday's news HP's stock had already lost nearly a fifth of its value since it reported quarterly results in May. HP said it has already stopped production of its WebOS-based devices like its TouchPad tablet, which failed to attract buyers. Cypress Semiconductor Corp -- the main supplier of touch controllers for TouchPad -- will also hurt if the company pulls the plug on the product, brokerage Collins Stewart said. Cypress' shares fell 1 percent to $16.93 on Friday. HP has been struggling with its once hugely popular PC business, as niftier gadgets like Apple's iPad have eaten into its business. Thursday's weak forecast follows smaller rival Dell's lowered revenue outlook earlier this week that dragged down both stocks. Both companies have been venturing out of traditional comfort zones and into enterprise solutions and services, but continuing soft sales have been a constant source of trouble. Brokerage Robert W. Baird said HP is no longer a "safe haven" stock and expects it to lose market share. HP's decision to spin off the PC business reflects commoditization, as consumers change the use of computers, and this may hurt Intel, the world's largest supplier of PC chips, brokerage Nomura said in a note. "A reversal in average selling prices would remove a key revenue driver over the last six quarters (for Intel)." (Additional reporting by Rachel Chitra in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian, Joyjeet Das, Dave Zimmerman) ]]></description>
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		<title>Computer Sciences a likely target for breakup</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/computer-sciences-a-likely-target-for-breakup/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:40:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ By Soyoung Kim and Nadia Damouni NEW YORK &#124; Fri Aug 12, 2011 5:41pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - After a series of failed takeover attempts and accounting scandals, Computer Sciences Corp is attracting potential activist investors looking to take advantage of a weak share price to push for a breakup. The $4.5 billion market cap company's shares have dropped 40 percent so far this year to below $30, valuing it at a steep discount to peers. Its government services business faces an uncertain outlook amid prospective cuts in U.S. government spending, dragging down the value of its higher growth Information Technology services. Adding to its problems, Computer Sciences is also caught up in an accounting investigation, shareholder lawsuits and a long dispute with the U.K. National Health Service regarding alleged delays in developing healthcare IT systems. Activist investors are doing the math, evaluating a breakup and other ways to boost Computer Sciences' sagging share price, people familiar with the situation said. But Computer Sciences is aware of the pressure and has been reviewing it options as well, the people added. Representatives for Computer Sciences declined comment. Computer Sciences has been a target of multiple takeover attempts in the past and investors and potential buyers have long bet that separating the Falls Church, Virginia-based company's commercial IT services from its government services could boost value. Its North American Public Sector, which provides outsourcing and consulting services to the Defense Department and other federal agencies, accounts for a little more than a third of its revenues. The rest comes from data-center outsourcing and developing enterprise software applications. Computer Sciences' revenues totaled $16.2 billion in the 12 months ended July 1, 2011. The company trades at about 6 times its earnings. Accenture Public Ltd Co, a close competitor in terms of size, scale and reach, trades at about 17 times earnings, said Morningstar analyst Swami Shanmugasundaram. Shanmugasundaram said the commercial business has a higher growth profile and better margins than the government business, and splitting them up would "definitely" be good for shareholders. "Because of its growth profile and execution issues ... I do expect CSC to trade at a discount (to peers), but this is too much of a discount," he said. CSC PROBLEMS People familiar with Computer Sciences management's thinking said the company believes the two units belong together and it wants to sort out several pending issues before determining its strategic direction. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is in the middle of a probe related to Computer Sciences' accounting errors, which primarily involve accounting irregularities in Europe's Nordic region. The issues could "divert management's focus, result in substantial investigation expenses and have an adverse impact on the firm's reputation and financial condition," Computer Sciences has said in a statement. The U.K. government, meanwhile, is reviewing whether a contract to install next-generation healthcare IT systems in the country should be continued after Computer Sciences allegedly missed deadlines. The company said this week it would likely meet the U.K. health agency in September to discuss the matter. These challenges could prove a hurdle for any activists looking to buy into the company. Activists would also have to wait it out if they launched a campaign either against the board, as all 10 Computer Sciences board members have been just reelected for a full year. The current board members have served long terms, with only four of the directors joining after 2007. FAILED MATCHES Over the last decade or so, private equity firms, big technology companies and prime defense contractors have looked at the company as a takeover target, but its presence in both the commercial and government sectors proved to be a hurdle. In early 2006, Computer Sciences received an offer in the low $60s per share from a consortium of three private equity firms and a large technology company, the sources said. But Chief Executive Van Honeycutt wanted at least $65 per share and rejected the bid, they said. Lockheed Martin Corp was also interested at the time, but was not prepared to buy the entire company and its efforts did not gain traction, these people said. In 1998, Computer Associates -- now known as CA Technologies -- unsuccessfully made a hostile $9.8 billion takeover bid for Computer Sciences. It is unclear if any of these or other potential buyers would still be interested. Hewlett Packard Co bought Computer Sciences competitor EDS for $13.9 billion in 2008, while others such as Dell Inc and Oracle Corp have different priorities for takeovers, sources said. The sheer size of a deal would also be a challenge for private equity firms in the near term, sources said. But if government and commercial businesses were separated in a tax-free spinoff, the two units would attract more buyers, the sources said. "If the company is really going to earn what Wall Street thinks it's going to earn, it is extremely attractive from a value perspective," a source said. "That said, the company needs to reposition strategically and the question is: Can they get there on their own?" (Reporting by Soyoung Kim and Nadia Damouni in New York; additional reporting by Saqib Ahmed in Bangloare; editing by Andre Grenon ) ]]></description>
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		<title>Apple, Samsung smartphones outdo Nokia in 2Q (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/apple-samsung-smartphones-outdo-nokia-in-2q-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 2011 22:12:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ NEW YORK &#8211; Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. zoomed to the top of the list of global smartphone makers in the second quarter, blowing past Nokia Corp. and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., according to research firm IDC. Korea's Samsung made the biggest jump, from No. 4 in the first quarter to No. 2 in the second, on the strength of its Galaxy phones, which run Google Inc.'s Android software. It sold 17.3 million smartphones in the second quarter, up from 10.8 million in the first, IDC said. Apple rose to No. 1, taking the spot from Nokia, by selling 20.3 million iPhones, up from 18.7 million in the first quarter. That relegated Finland's Nokia, the long-time leader, to third place. Apple has yet to top Nokia's high-water mark of 28.1 million phones in a quarter. "But given Apple's momentum in the smartphone market, it may not be a question of whether Apple will beat that milestone, but when," IDC said. Remarkably, Apple's sales record comes nearly a year after it released its latest model, the iPhone 4, and it's still selling millions of the even older iPhone 3GS. Competitors such as Samsung put out new models every few months. Nokia sold 16.7 million smartphones, a sharp drop from 24.2 million in the previous quarter. The company has struggled to come up with an answer to the iPhone. Nokia is now transitioning to smartphone software from Microsoft Corp., but it's first Windows Phones won't be on sale until late this year, at the earliest. Canada's RIM fell from third to fourth place, as it saw a decline in BlackBerry sales from the first quarter to the second. Like Nokia, it has been struggling to update the high end of its line to compete with touch-screen phones such as the iPhone. It unveiled five new models with updated software this week. HTC Corp. of Taiwan remained in fifth place, but it's seeing rapidly growing sales. Like Samsung, it has bet on Google's Android software for its phones. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Activision Blizzard 2Q earnings rise 53 percent (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/activision-blizzard-2q-earnings-rise-53-percent-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/activision-blizzard-2q-earnings-rise-53-percent-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 2011 00:08:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[ NEW YORK &#8211; Video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. said Wednesday that its second-quarter net income grew 53 percent, boosted by strong demand for digital offerings such as downloadable content for its popular "Call of Duty" games. Activision earned $335 million, or 29 cents per share, in the April-June period. That's up 53 percent from $219 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue climbed 19 percent to $1.15 billion from $967 million. On an adjusted basis Activision earned 10 cents per share, double what Wall Street expected. Adjusted revenue grew 2 percent to $699 million from $683 million last year. Analysts expected adjusted revenue of $601.9 million, according to FactSet. The adjusted results exclude special items and account for the effects of deferring revenue and the related cost of sales for games with online components. Like other video game publishers, Activision spreads these out on its books over time, while the game is played, rather than all at once. CEO Bobby Kotick called the quarter "phenomenal" and said Activision's focus continues to be investing in online services and its games' online capabilities. Of the company's total revenue, $423 million came from digital channels, such as monthly subscription fees for "World of Warcraft," downloadable content and games for mobile devices. Activision's forecast for the current quarter fell shy of Wall Street's expectations, but the company raised its outlook for the full year. The fourth quarter is usually the most important one for video game companies because it includes holiday sales. Activision will launch the next version of its best-selling "Call of Duty" series in the fall. The company now expects adjusted earnings for the year of 77 cents per share, up from its earlier outlook of 73 cents. Analysts predict 75 cents. Activision raised its 2011 adjusted revenue guidance to $4.05 billion from $3.95 billion. Analysts expect $4.06 billion. Activision, based in Santa Monica, Calif., tends to give conservative guidance that it can later raise or beat. Its guidance for the current quarter is for adjusted earnings of a penny per share on revenue of $530 million. That's below Wall Street's estimates for 8 cents per share in earnings and $636.6 million in revenue. The company said it has a very light game-release schedule in the current quarter compared with last year, when it launched blockbusters like "StarCraft 2" as well as a "Guitar Hero" and a "Spiderman" game. It only has one big game release, "X-Men: Destiny" in the third quarter of this year. The fourth quarter, however, will be a big one for the company if all goes as planned. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" launches on Nov. 8, and Activision said pre-orders for the game are "significantly" higher than they were for its predecessor at this time. That game, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" broke entertainment industry records when it launched last year and made $1 billion in just six weeks in stores. The company is also launching the full version of its online service for "Call of Duty," called "Call of Duty: Elite." The service, currently available in a "beta" test version, expands on what players already do online and helps them form groups, compete by skill level or share game stats. Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, said in a conference call with analysts that "Elite" should "reset the bar" for multiplayer games. Activision also has high hopes for "Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure," a game aimed mainly at boys aged 6 to 11 that combines real-life toys with online interactions. The game "truly defies categorization and creates an entirely new genre of play bringing the world of toys and video games of the Internet together like never before," Hirshberg said. Shares rose 22 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $12.01 in after-hours trading. They closed 13 cents higher at $11.82 in the regular session. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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		<title>Yahoo gets short end of stick in Alibaba deal</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/yahoo-gets-short-end-of-stick-in-alibaba-deal/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:34:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/yahoo-gets-short-end-of-stick-in-alibaba-deal/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ A general view shows the office buildings of Alibaba (China) Technology Co. Ltd on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province March 16, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Lang Lang By Liana B. Baker NEW YORK &#124; Fri Jul 29, 2011 6:27pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc got short-changed -- that's the view of analysts picking apart the complex deal it announced on Friday with Alibaba Group and SoftBank Corp over Chinese e-payments unit Alipay. The trio struck an agreement after months of wrangling over the lucrative asset, under which Alibaba gets up to $6 billion if the mobile payments firm goes public or gets sold. But their solution bothered investors and reinforced perceptions on Wall Street that Yahoo has little control over Alibaba, the e-commerce company founded by Jack Ma and which is 43 percent-owned by Yahoo. The conflict between the Chinese Internet firm and its two major shareholders started after Alibaba transferred Alipay to a separate company controlled by Ma. Yahoo has said that went on without its knowledge. Now, under the agreement, Alibaba would receive $2 billion to $6 billion of the proceeds of an Alipay IPO or sale, based on 37.5 percent ownership of the mobile payments service. That capped the potential amount that Alibaba -- and hence Yahoo or SoftBank -- could receive from the sale of a lucrative company of which it was once the sole owner. It may have represented a compromise over a matter in which Yahoo executives found they had little say. "This deal just repairs a problem, but the value transfer that occurred gave Yahoo the short end of the stick," said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. "The key thing here is that they got the deal done," Gillis said. "But it doesn't fix the issue of how Yahoo can take this paper holding in Alibaba Group and turn it into cash on its balance sheet." The agreement values Alipay between $5.3 billion and $16 billion, according to Jefferies Equity Research. Shares of Yahoo initially jumped on the deal but reversed course to close about 3 percent lower at $13.10 on Friday, after analysts pressed Yahoo's finance chief on a conference call about its grip on its prized Asian assets. The months-long fight put additional strain on an already troubled relationship between Alibaba and Yahoo after CEO Carol Bartz was brought in to try to rekindle growth at the once-dominant U.S. Internet player. WHERE'S BARTZ? Yahoo's relationship with Alibaba is on the top of investors' minds because the U.S. company's Asian investments are deemed its most valuable asset. Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan said the deal "may have stirred up the emotions of an investor base that has taken a lot of body blows this year." The lack of details on how Yahoo could access funds from any eventual Alipay IPO or sale, highlighted how Ma and his team called all the shots, and will keep doing so. "Some fears remain that this could happen again," Rohan said. "The mechanism for Yahoo to extract value from those assets is as murky as it has ever been." During the public spat between the companies, the hedge fund Greenlight Capital, which is run by investor David Einhorn, dumped its sizable position in Yahoo, and others followed suit. It was telling that Bartz and Ma, the China-based CEO of Alibaba, were both absent from a conference call with analysts. Apart from the Alibaba spat, Bartz is dealing with her own issues back home, with Yahoo trying to arrest a continued slide in revenue and reverse a stock decline of more than 21 percent in 2011 alone. Under the agreement, Alipay will keep providing payment processing to Alibaba's e-commerce platform, Taobao, on "preferential terms." Much of Alipay's value lies in the payment systems it provides to Taobao, Alibaba's most strategic asset. Alipay will also pay royalties and other fees to Alibaba -- prior to a liquidity event, according to the deal. Investors had also been hoping for Taobao to go public, which would unlock more value for Yahoo. But Alibaba finance chief Joe Tsai all but ruled that out. "You should take the Taobao liquidity event assumption off the table," Tsai told analysts on the call. JP Morgan said the agreement over Alipay was "better than nothing, but not that great." Ultimately, Alibaba, which used to own all of Alipay, has effectively seen its stake reduced, which hurts Yahoo, the investment bank said. In May, Yahoo claimed it had been blindsided by Alibaba's restructuring of Alipay, an online e-commerce payment akin to eBay Inc's PayPal. Ma took control of the company, which edged Yahoo out of the equation. Ma had said the move was necessary to comply with Chinese law and to ensure Alipay could continue operating. Alibaba countered that Yahoo was aware of the transaction by virtue of having a board seat, held by former Yahoo chief executive and director Jerry Yang. Softbank, another large shareholder in Alibaba group, was also part of the agreement. SoftBank owns 42 percent of Yahoo Japan, while Yahoo owns 35 percent of that company, another one of its most attractive assets. Shares of Alibaba.com, the listed unit of Alibaba, dipped 0.1 percent in Hong Kong. SoftBank stock fell 3.5 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (Additional reporting by Melanie Lee in Shanghai and Franklin Paul in New York; Editing by Edwin Chan , Dave Zimmerman and Matthew Lewis ) ]]></description>
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		<title>EA posts narrower-than-expected loss</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/ea-posts-narrower-than-expected-loss/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/ea-posts-narrower-than-expected-loss/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Jul 2011 12:49:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/ea-posts-narrower-than-expected-loss/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Visitors attend a show by Electronic Arts (EA) at the Gamescom 2009 fair in Cologne August 22, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Ina FAssbender By Liana B. Baker NEW YORK &#124; Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:49pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc, reported a narrower-than-expected loss and raised its second-quarter earnings forecast, as it sold more copies of the puzzle game "Portal 2" than expected and pocketed more money on digital games. The company also said it had it had sold 200,000 pre-orders of its highly anticipated massive multiplayer game, "Star Wars: The Old Republic," since the game became open for reservations last week. "We're well over 200,000 pre-orders in the first five or six days. From an EA perspective, that is significantly greater than any other EA title we've ever had in the first week," said the company's finance chief, Eric Brown, in an interview. Investors are awaiting this year's launch of "Star Wars: The Old Republic," an online game that EA hopes will rival Activision Blizzard "World of Warcraft," which has more than 12 million subscribers. EA is said to be spending more than $100 million to develop "Star Wars." EA has not pinned down an exact date for the game's release but said it would come out during the holiday season. On Tuesday, EA raised its annual revenue outlook to $3.83 billion to $4.03 billion, slightly higher than the amount Wall Street was expecting. Part of the revenue boost will come from the acquisition of PopCap games. This month, EA said it would buy the maker of "Bejeweled" in a deal worth up to $1.3 billion. The deal will likely close in August, the company said. EA, which relies on its sports franchises such as "Madden NFL," may also see a revenue boost now that a National Football League season will be played next year. The company has previously said it would sell 30 percent to 45 percent fewer Madden games if a full football season was missed. On Tuesday, EA said its adjusted revenue fell 3 percent to $524 million. This beat the average analyst estimate of $511 million. The company's revenue was lower than last year when it released a World Cup-themed soccer game. EA's revenue in the quarter was boosted by the sale of digital games, which helped the company beat estimates, said Eric Brown, the company's finance chief, in an interview. "Because the other areas of our business, specifically digital, were growing so quickly, we were able to come in at revenue that was only down 3 percent overall," Brown said. EA also sold 2 million units of "Portal 2," a game it distributes for the company Valve. The game features robotic characters and puzzles, and can be played on consoles and on PCs. EA expects a second-quarter loss of 13 cents to 3 cents per share, roughly in line with analysts' estimates. Excluding deferred revenue, the company reported a loss of $123 million, or 37 cents per share. Analysts on average were expecting a loss of 39 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. EA, like many video games companies, is starting to offer a wide range of games played over the Internet and on Facebook, to compete with upstarts such as Zynga, which develops simple, casual games. The company's digital revenue, which comes partly from games that are played on the Internet, rose 11 percent to $209 million. EA shares rose 1.4 percent in after-hours trading after closing at $23.81 during the regular Nasdaq session. (Editing by Robert MacMillan , Gary Hill ) ]]></description>
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		<title>Netflix shares down after outlook disappoints</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/netflix-shares-down-after-outlook-disappoints/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/netflix-shares-down-after-outlook-disappoints/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:53:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/netflix-shares-down-after-outlook-disappoints/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Related Video Netflix subscriber outlook panned Mon, Jul 25 2011 1 of 2. A Netflix disk envelope is displayed in Encinitas, California, July 25, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Mike Blake By Lisa Richwine and Paul Thomasch LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK &#124; Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:30am EDT LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Netflix Inc, facing a backlash from customers upset over a price hike, warned its subscriber growth would cool down in the third quarter, and its shares fell 10 percent. The movie rental company, whose stock is up 850 percent since early 2009, set off alarm bells on Monday when it said customer defections would take a bite out of its subscriber count. Netflix will essentially end the third quarter with the same number, or only slightly more, subscribers as it had at the end of the second quarter. For investors accustomed to spectacular growth, the forecast represented a bitter pill and made clear that customers are sufficiently upset over a recent change to cancel the service. Those cancellations will largely offset any new subscriber additions in the third quarter, and pressure financial results. Netflix forecast earnings and revenue for the third quarter that would come up short of current analyst estimates. And that is on top of a second quarter revenue figure that looked light to analysts. Netflix "came into the quarter as Superman and it looks like they ran into a little bit of kryptonite and lost some of their super power," said Barton Crockett, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets. The company forecast third-quarter revenue of between $780 million to $805 million in the United States compared with an average analyst estimate of $846.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It is expecting global earnings of 72 cents a share to $1.07 a share, which is also below the current analyst estimate of $1.09 a share. Netflix shares fell about 10 percent to $253 after closing at $281.53 in the regular session on Nasdaq, wrongfooting options traders who were betting that the stock would keep chugging higher, and bringing some welcome relief to short sellers. "It's too early to call on Netflix's future at this point. I have a 'sell' rating on the company based on its high valuation, but I'm not shorting it because it's still a great company," said Brett Harriss, analyst at Gabelli &#038; Co. "There's just not enough margin of safety to buy it here." NO FLAWS ALLOWED Previously, Netflix wowed Wall Street with big subscriber additions quarter after quarter, and investors piled in. The company trades at 61 times this year's earnings estimates, a valuation that brings high investor expectations. While "the business is still healthy," the company's results must be "flawless to support a stock" at those levels, analyst Crockett said. Netflix sparked a backlash earlier this month when it announced it was raising prices as much as 60 percent for plans that provide DVD rentals and online streaming of movies and television shows. Thousands of subscribers complained on the Netflix blog and Facebook page with many threatening to cancel their subscriptions. In a letter to shareholders, Netflix said: "We hate making our subscribers upset with us, but we feel like we provide a fantastic service and we're working hard to further improve the quality and range of our streaming content." By the end of the third quarter, it estimates it will have about 25 million total U.S. subscribers. That is barely more than the 24.59 million it now has. The company said it expected customer growth to return in the fourth quarter. With the full impact of the price hike, the fourth quarter also could be "our first billion dollar global revenue quarter, driven by strong U.S. performance," the company said. For the second quarter, the company's revenue rose 52 percent to $788.6 million, but fell short of the average analyst estimate of $791.5 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Second-quarter earnings surpassed expectations in rising to $68 million, or $1.26 a share, from $44 million, or 80 cents a share, in the period a year ago. (Additional reporting by Yinka Adegoke and Jennifer Saba in New York; Editing by Gary Hill and Carol Bishopric.) ]]></description>
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		<title>Apple results strong; record iPhone, iPad sales (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/apple-results-strong-record-iphone-ipad-sales-ap/</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:23:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/apple-results-strong-record-iphone-ipad-sales-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ NEW YORK &#8211; Apple Inc.'s results trumped expectations for yet another quarter, with iPhone and iPad sales setting new records. Its stock surged $23.22, or 6.2 percent, to $400.07 in extended trading after the results came out Tuesday. Net income in the fiscal third quarter, which ended in June, was $7.31 billion, or $7.79 per share. That's more than double the $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per share, a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting earnings of $5.82 per share. Revenue was $28.6 billion, up 82 percent from $15.7 billion a year ago. Analysts were expecting $24.8 billion. The results were lifted by the sale of 20.3 million iPhones, millions more than analysts had expected. IPad sales came in at 9.25 million units, also above analyst expectations. Last quarter, the company was struggling to make enough of the new iPad 2. In other product categories, trends were less impressive. Sales of Mac computers were 3.95 million, up 14 percent from a year ago. That's the lowest quarterly growth rate in two years. IPod sales were down 20 percent at 7.5 million, as the media players continue to lose out to iPhone and iPads. It was the fastest quarterly decline yet. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
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