SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google is accusing Microsoft and Nokia of abusing mobile patents in a way that will drive up the prices of cellphones and other wireless devices.
The claims were spelled out Thursday in a complaint filed with European regulators. Google Inc. also shared the complaint with the U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission.
The complaint centers on 2,000 wireless patents that Nokia and Microsoft Corp. sold in September to MOSAID Technologies Inc., a company that specializes in collecting royalties on intellectual property. That deal was struck after Nokia agreed to switch its cellphones over to Microsoft's Windows operating system.
About 1,200 of the patents transferred to MOSAID are considered to be essential elements in the operation of most mobile devices.
Microsoft declined comment Thursday. Nokia couldn't be immediately reached.
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Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
RIM sinks, but patents, network have value
WATERLOO, Ontario (AP) - Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, is in steep decline. The company, once the crown jewel of the Canadian technology industry, is now worth 1 percent of Apple's market capitalization. One way for RIM to stop the downward tailspin: It could sell itself to a competitor or financial firm. But who would step up to buy RIM -and why?
Late Tuesday, the company said it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter, a sign that BlackBerry sales are falling even faster than analysts expected. On Wednesday, the company's stock hit its lowest level since 2003, the year RIM went from making two-way e-mail pagers to smartphones.
The stock has fallen 93 percent since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry's dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.'s Android software. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4 percent of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago.
In that time, the company's financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25 percent revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion. For the full fiscal year that ended on March 3, it earned $1.2 billion, or $2.22 per share, on revenue of $18.4 billion. That's down from net income of $3.4 billion, or $6.34 a share, on revenue of $19.9 billion in fiscal 2011.
RIM issued the dire warning about its business Tuesday, adding that it will lay off a 'significant' number of employees.
Still, the company is defiant. Chief executive, Thorsten Heins, says he can turn things around with the help of fresh smartphone software. Heins joined RIM four years ago and was most recently its chief operating officer. He replaced co-CEOs Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value.
'My charter from the board of directors is very clear: long-term value creation with RIM,' Heins told The Associated Press in an interview at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier this month.
Analysts give RIM only a slight chance of coming out of the crisis. To hedge its bets, the company has hired bankers to look at its options. It's not actively looking to sell itself, Heins said, but it wants to be prepared.
'We are prudent because we know the situation is somewhat challenging,' Heins said. 'So we are just looking at everything that could be an option. That doesn't mean we are pulling on those options. But we need to understand ... what is our field of action that we could take in case we need to?'
As RIM's prospects worsened, last year marked a turning point in the way analysts assess RIMs value. Instead of treating it like a company with a future, they started looking at it as a collection of parts that could be split up and sold separately to the highest bidder.
Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity believes most of the company's value lies in the monthly fees it gets from phone companies in exchange for running the systems that deliver email and Web pages to BlackBerrys.
RIM has 78 million users connected to this system, but Walkley estimates that only 20 million are corporate and government users who are likely to stick around because of the communications security RIM provides. The rest are consumers who will jump to competing phones, he believes. That business is worth about $2.75 billion to a competitor, Walkley wrote in a research report Wednesday.
The other major component of RIM's value is its patent portfolio. The company had an early scare in U.S. patent courts in 2006, when it was forced to pay $612.5 million to a small company founded by an inventor who had patents on wireless e-mail delivery. Since then, it's filed for thousands of patents to use as a defense against future suits.
Patents on wireless technologies exploded in value last year, as Apple and Microsoft Corp. started suing makers of phones that run Google's Android software. Countersuits followed. A consortium that included Apple and RIM bought the patents of a defunct Canadian maker of telecommunications gear, Nortel, for $4.5 billion last year. That compares with the $1.13 billion Nortel's once-prominent wireless networks business fetched in 2009.
As a counter-move, Google bolstered its own patent portfolio by buying Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a U.S. phone maker with only slightly better prospects than RIM, for $12.5 billion.
Where does that leave RIM? Christopher Marlett, the CEO of MDB Capital, said RIM's patents are worth more than $1 billion, and could be worth as much as $4 billion if a bidding war develops between Apple, Google, Microsoft Corp. and perhaps Samsung Electronics Co.
'It's a question of how aggressive they get,' Marlett said. His firm is an investment bank that focuses on intellectual property, including patents.
Walkley puts the value of RIM's portfolio at $2.5 billion, excluding the patents RIM bought from Nortel and shares with Apple, Microsoft and other buyers.
RIM has $2.1 billion in cash, but Walkley discounts this completely, since the phone business will likely start using up cash soon, and downsizing will require severance payments. That means the email network and the patents comprise RIM's entire value at $5.25 billion, by his estimate.
That's very close to RIM's current market capitalization, at $5.4 billion, though a buyer could be expected to pay a premium.
The cash cushion also means that RIM is in no imminent danger of going bankrupt. But as the shares decline, RIM is likely to face increasing pressure from shareholders to unlock the company's value through a sale, and to abandon the comeback plan.
A possible middle ground would be to sell the patent portfolio while keeping the rest of the company. Two months ago, AOL, once a pioneering Internet service provider, sold and licensed its patents -which are more modest than RIM's for $1 billion- to Microsoft.
Microsoft is one company that's been suggested as a potential RIM buyer. The software juggernaut is trying to get back into smartphone software, but its Windows Phones haven't been popular so far. Buying RIM could give it a chance to establish itself as a provider of trusted wireless email services, though moving subscribers from BlackBerry to Windows could be challenging.
___
AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed from New York.
This article is brought to you by BUY A NEW COMPUTER.
Late Tuesday, the company said it expects to post an operating loss for the current quarter, a sign that BlackBerry sales are falling even faster than analysts expected. On Wednesday, the company's stock hit its lowest level since 2003, the year RIM went from making two-way e-mail pagers to smartphones.
The stock has fallen 93 percent since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry's dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.'s Android software. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4 percent of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago.
In that time, the company's financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25 percent revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion. For the full fiscal year that ended on March 3, it earned $1.2 billion, or $2.22 per share, on revenue of $18.4 billion. That's down from net income of $3.4 billion, or $6.34 a share, on revenue of $19.9 billion in fiscal 2011.
RIM issued the dire warning about its business Tuesday, adding that it will lay off a 'significant' number of employees.
Still, the company is defiant. Chief executive, Thorsten Heins, says he can turn things around with the help of fresh smartphone software. Heins joined RIM four years ago and was most recently its chief operating officer. He replaced co-CEOs Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value.
'My charter from the board of directors is very clear: long-term value creation with RIM,' Heins told The Associated Press in an interview at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, earlier this month.
Analysts give RIM only a slight chance of coming out of the crisis. To hedge its bets, the company has hired bankers to look at its options. It's not actively looking to sell itself, Heins said, but it wants to be prepared.
'We are prudent because we know the situation is somewhat challenging,' Heins said. 'So we are just looking at everything that could be an option. That doesn't mean we are pulling on those options. But we need to understand ... what is our field of action that we could take in case we need to?'
As RIM's prospects worsened, last year marked a turning point in the way analysts assess RIMs value. Instead of treating it like a company with a future, they started looking at it as a collection of parts that could be split up and sold separately to the highest bidder.
Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity believes most of the company's value lies in the monthly fees it gets from phone companies in exchange for running the systems that deliver email and Web pages to BlackBerrys.
RIM has 78 million users connected to this system, but Walkley estimates that only 20 million are corporate and government users who are likely to stick around because of the communications security RIM provides. The rest are consumers who will jump to competing phones, he believes. That business is worth about $2.75 billion to a competitor, Walkley wrote in a research report Wednesday.
The other major component of RIM's value is its patent portfolio. The company had an early scare in U.S. patent courts in 2006, when it was forced to pay $612.5 million to a small company founded by an inventor who had patents on wireless e-mail delivery. Since then, it's filed for thousands of patents to use as a defense against future suits.
Patents on wireless technologies exploded in value last year, as Apple and Microsoft Corp. started suing makers of phones that run Google's Android software. Countersuits followed. A consortium that included Apple and RIM bought the patents of a defunct Canadian maker of telecommunications gear, Nortel, for $4.5 billion last year. That compares with the $1.13 billion Nortel's once-prominent wireless networks business fetched in 2009.
As a counter-move, Google bolstered its own patent portfolio by buying Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a U.S. phone maker with only slightly better prospects than RIM, for $12.5 billion.
Where does that leave RIM? Christopher Marlett, the CEO of MDB Capital, said RIM's patents are worth more than $1 billion, and could be worth as much as $4 billion if a bidding war develops between Apple, Google, Microsoft Corp. and perhaps Samsung Electronics Co.
'It's a question of how aggressive they get,' Marlett said. His firm is an investment bank that focuses on intellectual property, including patents.
Walkley puts the value of RIM's portfolio at $2.5 billion, excluding the patents RIM bought from Nortel and shares with Apple, Microsoft and other buyers.
RIM has $2.1 billion in cash, but Walkley discounts this completely, since the phone business will likely start using up cash soon, and downsizing will require severance payments. That means the email network and the patents comprise RIM's entire value at $5.25 billion, by his estimate.
That's very close to RIM's current market capitalization, at $5.4 billion, though a buyer could be expected to pay a premium.
The cash cushion also means that RIM is in no imminent danger of going bankrupt. But as the shares decline, RIM is likely to face increasing pressure from shareholders to unlock the company's value through a sale, and to abandon the comeback plan.
A possible middle ground would be to sell the patent portfolio while keeping the rest of the company. Two months ago, AOL, once a pioneering Internet service provider, sold and licensed its patents -which are more modest than RIM's for $1 billion- to Microsoft.
Microsoft is one company that's been suggested as a potential RIM buyer. The software juggernaut is trying to get back into smartphone software, but its Windows Phones haven't been popular so far. Buying RIM could give it a chance to establish itself as a provider of trusted wireless email services, though moving subscribers from BlackBerry to Windows could be challenging.
___
AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed from New York.
This article is brought to you by BUY A NEW COMPUTER.
Facebook launches Mideast office in Dubai
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Facebook Inc. launched its first office in the Arab world Wednesday, aiming to drum up new advertising business from Dubai as investors fret over its struggling share price.
The online meet-up site and other social networking tools were instrumental in connecting activists during the wave of protests and revolutions that reverberated across the region last year.
But Joanna Shields, Facebook's vice president and managing director for Europe, the Mideast and Africa, said the decision to lay down roots in the region was purely commercial.
'People on Facebook ... use it to organize rallies for all kinds of elections around the world,' she said. 'We're humbled by that and we are happy that we can facilitate. But we always downplay the (site's) role because it's really the people there who came together and did what they did.'
The office is starting with three employees in Dubai's Internet City, a business park popular with tech firms including Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.
Facebook's website lists some 30 offices globally.
The aim is to attract more ad sales by targeting the 45 million users that Facebook says it has across the Middle East and North Africa.
Executives declined to say how much revenue the region currently generates or what their goals are for the future.
In 2010, Facebook teamed with Cairo-based advertising company Connect Ads to better reach advertisers in the region.
Jonathan Labin, who will lead the Dubai office, said existing advertisers in the region include Dubai-based Emirates, the region's biggest airline.
The Dubai launch follows Facebook's May 18 initial public offering at $38 a share, one of the most anticipated stock debuts in history.
The stock had lost 24 percent of its value ahead of the Dubai launch, which was held in the plush Armani Hotel at the base of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper.
While the share's gyrations are a hot topic on Wall Street, Shields said Facebook employees are not fixated on reports about the stock's slide.
'I don't even listen to it, to be honest ... because I've got a job to do,' she said. 'I think we're just getting on with it.'
This news article is brought to you by IT'S NOT DIFFICULT TO TAKE GREAT PHOTOS ? - where latest news are our top priority.
The online meet-up site and other social networking tools were instrumental in connecting activists during the wave of protests and revolutions that reverberated across the region last year.
But Joanna Shields, Facebook's vice president and managing director for Europe, the Mideast and Africa, said the decision to lay down roots in the region was purely commercial.
'People on Facebook ... use it to organize rallies for all kinds of elections around the world,' she said. 'We're humbled by that and we are happy that we can facilitate. But we always downplay the (site's) role because it's really the people there who came together and did what they did.'
The office is starting with three employees in Dubai's Internet City, a business park popular with tech firms including Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.
Facebook's website lists some 30 offices globally.
The aim is to attract more ad sales by targeting the 45 million users that Facebook says it has across the Middle East and North Africa.
Executives declined to say how much revenue the region currently generates or what their goals are for the future.
In 2010, Facebook teamed with Cairo-based advertising company Connect Ads to better reach advertisers in the region.
Jonathan Labin, who will lead the Dubai office, said existing advertisers in the region include Dubai-based Emirates, the region's biggest airline.
The Dubai launch follows Facebook's May 18 initial public offering at $38 a share, one of the most anticipated stock debuts in history.
The stock had lost 24 percent of its value ahead of the Dubai launch, which was held in the plush Armani Hotel at the base of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper.
While the share's gyrations are a hot topic on Wall Street, Shields said Facebook employees are not fixated on reports about the stock's slide.
'I don't even listen to it, to be honest ... because I've got a job to do,' she said. 'I think we're just getting on with it.'
This news article is brought to you by IT'S NOT DIFFICULT TO TAKE GREAT PHOTOS ? - where latest news are our top priority.
Battered BlackBerry maker weighs options
TORONTO (AP) - BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion has hired a team of bankers to help it weigh its options as its business erodes in the face of an exodus to the iPhone and Android smartphones.
RIM issued a dire warning about its business Tuesday, saying it is losing money for the second-consecutive quarter and will lay off a 'significant' number of employees.
The company based in Waterloo, Ontario said it has hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help it evaluate its options. Those including partnering with other companies, licensing software and overhauling its business, it said.
RIM made no mention of selling of the company. But new Chief Executive Thorsten Heins did not rule that out after RIM's last earnings report in late March.
Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Financial, said the company is in a downward slide that's not slowing. He said he doesn't see any buyers for RIM coming forward soon.
'Unfortunately, it falls into the too little, too late category,' Gillis said. 'It doesn't mean somebody won't try it. It doesn't mean it's going to be a savior for the company either.'
The statement from RIM did not detail the coming layoffs, other than to say the company expects 'significant spending reductions and headcount reductions in some areas throughout the remainder of the year.'
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said he expects RIM to announce as many as 5,000 layoffs soon. The company has about 16,500 employees now after cutting 2,000 jobs in July.
RIM said the company looks to save $1 billion - even as it transitions to its much-delayed 'BlackBerry 10' software platform expected out later this year.
RIM's stock fell 7 percent, or 80 cents, to $10.43 in extended trading following the release of the company's statement. Before Tuesday's announcement, the stock had lost almost 75 percent in the last year.
The company that pioneered the smartphone market with its BlackBerry phones is facing the most difficult period in its history. RIM's U.S. share of smartphones dropped from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group.
It still has 78 million active subscribers across the globe, but Apple Inc.'s iPhone and smartphones from companies including Samsung and HTC that use Google Inc.'s Android software are gobbling up market share.
'The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace,' Heins said in Tuesday's statement. He said the company will likely post an operating loss when it reports its fiscal first quarter results on June 28.
Heins, formerly a little known chief operating officer at RIM, took over in January after RIM founder Mike Lazaridis and longtime executive Jim Balsillie stepped down as co-CEOs after the company lost tens of billions in market value.
RIM has tried to make phones with touchscreens that resemble the iPhone, but those offerings have largely flopped. And so has RIM's tablet, the PlayBook, which uses the very software that will be in the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
The company is following the same trajectory as struggling Finnish handset maker Nokia and California-based Palm, both of which attracted consumers with trend-setting phones and technologies in their heyday, only to be outmaneuvered by competitors. In Canada, there is fear that the nation's biggest technology company could go the way of former Canadian tech giant Nortel, which declared bankruptcy in 2009 and was picked over for its patents.
RIM was 'the leader and this is what happens in the technology cycle of creation and destruction,' Gillis said. 'They rode the first wave of the smartphone revolution and Apple is riding the next one.'
This article is brought to you by COMPUTERS.
RIM issued a dire warning about its business Tuesday, saying it is losing money for the second-consecutive quarter and will lay off a 'significant' number of employees.
The company based in Waterloo, Ontario said it has hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help it evaluate its options. Those including partnering with other companies, licensing software and overhauling its business, it said.
RIM made no mention of selling of the company. But new Chief Executive Thorsten Heins did not rule that out after RIM's last earnings report in late March.
Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Financial, said the company is in a downward slide that's not slowing. He said he doesn't see any buyers for RIM coming forward soon.
'Unfortunately, it falls into the too little, too late category,' Gillis said. 'It doesn't mean somebody won't try it. It doesn't mean it's going to be a savior for the company either.'
The statement from RIM did not detail the coming layoffs, other than to say the company expects 'significant spending reductions and headcount reductions in some areas throughout the remainder of the year.'
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said he expects RIM to announce as many as 5,000 layoffs soon. The company has about 16,500 employees now after cutting 2,000 jobs in July.
RIM said the company looks to save $1 billion - even as it transitions to its much-delayed 'BlackBerry 10' software platform expected out later this year.
RIM's stock fell 7 percent, or 80 cents, to $10.43 in extended trading following the release of the company's statement. Before Tuesday's announcement, the stock had lost almost 75 percent in the last year.
The company that pioneered the smartphone market with its BlackBerry phones is facing the most difficult period in its history. RIM's U.S. share of smartphones dropped from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group.
It still has 78 million active subscribers across the globe, but Apple Inc.'s iPhone and smartphones from companies including Samsung and HTC that use Google Inc.'s Android software are gobbling up market share.
'The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace,' Heins said in Tuesday's statement. He said the company will likely post an operating loss when it reports its fiscal first quarter results on June 28.
Heins, formerly a little known chief operating officer at RIM, took over in January after RIM founder Mike Lazaridis and longtime executive Jim Balsillie stepped down as co-CEOs after the company lost tens of billions in market value.
RIM has tried to make phones with touchscreens that resemble the iPhone, but those offerings have largely flopped. And so has RIM's tablet, the PlayBook, which uses the very software that will be in the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
The company is following the same trajectory as struggling Finnish handset maker Nokia and California-based Palm, both of which attracted consumers with trend-setting phones and technologies in their heyday, only to be outmaneuvered by competitors. In Canada, there is fear that the nation's biggest technology company could go the way of former Canadian tech giant Nortel, which declared bankruptcy in 2009 and was picked over for its patents.
RIM was 'the leader and this is what happens in the technology cycle of creation and destruction,' Gillis said. 'They rode the first wave of the smartphone revolution and Apple is riding the next one.'
This article is brought to you by COMPUTERS.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Google, Samsung unveil new version of Chromebook
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google will try to win more converts to a computer operating system revolving around its popular Chrome Web browser with a new wave of lightweight laptops built by Samsung Electronics.
Tuesday's release of the next-generation Chromebooks will give Google and Samsung another opportunity to persuade consumers and businesses to buy an unconventional computer instead of machines running on familiar software by industry pioneers Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc.
Unlike most computers, Google's Chromebooks don't have a hard drive. They function like terminals dependent on an Internet connection. The laptops come with 16 gigabytes of flash memory - the kind found in smartphones, tablet computers and some iPods. Two USB ports allow external hard drives and other devices to be plugged into the machines.
Chromebooks haven't made much of a dent in the market since their debut a year ago. In that time, more people have been embracing Apple's iPad and other tablet computers - a factor that has contributed to a slowdown in sales of personal computers.
The cool reception to Chromebooks has raised questions about whether Google misjudged the demand for computers designed to quickly connect to its dominant Internet search engine and ever-expanding stable of other online services, ranging from email to a recently introduced file-storage system called Drive.
"The Chromebooks have had less to offer than tablets, so they haven't been that interesting to consumers," said Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa.
Google says it always intended to take things slowly with the Chromebooks to give its engineers time to understand the shortcomings of the machines and make the necessary improvements.
"This release is a big step in the journey to bringing (Chromebooks) to the mainstream," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and apps.
The upgraded laptop, called "Series 5 550," is supposed to run two-and-half times faster than the original machines, and boasts higher-definition video. Google also added features that will enable users to edit documents offline, read more content created in widely used Microsoft applications such as Word and Excel, and retrieve material from another computer at home or an office. More emphasis is being placed on Chrome's Web store, which features more than 50,000 applications.
The price: $449 for models that only connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi and $549 for a machine that connects on a 3G network. Samsung's original Chromebooks started out with prices ranging from $429 to $499. Like the original Chromebooks, the next-generation machines feature a 12.1-inch screen display and run on an Intel processor.
Google Inc. and Samsung also are introducing a "Chromebox" that can be plugged into a display monitor to create the equivalent of desktop computer. The box will sell for $329.
The latest Chromebook and new Chromebox will be available online only, beginning in the U.S. on Tuesday, followed by a Wednesday release in the United Kingdom. The products will go on sale in brick-and-mortar stores for the first time in still-to-be-determined Best Buy locations next month.
The expansion beyond Internet-only sales signals Google's determination to attract a mass audience to its Chromebooks, just as it's done with smartphones running on its Android software. More than 300 million mobile devices have been activated on Android since the software's 2008 release.
Without providing specifics, Pichai said several other computer manufacturers will release Chromebooks later this year. Google plans to back the expanded line of Chromebooks with a marketing blitz during the holiday shopping season in November and December.
One reason Google is confident Chromebooks will eventually catch on is because the Chrome Web browser has attracted so many fans in less than four years on the market. The company says more than 200 million people worldwide currently are using the Chrome browser.
Like other laptop and desktop computers, the Chromebooks will have to contend with the accelerating shift to the iPad and other tablets. The iPad 2, an older version of Apple's tablet line, sells for as little as $399, undercutting the new Chromebook. Other low-cost tablets are expected to hit the market later this year. One of them might even be made by Motorola Mobility, a device maker that Google bought for $12.5 billion earlier this month. Google so far hasn't commented on Motorola's future plans for the tablet market.
The new Chromebooks also are hitting the market at a time when some prospective computer buyers may be delaying purchases until they can check out machines running on Windows 8, a makeover of Microsoft's operating system that is expected to be released in September or October. Microsoft designed Windows 8 so it can be controlled through touch as well as keyboards. That versatility is expected to inspire the creation of hybrid machines that are part laptop, part tablet.
Google shares added $2.81 Tuesday to close at $594.34.
This news article is brought to you by CANCER - where latest news are our top priority.
Tuesday's release of the next-generation Chromebooks will give Google and Samsung another opportunity to persuade consumers and businesses to buy an unconventional computer instead of machines running on familiar software by industry pioneers Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc.
Unlike most computers, Google's Chromebooks don't have a hard drive. They function like terminals dependent on an Internet connection. The laptops come with 16 gigabytes of flash memory - the kind found in smartphones, tablet computers and some iPods. Two USB ports allow external hard drives and other devices to be plugged into the machines.
Chromebooks haven't made much of a dent in the market since their debut a year ago. In that time, more people have been embracing Apple's iPad and other tablet computers - a factor that has contributed to a slowdown in sales of personal computers.
The cool reception to Chromebooks has raised questions about whether Google misjudged the demand for computers designed to quickly connect to its dominant Internet search engine and ever-expanding stable of other online services, ranging from email to a recently introduced file-storage system called Drive.
"The Chromebooks have had less to offer than tablets, so they haven't been that interesting to consumers," said Gartner analyst Mika Kitagawa.
Google says it always intended to take things slowly with the Chromebooks to give its engineers time to understand the shortcomings of the machines and make the necessary improvements.
"This release is a big step in the journey to bringing (Chromebooks) to the mainstream," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and apps.
The upgraded laptop, called "Series 5 550," is supposed to run two-and-half times faster than the original machines, and boasts higher-definition video. Google also added features that will enable users to edit documents offline, read more content created in widely used Microsoft applications such as Word and Excel, and retrieve material from another computer at home or an office. More emphasis is being placed on Chrome's Web store, which features more than 50,000 applications.
The price: $449 for models that only connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi and $549 for a machine that connects on a 3G network. Samsung's original Chromebooks started out with prices ranging from $429 to $499. Like the original Chromebooks, the next-generation machines feature a 12.1-inch screen display and run on an Intel processor.
Google Inc. and Samsung also are introducing a "Chromebox" that can be plugged into a display monitor to create the equivalent of desktop computer. The box will sell for $329.
The latest Chromebook and new Chromebox will be available online only, beginning in the U.S. on Tuesday, followed by a Wednesday release in the United Kingdom. The products will go on sale in brick-and-mortar stores for the first time in still-to-be-determined Best Buy locations next month.
The expansion beyond Internet-only sales signals Google's determination to attract a mass audience to its Chromebooks, just as it's done with smartphones running on its Android software. More than 300 million mobile devices have been activated on Android since the software's 2008 release.
Without providing specifics, Pichai said several other computer manufacturers will release Chromebooks later this year. Google plans to back the expanded line of Chromebooks with a marketing blitz during the holiday shopping season in November and December.
One reason Google is confident Chromebooks will eventually catch on is because the Chrome Web browser has attracted so many fans in less than four years on the market. The company says more than 200 million people worldwide currently are using the Chrome browser.
Like other laptop and desktop computers, the Chromebooks will have to contend with the accelerating shift to the iPad and other tablets. The iPad 2, an older version of Apple's tablet line, sells for as little as $399, undercutting the new Chromebook. Other low-cost tablets are expected to hit the market later this year. One of them might even be made by Motorola Mobility, a device maker that Google bought for $12.5 billion earlier this month. Google so far hasn't commented on Motorola's future plans for the tablet market.
The new Chromebooks also are hitting the market at a time when some prospective computer buyers may be delaying purchases until they can check out machines running on Windows 8, a makeover of Microsoft's operating system that is expected to be released in September or October. Microsoft designed Windows 8 so it can be controlled through touch as well as keyboards. That versatility is expected to inspire the creation of hybrid machines that are part laptop, part tablet.
Google shares added $2.81 Tuesday to close at $594.34.
This news article is brought to you by CANCER - where latest news are our top priority.
RIM warns of operating loss, layoffs to come
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RIM hires J.P. Morgan, RBC to review business
TORONTO (AP) - Struggling BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion warned Tuesday that it will have an operating loss in the current March-June quarter and said there will be significant layoffs this year.
RIM said in a release that it has hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help the company evaluate various strategies, including opportunities to partner with other companies and license software as well as other alternatives.
Waterloo Ontario-based RIM, a pioneer in the smart phone market, made no mention of a sale of the company but new chief executive Thorsten Heins did not rule it out after RIM's last earnings were released in late March.
RIM's stock was halted in after-hours trading Tuesday. When trading resumed shares fell more than 10 percent, or $1.20, to $10.03.
The once-iconic BlackBerry company is facing the most difficult period in its history. RIM is working on the launch of a new software operating system just as North Americans are abandoning their BlackBerry's for Apple's iPhone and smart phones that run Google's Android software.
RIM's U.S. share of smartphones dropped from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group. The company still has 78 million active subscribers across the globe, but Apple and Android phone makers such as Samsung and HTC are taking market share.
'The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace, and we expect our (current quarter's) results to reflect this, and likely result in an operating loss for the quarter,' new chief executive Thorsten Heins said.
Heins, formerly a little known chief operating officer at RIM, took over in January after RIM founder Mike Lazaridis and longtime executive Jim Balsillie stepped down as Co-CEOs after the company lost tens of billions in market value.
RIM said there will be staff reductions among its 16,500 employees and significant spending cuts as the company looks to save a $1 billion -even as it transitions to its new 'BlackBerry 10' software platform.
RIM is following the same trajectory as struggling Finnish handset makers Nokia and California-based Palm. And there is fear that RIM could go the way of former Canadian tech giant Nortel, which declared bankruptcy in 2009 and was picked over for its patents.
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RIM said in a release that it has hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help the company evaluate various strategies, including opportunities to partner with other companies and license software as well as other alternatives.
Waterloo Ontario-based RIM, a pioneer in the smart phone market, made no mention of a sale of the company but new chief executive Thorsten Heins did not rule it out after RIM's last earnings were released in late March.
RIM's stock was halted in after-hours trading Tuesday. When trading resumed shares fell more than 10 percent, or $1.20, to $10.03.
The once-iconic BlackBerry company is facing the most difficult period in its history. RIM is working on the launch of a new software operating system just as North Americans are abandoning their BlackBerry's for Apple's iPhone and smart phones that run Google's Android software.
RIM's U.S. share of smartphones dropped from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011, according to market researcher NPD Group. The company still has 78 million active subscribers across the globe, but Apple and Android phone makers such as Samsung and HTC are taking market share.
'The on-going competitive environment is impacting our business in the form of lower volumes and highly competitive pricing dynamics in the marketplace, and we expect our (current quarter's) results to reflect this, and likely result in an operating loss for the quarter,' new chief executive Thorsten Heins said.
Heins, formerly a little known chief operating officer at RIM, took over in January after RIM founder Mike Lazaridis and longtime executive Jim Balsillie stepped down as Co-CEOs after the company lost tens of billions in market value.
RIM said there will be staff reductions among its 16,500 employees and significant spending cuts as the company looks to save a $1 billion -even as it transitions to its new 'BlackBerry 10' software platform.
RIM is following the same trajectory as struggling Finnish handset makers Nokia and California-based Palm. And there is fear that RIM could go the way of former Canadian tech giant Nortel, which declared bankruptcy in 2009 and was picked over for its patents.
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Tool-wielding robots crawl in bodies for surgery
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Imagine a tiny snake robot crawling through your body, helping a surgeon identify diseases and perform operations.
It's not science fiction. Scientists and doctors are using the creeping metallic tools to perform surgery on hearts, prostate cancer, and other diseased organs. The snakebots carry tiny cameras, scissors and forceps, and even more advanced sensors are in the works. For now, they're powered by tethers that humans control.
But experts say the day is coming when some robots will roam the body on their own.
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It's not science fiction. Scientists and doctors are using the creeping metallic tools to perform surgery on hearts, prostate cancer, and other diseased organs. The snakebots carry tiny cameras, scissors and forceps, and even more advanced sensors are in the works. For now, they're powered by tethers that humans control.
But experts say the day is coming when some robots will roam the body on their own.
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Facebook stock pounded, hovers around $30
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's stock is dropping again, hovering around $30 after it hit a new low in morning trading.
Shares of Facebook Inc. are down $1.72, or 5.4 percent, to $30.19 as of late morning on Tuesday. Earlier, the stock hit $30.03, its lowest since Facebook began publicly trading more than a week ago.
The social networking company's stock priced at $38 in its initial public offering on May 18. Rather than a seeing a big first-day-pop, it closed just 23 cents higher on the following day. Now, it's about 20 percent below the IPO price.
The stock's public debut was marred by technical glitches at the Nasdaq Stock Market that delayed trading. The company and the investment banks that led the IPO face shareholder lawsuits, which Facebook say are without merit.
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Shares of Facebook Inc. are down $1.72, or 5.4 percent, to $30.19 as of late morning on Tuesday. Earlier, the stock hit $30.03, its lowest since Facebook began publicly trading more than a week ago.
The social networking company's stock priced at $38 in its initial public offering on May 18. Rather than a seeing a big first-day-pop, it closed just 23 cents higher on the following day. Now, it's about 20 percent below the IPO price.
The stock's public debut was marred by technical glitches at the Nasdaq Stock Market that delayed trading. The company and the investment banks that led the IPO face shareholder lawsuits, which Facebook say are without merit.
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Zuckerberg makes unlikely cameo on Chinese TV
BEIJING (AP) - Social media sites and blogs have lit up after eagle-eyed viewers spotted a surprise cameo in a Chinese TV documentary about the country's police force: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his now-wife, Priscilla Chan.
The documentary was part of a series on Chinese police and high-tech crime-solving methods. A report on the CCTV show was posted online by the Hebei province satellite station that included a few seconds of Zuckerberg and Chan walking behind two police officers.
The footage shows the couple wearing the same clothes they were photographed in during a March 27 visit to Shanghai.
The clip shows Zuckerberg looking at the camera and smiling broadly before the couple walks off-screen. As they are shown, the narrator says: 'There is a serious shortage in China's police manpower.'
___
Online:
http://bit.ly/KXqegY
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The documentary was part of a series on Chinese police and high-tech crime-solving methods. A report on the CCTV show was posted online by the Hebei province satellite station that included a few seconds of Zuckerberg and Chan walking behind two police officers.
The footage shows the couple wearing the same clothes they were photographed in during a March 27 visit to Shanghai.
The clip shows Zuckerberg looking at the camera and smiling broadly before the couple walks off-screen. As they are shown, the narrator says: 'There is a serious shortage in China's police manpower.'
___
Online:
http://bit.ly/KXqegY
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Monday, May 28, 2012
RIM loses another senior executive
TORONTO (AP) - Struggling BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. is losing another senior executive as its chief legal officer is retiring from the company after 12 years.
RIM said Monday that Karima Bawa had been in discussions about her retirement for some time and plans to stay on to help with the transition once a replacement has been hired.
The departure comes amid reports that RIM may announce a major restructuring that could result in thousands of job cuts.
It also follows the departure last week of Patrick Spence, RIM's head of global sales. A number of executives left earlier this year, including founder Mike Lazaridis and co-chief executive Jim Balsillie. Lazaridis remains on the board.
Thorsten Heins became RIM's chief executive in January after RIM lost tens of billions in market value.
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RIM said Monday that Karima Bawa had been in discussions about her retirement for some time and plans to stay on to help with the transition once a replacement has been hired.
The departure comes amid reports that RIM may announce a major restructuring that could result in thousands of job cuts.
It also follows the departure last week of Patrick Spence, RIM's head of global sales. A number of executives left earlier this year, including founder Mike Lazaridis and co-chief executive Jim Balsillie. Lazaridis remains on the board.
Thorsten Heins became RIM's chief executive in January after RIM lost tens of billions in market value.
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New telescope to be in South Africa, Australia
South Africa led an African consortium that included Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia, and telescopes will be erected in all its partners. In South Africa, dishes will be added to a remote site in the arid Karoo desert where a smaller radio telescope project already is underway.
South Africa and Australia, which partnered with New Zealand in bidding for the project, had competed fiercely. South Africa claimed victory Friday, saying it got two of the projects three major components.
'We may feel slightly disappointed that we didn't get the whole thing. But I think one should emphasize that we did get most of it,' said Justin Jonas, the chief South African scientist on the project. 'Two-thirds of the biggest instrument in the world is still the biggest instrument in the world.'
South Africa's science minister Naledi Pandor and scientists who had prepared the country's bid celebrated with an Africa-shaped cake at a news conference in South Africa's capital.
'This marks a real turning point in Africa, where we are becoming a destination for science and engineering, and not just a place where there are resources and tourism opportunities,' Jonas added.
Australia also welcomed the split decision.
'It is an outstanding result for the Australia-New Zealand bid after many years of preparation and an intensive international process,' said Sen. Chris Evans, Australia's science minister.
The Square Kilometer Array telescope will be 50 times more sensitive and scan the sky 10,000 times faster than any existing telescope. It requires huge open spaces with very few humans.
John Womersley, chair of the consortium's board, said the telescope will help scientists answer key questions: 'Where do we come from? Where are we going? What is this universe we live in?'
'We don't understand what 96 percent of our universe is made of,' he said.
The organization said dividing construction of the telescope will 'maximize on investments already made by both Australia and South Africa.'
Womersley said that splitting construction between the two nations will likely add around 10 percent to the ?350 million ($439 million) cost of the first phase of building the giant telescope. But he said there would be a payoff for astronomers.
'It delivers more science in phase one. The capabilities of this instrument are greater than the original design,' Womersley said.
____
Associated Press writer Mike Corder contributed from Amsterdam.
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Friday, May 25, 2012
Apple CEO Cook gives up $75M in stock dividends
NEW YORK (AP) - Apple says CEO Tim Cook is giving up $75 million in dividends on restricted stock.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Apple Inc. says Cook requested that his restricted stock units not receive dividends.
Assuming the company pays dividends of $2.65 over the vesting period of Cook's shares, the company says he will give up about $75 million in value.
Cook's total compensation was valued at $378 million when he became CEO in August. That was almost entirely in stock awards. Half of the stock won't be redeemable until 2016 and the rest won't be redeemable until 2021. Over that time the value of the shares could change dramatically.
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In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, Apple Inc. says Cook requested that his restricted stock units not receive dividends.
Assuming the company pays dividends of $2.65 over the vesting period of Cook's shares, the company says he will give up about $75 million in value.
Cook's total compensation was valued at $378 million when he became CEO in August. That was almost entirely in stock awards. Half of the stock won't be redeemable until 2016 and the rest won't be redeemable until 2021. Over that time the value of the shares could change dramatically.
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Thursday, May 24, 2012
Morgan Stanley may refund some Facebook investors
NEW YORK (AP) - Morgan Stanley, the lead investment bank in Facebook's troubled initial public offering, will compensate retail investors who overpaid when they bought Facebook's stock in Friday's IPO, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The person said the firm is reviewing orders its retail clients placed for Facebook stock, and will make price adjustments if the clients paid too much. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The person did not say what amount constituted overpaying for Facebook's stock.
The social network's IPO was highly anticipated. But technical problems on the Nasdaq Stock Market delayed the stock's open on Friday. The stock closed nearly flat on its first trading day at $38.23.
Morgan Stanley and Facebook face at least two lawsuits over the IPO. Both suits allege that analysts at the large underwriting investment banks cut their second-quarter and full-year forecasts for Facebook just before the IPO and told only a handful of clients. Morgan Stanley has declined to comment on the lawsuits. Facebook has called the lawsuits 'without merit.'
On Thursday, Facebook's stock closed up $1.03, or 3.2 percent, at $33.03. This gives the company a market value of $90.4 billion, down from $105 billion at the end of trading on Friday.
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The person said the firm is reviewing orders its retail clients placed for Facebook stock, and will make price adjustments if the clients paid too much. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The person did not say what amount constituted overpaying for Facebook's stock.
The social network's IPO was highly anticipated. But technical problems on the Nasdaq Stock Market delayed the stock's open on Friday. The stock closed nearly flat on its first trading day at $38.23.
Morgan Stanley and Facebook face at least two lawsuits over the IPO. Both suits allege that analysts at the large underwriting investment banks cut their second-quarter and full-year forecasts for Facebook just before the IPO and told only a handful of clients. Morgan Stanley has declined to comment on the lawsuits. Facebook has called the lawsuits 'without merit.'
On Thursday, Facebook's stock closed up $1.03, or 3.2 percent, at $33.03. This gives the company a market value of $90.4 billion, down from $105 billion at the end of trading on Friday.
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Fox sues Dish Network over ad-skipping DVR service
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Broadcaster Fox is suing Dish Network over a service that offers commercial-free TV.
Dish has been advertising a digital video recorder service called 'Primetime Anytime' that gives consumers access to the last eight days of prime-time programming from the four major broadcast networks with the commercials stripped out.
In a suit filed Thursday in a Los Angeles federal court, Fox, a unit of News Corp., says Dish's service is unauthorized and violates a licensing agreement between the two companies.
It argues that if a court doesn't stop it, the service will destroy the economic foundation of shows that are supported by advertising revenue.
A Dish spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Dish has been advertising a digital video recorder service called 'Primetime Anytime' that gives consumers access to the last eight days of prime-time programming from the four major broadcast networks with the commercials stripped out.
In a suit filed Thursday in a Los Angeles federal court, Fox, a unit of News Corp., says Dish's service is unauthorized and violates a licensing agreement between the two companies.
It argues that if a court doesn't stop it, the service will destroy the economic foundation of shows that are supported by advertising revenue.
A Dish spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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New Google data shows Microsoft's piracy problems
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google's Internet search engine receives more complaints about websites believed to be infringing on Microsoft's copyrights than it does about material produced by entertainment companies pushing for tougher laws against online piracy.
A snapshot of Microsoft's apparently rampant copyright headaches emerged in new data that Google released Thursday to provide a better understanding of the intellectual property abuses on the Internet.
The report provides a breakdown on all requests Google has received since July 2011 to remove copyright-infringing content from its search index.
Since July, Google has logged more than 2.5 million requests to remove links believed to be violating Microsoft's copyrights. Google Inc. isn't identifying the nature of the infringements, but Microsoft Corp. has long complained about illegal downloads of its Windows operating system and other software.
Microsoft had no immediate comment.
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A snapshot of Microsoft's apparently rampant copyright headaches emerged in new data that Google released Thursday to provide a better understanding of the intellectual property abuses on the Internet.
The report provides a breakdown on all requests Google has received since July 2011 to remove copyright-infringing content from its search index.
Since July, Google has logged more than 2.5 million requests to remove links believed to be violating Microsoft's copyrights. Google Inc. isn't identifying the nature of the infringements, but Microsoft Corp. has long complained about illegal downloads of its Windows operating system and other software.
Microsoft had no immediate comment.
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Facebook launches iPhone camera app
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's rocky initial public offering hasn't stopped life at the world's biggest online social network. On Thursday, the company unveiled a camera app for the iPhone.
The app can be downloaded from Apple's App Store and works like most other camera applications for smart phones. To take a photo, you tap a camera icon in the upper left corner of your screen, aim and shoot. You can then add filters, crop or tilt your photo, and share it on Facebook.
The new app is similar to Instagram, the photo-sharing app Facebook is in the process of buying for $1 billion. The acquisition, however, has not yet been completed.
Facebook didn't give details on when it might release a version of the app for phones that run on Google's Android operating system.
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The app can be downloaded from Apple's App Store and works like most other camera applications for smart phones. To take a photo, you tap a camera icon in the upper left corner of your screen, aim and shoot. You can then add filters, crop or tilt your photo, and share it on Facebook.
The new app is similar to Instagram, the photo-sharing app Facebook is in the process of buying for $1 billion. The acquisition, however, has not yet been completed.
Facebook didn't give details on when it might release a version of the app for phones that run on Google's Android operating system.
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Facebook shares stabilizing, but probes mount
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's initial public offering is the subject of two congressional inquiries and mounting lawsuits as the social network enters its fifth day of public trading.
The shares regained some ground Wednesday, rising $1, or 3.2 percent, to close at $32. They were up another 50 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $32.50 in early premarket trading Thursday. But they are still more than 14 percent below their $38 per share IPO price last week.
The stock's rocky inaugural trading day last Friday was followed by a two-day decline.
The launch was held up by a half-hour delay, caused by glitches on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It was marred further this week as investors began accusing the banks that arranged the IPO of sharing important information about Facebook's business prospects with some clients and not others.
Several shareholders who bought stock in the IPO have filed lawsuits against Facebook, its executives and Morgan Stanley, the IPO's lead underwriter. At question is whether analysts at the big underwriter investment banks cut their second-quarter and full-year forecasts for Facebook just before the IPO, and told only a handful of clients about it.
One lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, claims Facebook's IPO documents contained untrue statements and omitted important facts, such as a 'severe reduction in revenue growth' that Facebook was experiencing at the time of the offering. The suit's three plaintiffs, who bought Facebook stock on its first day of trading May 18, claim they were damaged in the process.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Facebook said the lawsuit is without merit.
Another lawsuit, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court in California, claims Facebook and underwriters misled investors in Facebook's IPO documents. Both lawsuits seek class action status on behalf of investors who bought Facebook stock and lost money on Friday.
'No one gets it perfect, as far as saying what the financial results are,' said Anthony Michael Sabino, professor at St. John's University's Peter J. Tobin College of Business. The bottom line, he added, is whether Facebook or the underwriter had material information about Facebook's finances that was not disclosed publicly.
'At this moment, it's still too early to say,' Sabino said. 'We don't know enough, but this could turn out to be an issue.'
What is known is that, in March, Facebook began meeting with analysts at the underwriting firms. The gatherings are a customary part of the IPO process and are designed to help analysts understand the company's business so they can make accurate financial projections.
On May 9, the third day of Facebook's pre-IPO roadshow to meet with prospective investors, the company filed an amended IPO document that said its number of mobile users was growing faster than its revenue.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Facebook then had another meeting with analysts and told them that based on the new information in the filings, the analysts' forecasts should be at the low end of the range that the company gave them in April. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not publicly authorized to discuss the matter.
Adding to Wednesday's events, Facebook was in talks with the New York Stock Exchange to move its stock from the Nasdaq Stock Market after the botched offering, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The news of the talks was first reported by Reuters.
NYSE spokesman Rich Adamonis said: 'There have been no discussions with Facebook regarding switching their listing in light of the events of the last week, nor do we think a discussion along those lines would be appropriate at this time.'
A Nasdaq spokesman declined to comment.
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said late Wednesday that his panel wants to learn more about the social network's initial offering. The committee seeks briefings with Facebook representatives, regulatory agencies and others.
After the briefings, Johnson said, he will determine whether a hearing should be held.
Also gathering information about Facebook's IPO is the House Financial Services Committee. An aide to that panel said its staff is getting briefings.
The subject is likely to be raised in hearings by the committee in the coming weeks, even though no hearings are planned specifically on the Facebook IPO, the aide said. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the House committee's planned inquiry hasn't been publicly announced.
This news article is brought to you by SMALL HOUSE PLANS - where latest news are our top priority.
The shares regained some ground Wednesday, rising $1, or 3.2 percent, to close at $32. They were up another 50 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $32.50 in early premarket trading Thursday. But they are still more than 14 percent below their $38 per share IPO price last week.
The stock's rocky inaugural trading day last Friday was followed by a two-day decline.
The launch was held up by a half-hour delay, caused by glitches on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It was marred further this week as investors began accusing the banks that arranged the IPO of sharing important information about Facebook's business prospects with some clients and not others.
Several shareholders who bought stock in the IPO have filed lawsuits against Facebook, its executives and Morgan Stanley, the IPO's lead underwriter. At question is whether analysts at the big underwriter investment banks cut their second-quarter and full-year forecasts for Facebook just before the IPO, and told only a handful of clients about it.
One lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, claims Facebook's IPO documents contained untrue statements and omitted important facts, such as a 'severe reduction in revenue growth' that Facebook was experiencing at the time of the offering. The suit's three plaintiffs, who bought Facebook stock on its first day of trading May 18, claim they were damaged in the process.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Facebook said the lawsuit is without merit.
Another lawsuit, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court in California, claims Facebook and underwriters misled investors in Facebook's IPO documents. Both lawsuits seek class action status on behalf of investors who bought Facebook stock and lost money on Friday.
'No one gets it perfect, as far as saying what the financial results are,' said Anthony Michael Sabino, professor at St. John's University's Peter J. Tobin College of Business. The bottom line, he added, is whether Facebook or the underwriter had material information about Facebook's finances that was not disclosed publicly.
'At this moment, it's still too early to say,' Sabino said. 'We don't know enough, but this could turn out to be an issue.'
What is known is that, in March, Facebook began meeting with analysts at the underwriting firms. The gatherings are a customary part of the IPO process and are designed to help analysts understand the company's business so they can make accurate financial projections.
On May 9, the third day of Facebook's pre-IPO roadshow to meet with prospective investors, the company filed an amended IPO document that said its number of mobile users was growing faster than its revenue.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Facebook then had another meeting with analysts and told them that based on the new information in the filings, the analysts' forecasts should be at the low end of the range that the company gave them in April. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not publicly authorized to discuss the matter.
Adding to Wednesday's events, Facebook was in talks with the New York Stock Exchange to move its stock from the Nasdaq Stock Market after the botched offering, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The news of the talks was first reported by Reuters.
NYSE spokesman Rich Adamonis said: 'There have been no discussions with Facebook regarding switching their listing in light of the events of the last week, nor do we think a discussion along those lines would be appropriate at this time.'
A Nasdaq spokesman declined to comment.
Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said late Wednesday that his panel wants to learn more about the social network's initial offering. The committee seeks briefings with Facebook representatives, regulatory agencies and others.
After the briefings, Johnson said, he will determine whether a hearing should be held.
Also gathering information about Facebook's IPO is the House Financial Services Committee. An aide to that panel said its staff is getting briefings.
The subject is likely to be raised in hearings by the committee in the coming weeks, even though no hearings are planned specifically on the Facebook IPO, the aide said. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the House committee's planned inquiry hasn't been publicly announced.
This news article is brought to you by SMALL HOUSE PLANS - where latest news are our top priority.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Yahoo seeks to shake up search, Web browsing
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Yahoo is joining the battle to redefine Internet search and taking aim at building a better Web browser, too.
The troubled Internet company is taking its shot with a new tool it calls 'Axis' that alters browsers made by other companies so search results can be displayed in a more convenient and compelling format.
Yahoo Inc. released Axis in Apple's app store late Wednesday. That version will work only on Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The software also can be installed as a plug-in on most major browsers used on desktop computers and laptops. Apps for other mobile devices are in the works.
Browsers running Axis can display search results in a panorama of visual thumbnails that can be scrolled through above a Web page. It's a departure from search engines' traditional presentation of a list of staid Web links that require more navigation and guesswork.
All the major search engines are adopting new formats in an effort to make it easier for their users to find the information they want without having to click from one page to the next.
Two weeks ago, Microsoft Corp. previewed an upcoming change that will spread Bing's search results in three columns, including one devoted to personalized recommendations pulled from Facebook, Twitter and other social networking services.
Last week, Google unveiled a new search feature called a 'Knowledge Graph' that seeks to provide more immediate answers by highlighting information from a database containing more than 500 million entries about people, places and other commonly requested things.
'Searching through links has outlived its utility,' said Shashi Seth, a Yahoo senior vice president. 'Users are demanding more now because we are all short on time.'
Yahoo is counting on Axis to reverse its steadily declining share of the Internet's lucrative search market and drive more traffic to its own website from the growing audience of people surfing the Web on smartphones and tablet computers.
Although Axis works on desktop browsers, its greatest appeal figures to be on mobile devices. That's because the search results can be seen at the top of the device just by flicking on whatever page might be on the screen at the time. With that, the relevant results appear in a ribbon across the top of the page. Each result appears as a snapshot of the pertinent Web page, making it easier for users to find the right information.
Much like Google's Knowledge Graph, Axis draws its results from a custom-built index. Most of the data in the Axis index resides on Yahoo's own services. If Axis can't find answers there, it presents links from Bing's search index.
Yahoo has been relying on Bing's search technology since 2010 as part of a decade-long partnership formed to lure users away from Google. So far, though, most of Bing's gains have come at Yahoo's expense
But Yahoo was losing search traffic well before it began leaning on Bing.
Yahoo's share of the U.S. search market stood at 13.5 percent through April, down from nearly 25 percent five years ago, according to the research firm comScore Inc. Bing holds a 15.4 percent share, up from 9.4 percent five years ago when Microsoft operated a search engine under a different name and system. Google's share has climbed from 56 percent five years ago to more than 66 percent now.
Yahoo's alliance with Microsoft gives it the flexibility to offer unique search features, such as Axis, that Bing doesn't have. Getting people to use its search engine more frequently is important to Yahoo because it keeps 88 percent of the revenue generated from requests made on its service, but doesn't get any money when a query is entered directly on Bing.
The erosion in Yahoo's Internet market share has been a major factor in a financial malaise that has caused the company's stock to slump for years and contributed to the management turmoil that has taken Yahoo through four CEOs - including two interim leaders - during just the past nine months, when it was working on Axis.
Yahoo won't show ads next to Axis search results initially, but the company believes the visual format will be ideal for video commercials and graphical marketing.
In an effort to make Axis even more useful, Yahoo plans to store search activity on its servers so users can have access to their past activity on any computer or mobile device where they log in. Axis will accept the logins that people use on Google and Facebook, as well as Yahoo.
The biggest challenge facing Axis may be overcoming the perception that Yahoo stopped innovating in search when it joined forces with Microsoft.
'If it's good enough and cool enough, people will go out of their way to get it,' predicted IDC analyst Karsten Weide.
___
Online:
Axis plug-in for desktop computer browsers: http://axis.yahoo.com
Axis mobile app: http://www.iTunes.com/appstore
The troubled Internet company is taking its shot with a new tool it calls 'Axis' that alters browsers made by other companies so search results can be displayed in a more convenient and compelling format.
Yahoo Inc. released Axis in Apple's app store late Wednesday. That version will work only on Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The software also can be installed as a plug-in on most major browsers used on desktop computers and laptops. Apps for other mobile devices are in the works.
Browsers running Axis can display search results in a panorama of visual thumbnails that can be scrolled through above a Web page. It's a departure from search engines' traditional presentation of a list of staid Web links that require more navigation and guesswork.
All the major search engines are adopting new formats in an effort to make it easier for their users to find the information they want without having to click from one page to the next.
Two weeks ago, Microsoft Corp. previewed an upcoming change that will spread Bing's search results in three columns, including one devoted to personalized recommendations pulled from Facebook, Twitter and other social networking services.
Last week, Google unveiled a new search feature called a 'Knowledge Graph' that seeks to provide more immediate answers by highlighting information from a database containing more than 500 million entries about people, places and other commonly requested things.
'Searching through links has outlived its utility,' said Shashi Seth, a Yahoo senior vice president. 'Users are demanding more now because we are all short on time.'
Yahoo is counting on Axis to reverse its steadily declining share of the Internet's lucrative search market and drive more traffic to its own website from the growing audience of people surfing the Web on smartphones and tablet computers.
Although Axis works on desktop browsers, its greatest appeal figures to be on mobile devices. That's because the search results can be seen at the top of the device just by flicking on whatever page might be on the screen at the time. With that, the relevant results appear in a ribbon across the top of the page. Each result appears as a snapshot of the pertinent Web page, making it easier for users to find the right information.
Much like Google's Knowledge Graph, Axis draws its results from a custom-built index. Most of the data in the Axis index resides on Yahoo's own services. If Axis can't find answers there, it presents links from Bing's search index.
Yahoo has been relying on Bing's search technology since 2010 as part of a decade-long partnership formed to lure users away from Google. So far, though, most of Bing's gains have come at Yahoo's expense
But Yahoo was losing search traffic well before it began leaning on Bing.
Yahoo's share of the U.S. search market stood at 13.5 percent through April, down from nearly 25 percent five years ago, according to the research firm comScore Inc. Bing holds a 15.4 percent share, up from 9.4 percent five years ago when Microsoft operated a search engine under a different name and system. Google's share has climbed from 56 percent five years ago to more than 66 percent now.
Yahoo's alliance with Microsoft gives it the flexibility to offer unique search features, such as Axis, that Bing doesn't have. Getting people to use its search engine more frequently is important to Yahoo because it keeps 88 percent of the revenue generated from requests made on its service, but doesn't get any money when a query is entered directly on Bing.
The erosion in Yahoo's Internet market share has been a major factor in a financial malaise that has caused the company's stock to slump for years and contributed to the management turmoil that has taken Yahoo through four CEOs - including two interim leaders - during just the past nine months, when it was working on Axis.
Yahoo won't show ads next to Axis search results initially, but the company believes the visual format will be ideal for video commercials and graphical marketing.
In an effort to make Axis even more useful, Yahoo plans to store search activity on its servers so users can have access to their past activity on any computer or mobile device where they log in. Axis will accept the logins that people use on Google and Facebook, as well as Yahoo.
The biggest challenge facing Axis may be overcoming the perception that Yahoo stopped innovating in search when it joined forces with Microsoft.
'If it's good enough and cool enough, people will go out of their way to get it,' predicted IDC analyst Karsten Weide.
___
Online:
Axis plug-in for desktop computer browsers: http://axis.yahoo.com
Axis mobile app: http://www.iTunes.com/appstore
HP to cut 27,000 jobs to save up to $3.5B annually
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to cut 27,000 jobs as the growing popularity of smartphones, the iPad and other mobile devices makes it tougher for the company to sell personal computers.
The cuts announced Wednesday represent HP's largest payroll purge in its 73-year history. The reductions will affect about 8 percent of HP's nearly 350,000 employees by the time the overhaul is completed in October 2014.
Word of the mass layoff had leaked out in media reports late last week, so the news didn't come as a surprise.
HP hopes to avoid as many layoffs as possible by offering early retirement packages.
The company, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., expects to save as much as $3.5 billion annually from the job cuts and other austerity measures.
HP CEO Meg Whitman plans to funnel most of the savings into developing more products and services that could help the company adapt to technological shifts. Those changes are driving demand for more mobile computing and for software that is provided over high-speed Internet connections, rather than installed on individual computers.
Investors seemed to be delighted with the shake-up. HP's shares surged $2.42, or more than 11 percent, to $23.50 in extended trading Wednesday after the announcement.
'Work force reductions are never easy,' Whitman said in a conference call Wednesday with analysts. 'They adversely impact people's lives, but in this case, they are absolutely critical to the long-term health of the company. Our goal is simple: a better outcome for the customers at reduced cost for HP.'
Whitman's crackdown will immediately change the leaders within HP's recently acquired Autonomy division, which makes software for searching for information within companies and government agencies.
Bill Veghte, HP's chief strategy officer, is replacing Autonomy founder Mike Lynch in an effort to boost the division's financial performance. The shake-up is likely to amplify investor questions about whether HP blundered last year when it paid $11 billion to buy Autonomy. That deal was announced in August by Whitman's predecessor, Leo Apotheker, just a month before he was fired.
News of the cutbacks overshadowed the release of HP's latest quarterly results.
The company earned $1.6 billion, or 80 cent per share, during the three months ending in April, its fiscal second quarter. That represented a 31 percent decline from $2.3 billion, or $1.05 per share, at the same time last year.
If not for several items unrelated to HP's ongoing business, the company said it would have earned 98 cents per share. That figure topped the average estimate of 91 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue for HP's fiscal second quarter fell 3 percent from last year to $30.7 billion. That was about $800 million above analyst projections.
'I wouldn't say we have turned the corner, but we are making progress,' Whitman told analysts.
To pay for severance and other restructuring costs, HP expects to take a pre-tax charge of about $1.7 billion in the current fiscal year, which ends in October. It expects to take charges of an additional $1.8 billion through fiscal 2014.
The cuts announced Wednesday represent HP's largest payroll purge in its 73-year history. The reductions will affect about 8 percent of HP's nearly 350,000 employees by the time the overhaul is completed in October 2014.
Word of the mass layoff had leaked out in media reports late last week, so the news didn't come as a surprise.
HP hopes to avoid as many layoffs as possible by offering early retirement packages.
The company, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif., expects to save as much as $3.5 billion annually from the job cuts and other austerity measures.
HP CEO Meg Whitman plans to funnel most of the savings into developing more products and services that could help the company adapt to technological shifts. Those changes are driving demand for more mobile computing and for software that is provided over high-speed Internet connections, rather than installed on individual computers.
Investors seemed to be delighted with the shake-up. HP's shares surged $2.42, or more than 11 percent, to $23.50 in extended trading Wednesday after the announcement.
'Work force reductions are never easy,' Whitman said in a conference call Wednesday with analysts. 'They adversely impact people's lives, but in this case, they are absolutely critical to the long-term health of the company. Our goal is simple: a better outcome for the customers at reduced cost for HP.'
Whitman's crackdown will immediately change the leaders within HP's recently acquired Autonomy division, which makes software for searching for information within companies and government agencies.
Bill Veghte, HP's chief strategy officer, is replacing Autonomy founder Mike Lynch in an effort to boost the division's financial performance. The shake-up is likely to amplify investor questions about whether HP blundered last year when it paid $11 billion to buy Autonomy. That deal was announced in August by Whitman's predecessor, Leo Apotheker, just a month before he was fired.
News of the cutbacks overshadowed the release of HP's latest quarterly results.
The company earned $1.6 billion, or 80 cent per share, during the three months ending in April, its fiscal second quarter. That represented a 31 percent decline from $2.3 billion, or $1.05 per share, at the same time last year.
If not for several items unrelated to HP's ongoing business, the company said it would have earned 98 cents per share. That figure topped the average estimate of 91 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue for HP's fiscal second quarter fell 3 percent from last year to $30.7 billion. That was about $800 million above analyst projections.
'I wouldn't say we have turned the corner, but we are making progress,' Whitman told analysts.
To pay for severance and other restructuring costs, HP expects to take a pre-tax charge of about $1.7 billion in the current fiscal year, which ends in October. It expects to take charges of an additional $1.8 billion through fiscal 2014.
Jury: Google didn't infringe on Oracle patents
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal jury in San Francisco has decided that Google didn't infringe on Oracle's patents when the search company developed its popular Android software for mobile devices.
Wednesday's verdict comes about two weeks after the same jury, with two additional members, failed to agree on a pivotal issue in Oracle's copyright-infringement case against Google. As a result, Google Inc. faced maximum damages of only $150,000 - not the hundreds of millions of dollars that Oracle Corp. was seeking.
The judge presiding over the case dismissed the jury and skipped the planned damages phase of the trial.
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Wednesday's verdict comes about two weeks after the same jury, with two additional members, failed to agree on a pivotal issue in Oracle's copyright-infringement case against Google. As a result, Google Inc. faced maximum damages of only $150,000 - not the hundreds of millions of dollars that Oracle Corp. was seeking.
The judge presiding over the case dismissed the jury and skipped the planned damages phase of the trial.
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Facebook stock climbs after rocky start
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's stock is climbing higher, a reprieve for shareholders after the stock's rocky inaugural trading day Friday was followed by a two-day decline.
Facebook Inc.'s stock is up $1.03, or 3.3 percent, to $32.03. That's still nearly 16 percent below the initial public offering price of $38. Meanwhile, a group of shareholders have filed a lawsuit against Facebook, its executives and Morgan Stanley, the IPO's lead underwriter. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, claims the company's IPO documents contained untrue statements and omitted important facts, such as a 'severe reduction in revenue growth' that Facebook was experiencing at the time of the offering. The suit's three plaintiffs, who bought Facebook stock on its first day of trading May 18, claim they were damaged in the process.
In a statement, Facebook said the lawsuit is without merit. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
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Facebook Inc.'s stock is up $1.03, or 3.3 percent, to $32.03. That's still nearly 16 percent below the initial public offering price of $38. Meanwhile, a group of shareholders have filed a lawsuit against Facebook, its executives and Morgan Stanley, the IPO's lead underwriter. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, claims the company's IPO documents contained untrue statements and omitted important facts, such as a 'severe reduction in revenue growth' that Facebook was experiencing at the time of the offering. The suit's three plaintiffs, who bought Facebook stock on its first day of trading May 18, claim they were damaged in the process.
In a statement, Facebook said the lawsuit is without merit. Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
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Japanese video game author wins Spanish prize
MADRID (AP) - Japan's Shigeru Miyamoto, considered the father of the modern video game, has been awarded Spain's Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.
Miyamoto, 59, is the author of the Mario Bros. series that has become one of the most marketed video game sagas in history.
Asturias award organizers praised Miyamoto, saying he converted 'the video game into a social revolution and has managed to popularize it among a sector of the population that had not previously accessed this kind of entertainment, while also making it a medium capable of bringing people together regardless of sex, age or social or cultural status.'
Wednesday's award is one of eight handed out yearly by a foundation named for Spain's Crown Prince Felipe. Others categories include arts, sports and scientific research.
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Miyamoto, 59, is the author of the Mario Bros. series that has become one of the most marketed video game sagas in history.
Asturias award organizers praised Miyamoto, saying he converted 'the video game into a social revolution and has managed to popularize it among a sector of the population that had not previously accessed this kind of entertainment, while also making it a medium capable of bringing people together regardless of sex, age or social or cultural status.'
Wednesday's award is one of eight handed out yearly by a foundation named for Spain's Crown Prince Felipe. Others categories include arts, sports and scientific research.
This article is brought to you by COMPUTERS.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Regulators probe bank's role in Facebook IPO
WASHINGTON (AP) - Regulators are examining whether Morgan Stanley, the investment bank that shepherded Facebook through its highly publicized stock offering last week, selectively informed clients of an analyst's negative report about the company before the stock started trading.
Rick Ketchum, the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-policing body for the securities industry, said Tuesday that the question is 'a matter of regulatory concern' for his organization and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The top securities regulator for Massachusetts, William Galvin, said he had subpoenaed Morgan Stanley. Galvin said his office is investigating whether Morgan Stanley divulged to only some clients that one of its analysts had cut his revenue estimates for Facebook before the stock hit the market on Friday.
The bank said late Tuesday that it 'followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all IPOs,' referring to initial public offerings of stock. It said that its procedures complied with regulations.
The questions about the role played by Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter for the deal, add to the confusion surrounding Facebook's IPO. In the most hotly anticipated stock debut in years, the offering raised $16 billion for the social networking company, valuing it at $104 billion
On Tuesday, Robert Greifeld, the CEO of the Nasdaq Stock Market, acknowledged to shareholders of Nasdaq's parent company that 'clearly we had mistakes within the Facebook listing.'
The stock debut, originally set for 11 a.m. EDT Friday, was delayed more than half an hour because of technical problems at Nasdaq. Some brokerages were still sorting out the aftermath on Tuesday.
'Unfortunately, our clients continue to feel the effects of this in some cases,' said Stephen Austin, a spokesman for Fidelity Investments, one of the country's largest brokerages. Fidelity was still waiting for some Facebook stock orders that it placed on Friday to be executed. Fidelity's systems had performed normally, Austin said.
In the meantime, Facebook stock itself has been a disappointment. It fell $3.03 on Tuesday to close at $31 and has now fallen $7, or more than 18 percent, from its offering price of $38. It managed to add just 23 cents in its first hours of trading on Friday, then suffered a big decline on Monday.
The Reuters news service reported Tuesday that a Morgan Stanley analyst, Scott Devitt, cut his estimate for Facebook's revenue this year to $4.85 billion from more than $5 billion earlier. Reuters reported that it was unclear whether Morgan Stanley had told only select clients about the reduced estimate.
Reuters reported that the analyst cut his figures for Facebook while the company's executives, including founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, were shopping the stock to potential investors in the weeks ahead of the IPO, a process known in investing as a road show.
Morgan Stanley, in its statement, did not specifically address which clients might have been told about a reduced estimate from one of its analysts. It said that 'a significant number' of analysts, including those from other firms underwriting the stock issue, had reduced their estimates for Facebook to reflect publicly available information about the company.
That was a reference to a May 9 regulatory filing in which Facebook said a shift by many Facebook users toward mobile devices might limit its revenue growth. Social media companies have struggled to make as much money as they would like from mobile advertising. Advertising accounts for more than 80 percent of Facebook's overall revenue.
Morgan Stanley also said that revised analyst views were taken into account in setting the stock offering price at $38 per share. Facebook, working with Morgan Stanley, first set a range of $28 to $35 for the offering price, then raised the range to $34 to $38 before setting it at $38 on the night before the IPO.
When the stock started trading Friday, it jumped several dollars, but quickly fell back toward $38. It never crossed below that level on its first day, and outside analysts said that was probably because Morgan Stanley, eager to avoid the embarrassment of a first-day decline in the stock price, had rushed in with thousands of buy orders at $38.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that Facebook's chief financial officer, David Ebersman, decided shortly before the stock debut to raise the number of shares the company would offer by 25 percent. The Journal, citing people familiar with the planning of the stock offering, also reported that Morgan Stanley had assured Ebersman there was plenty of demand for the stock.
A spokesman for Facebook Inc., which is based in Menlo Park, Calif., said late Tuesday that the company had no comment.
The SEC had already said on Friday that it was looking into problems surrounding the IPO. On Tuesday, the agency's chairman, Mary Schapiro, said: 'I think there is a lot of reason to have confidence in our markets and in the integrity of how they operate, but there are issues that we need to look at specifically with respect to Facebook.'
___
AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay and Julie Walker of AP Radio contributed to this report from New York.
This news article is brought to you by VOCATIONAL-TRADE-SCHOOLS - where latest news are our top priority.
Rick Ketchum, the head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the self-policing body for the securities industry, said Tuesday that the question is 'a matter of regulatory concern' for his organization and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The top securities regulator for Massachusetts, William Galvin, said he had subpoenaed Morgan Stanley. Galvin said his office is investigating whether Morgan Stanley divulged to only some clients that one of its analysts had cut his revenue estimates for Facebook before the stock hit the market on Friday.
The bank said late Tuesday that it 'followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all IPOs,' referring to initial public offerings of stock. It said that its procedures complied with regulations.
The questions about the role played by Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter for the deal, add to the confusion surrounding Facebook's IPO. In the most hotly anticipated stock debut in years, the offering raised $16 billion for the social networking company, valuing it at $104 billion
On Tuesday, Robert Greifeld, the CEO of the Nasdaq Stock Market, acknowledged to shareholders of Nasdaq's parent company that 'clearly we had mistakes within the Facebook listing.'
The stock debut, originally set for 11 a.m. EDT Friday, was delayed more than half an hour because of technical problems at Nasdaq. Some brokerages were still sorting out the aftermath on Tuesday.
'Unfortunately, our clients continue to feel the effects of this in some cases,' said Stephen Austin, a spokesman for Fidelity Investments, one of the country's largest brokerages. Fidelity was still waiting for some Facebook stock orders that it placed on Friday to be executed. Fidelity's systems had performed normally, Austin said.
In the meantime, Facebook stock itself has been a disappointment. It fell $3.03 on Tuesday to close at $31 and has now fallen $7, or more than 18 percent, from its offering price of $38. It managed to add just 23 cents in its first hours of trading on Friday, then suffered a big decline on Monday.
The Reuters news service reported Tuesday that a Morgan Stanley analyst, Scott Devitt, cut his estimate for Facebook's revenue this year to $4.85 billion from more than $5 billion earlier. Reuters reported that it was unclear whether Morgan Stanley had told only select clients about the reduced estimate.
Reuters reported that the analyst cut his figures for Facebook while the company's executives, including founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, were shopping the stock to potential investors in the weeks ahead of the IPO, a process known in investing as a road show.
Morgan Stanley, in its statement, did not specifically address which clients might have been told about a reduced estimate from one of its analysts. It said that 'a significant number' of analysts, including those from other firms underwriting the stock issue, had reduced their estimates for Facebook to reflect publicly available information about the company.
That was a reference to a May 9 regulatory filing in which Facebook said a shift by many Facebook users toward mobile devices might limit its revenue growth. Social media companies have struggled to make as much money as they would like from mobile advertising. Advertising accounts for more than 80 percent of Facebook's overall revenue.
Morgan Stanley also said that revised analyst views were taken into account in setting the stock offering price at $38 per share. Facebook, working with Morgan Stanley, first set a range of $28 to $35 for the offering price, then raised the range to $34 to $38 before setting it at $38 on the night before the IPO.
When the stock started trading Friday, it jumped several dollars, but quickly fell back toward $38. It never crossed below that level on its first day, and outside analysts said that was probably because Morgan Stanley, eager to avoid the embarrassment of a first-day decline in the stock price, had rushed in with thousands of buy orders at $38.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that Facebook's chief financial officer, David Ebersman, decided shortly before the stock debut to raise the number of shares the company would offer by 25 percent. The Journal, citing people familiar with the planning of the stock offering, also reported that Morgan Stanley had assured Ebersman there was plenty of demand for the stock.
A spokesman for Facebook Inc., which is based in Menlo Park, Calif., said late Tuesday that the company had no comment.
The SEC had already said on Friday that it was looking into problems surrounding the IPO. On Tuesday, the agency's chairman, Mary Schapiro, said: 'I think there is a lot of reason to have confidence in our markets and in the integrity of how they operate, but there are issues that we need to look at specifically with respect to Facebook.'
___
AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay and Julie Walker of AP Radio contributed to this report from New York.
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Why Facebook still doesn't look cheap
NEW YORK (AP) - If you were thinking of picking up a few shares of Facebook last week, when it went public at a price of $38, you might be seriously tempted now that the stock has fallen $7 in two days.
But forget the dramatic drop. Investors should focus on the only question that matters: How much money will Facebook earn over the next several years, and is that enough to justify its market value right now?
The conclusion is hard to escape: Facebook might be a bargain someday, but not now.
Though it's a rough guide, one way to value a stock like Facebook is to divide its price by its annual per-share earnings. The result is the price-to-earnings ratio. A higher ratio suggests a stock is expensive, and lower suggests it is cheap.
When Facebook set its offering price at $38, the ratio was high - more than 100 times its per-share earnings last year. It's still high, at 85 times earnings per share, even after a two-day drubbing left it at $31 a share.
The Nasdaq composite index of technology stocks trades at 15.7 times last year's earnings, according to FactSet, a provider of financial data. Apple trades at 13.6 times and Google 18.2 times.
Of course, investing isn't as simple as price-to-earnings ratios. Some companies grow their earnings faster than others, turning a high ratio - and a seemingly expensive stock - into a low ratio and a cheaper stock.
If you just looked at Facebook's earnings growth last year, an impressive 65 percent, you'd think it's just such a company.
If Facebook can keep up that pace, its $1 billion in earnings last year will be $7.4 billion in 2015. That would be enough to bring Facebook's ratio more in line with Apple's.
But that's with the stock not rising from $31. If you assume the stock rises 10 percent a year, you have to add nearly another year to that waiting period.
Then there is the problem with assuming that Facebook - or any company, for that matter - can maintain torrid earnings growth. One reason Apple is trading at just 13.6 times earnings is that investors don't think it can maintain its 85 percent growth rate.
Just projecting one year out is difficult. Among 10 analysts surveyed by FactSet, projections for Facebook's earnings for next year range from $333 million to $1.7 billion. On average, they expect $993 million.
Facebook reported $3.7 billion in revenue for last year. The average projections for this year is $5.1 billion.
Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group, is a Facebook doubter. In a report Friday, he estimated earnings will slow, and they will be only $3.6 billion in 2015 - half of what they would be if Facebook maintained its growth rate.
Another problem with the stock is that Facebook may have waited too long to go public.
Think of the gains investors would have made if the company had debuted in 2009, a turnaround year for Facebook. The company had lost $56 million in 2008 but was finally churning out profits. They more than doubled in 2010.
In August 2009, investors trading private shares of Facebook on Sharepost, a secondary exchange, paid $2.40 per share. Though the numbers are only roughly comparable with today's figures, that gave Facebook a market value of less than $7 billion.
The $38 offering price assigned Facebook a market value of $104 billion. Based on Tuesday's closing stock price, that had fallen to $85 billion.
If Facebook had gone public with a market value of $7 billion and that had increased to last Friday's value of $104 billion, investors in the hypothetical IPO of 2009 would have seen their investment grow 15-fold.
Of course, other companies priced themselves at high price-to-earnings ratios at their IPOs and still managed to reward shareholders. But they tended to be younger businesses than Facebook, which was born eight years ago.
Amazon.com went public in 1997, two years after it opened for business. Back then, its business model was online bookselling. The Kindle, video downloads and cloud-computing hadn't been dreamed up.
Of course, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg could dream things up, too. And Facebook has a real business, real profit and real revenue today. But social media is still unproven in many aspects as a business model.
A lot of people use Facebook on their mobile devices, for example. Facebook gets 82 percent of its revenue from advertising, but no one has figured out how to make substantial money from mobile advertising. In what turned out to be very poor timing for Facebook, General Motors stopped advertising on it during the week of the IPO.
You can also turn that argument on its head. Facebook is just getting started. It will figure a way to make money on mobile, and it will come up with businesses and revenue streams no one has thought of, as Amazon did. But investors in Facebook, at least in the last two days, seem to have their doubts.
One skeptic, Scott Freeze, the president of Street One Financial, says he won't touch the stock until it falls to a level justified by its earnings. He says that might be $25 - another steep fall from here.
This news article is brought to you by IN LOVE WITH A CANCER MAN - where latest news are our top priority.
But forget the dramatic drop. Investors should focus on the only question that matters: How much money will Facebook earn over the next several years, and is that enough to justify its market value right now?
The conclusion is hard to escape: Facebook might be a bargain someday, but not now.
Though it's a rough guide, one way to value a stock like Facebook is to divide its price by its annual per-share earnings. The result is the price-to-earnings ratio. A higher ratio suggests a stock is expensive, and lower suggests it is cheap.
When Facebook set its offering price at $38, the ratio was high - more than 100 times its per-share earnings last year. It's still high, at 85 times earnings per share, even after a two-day drubbing left it at $31 a share.
The Nasdaq composite index of technology stocks trades at 15.7 times last year's earnings, according to FactSet, a provider of financial data. Apple trades at 13.6 times and Google 18.2 times.
Of course, investing isn't as simple as price-to-earnings ratios. Some companies grow their earnings faster than others, turning a high ratio - and a seemingly expensive stock - into a low ratio and a cheaper stock.
If you just looked at Facebook's earnings growth last year, an impressive 65 percent, you'd think it's just such a company.
If Facebook can keep up that pace, its $1 billion in earnings last year will be $7.4 billion in 2015. That would be enough to bring Facebook's ratio more in line with Apple's.
But that's with the stock not rising from $31. If you assume the stock rises 10 percent a year, you have to add nearly another year to that waiting period.
Then there is the problem with assuming that Facebook - or any company, for that matter - can maintain torrid earnings growth. One reason Apple is trading at just 13.6 times earnings is that investors don't think it can maintain its 85 percent growth rate.
Just projecting one year out is difficult. Among 10 analysts surveyed by FactSet, projections for Facebook's earnings for next year range from $333 million to $1.7 billion. On average, they expect $993 million.
Facebook reported $3.7 billion in revenue for last year. The average projections for this year is $5.1 billion.
Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group, is a Facebook doubter. In a report Friday, he estimated earnings will slow, and they will be only $3.6 billion in 2015 - half of what they would be if Facebook maintained its growth rate.
Another problem with the stock is that Facebook may have waited too long to go public.
Think of the gains investors would have made if the company had debuted in 2009, a turnaround year for Facebook. The company had lost $56 million in 2008 but was finally churning out profits. They more than doubled in 2010.
In August 2009, investors trading private shares of Facebook on Sharepost, a secondary exchange, paid $2.40 per share. Though the numbers are only roughly comparable with today's figures, that gave Facebook a market value of less than $7 billion.
The $38 offering price assigned Facebook a market value of $104 billion. Based on Tuesday's closing stock price, that had fallen to $85 billion.
If Facebook had gone public with a market value of $7 billion and that had increased to last Friday's value of $104 billion, investors in the hypothetical IPO of 2009 would have seen their investment grow 15-fold.
Of course, other companies priced themselves at high price-to-earnings ratios at their IPOs and still managed to reward shareholders. But they tended to be younger businesses than Facebook, which was born eight years ago.
Amazon.com went public in 1997, two years after it opened for business. Back then, its business model was online bookselling. The Kindle, video downloads and cloud-computing hadn't been dreamed up.
Of course, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg could dream things up, too. And Facebook has a real business, real profit and real revenue today. But social media is still unproven in many aspects as a business model.
A lot of people use Facebook on their mobile devices, for example. Facebook gets 82 percent of its revenue from advertising, but no one has figured out how to make substantial money from mobile advertising. In what turned out to be very poor timing for Facebook, General Motors stopped advertising on it during the week of the IPO.
You can also turn that argument on its head. Facebook is just getting started. It will figure a way to make money on mobile, and it will come up with businesses and revenue streams no one has thought of, as Amazon did. But investors in Facebook, at least in the last two days, seem to have their doubts.
One skeptic, Scott Freeze, the president of Street One Financial, says he won't touch the stock until it falls to a level justified by its earnings. He says that might be $25 - another steep fall from here.
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SAP to buy Ariba for $4.5B, extending cloud push
NEW YORK (AP) - Business software maker SAP AG on Tuesday said it will buy Ariba Inc., which makes Web-based software that connects suppliers and buyers online, for about $4.51 billion.
The deal continues Germany-based SAP's rivalry with database maker Oracle Corp. Both companies are buying up smaller ones that, like Ariba, provide software that's hosted on remote servers, in the so-called 'cloud.' Cloud-based applications remove the need for businesses to install and run software in-house.
In April, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle closed on the $1.9 billion acquisition of Taleo Corp., which provides cloud-based software that helps companies recruit and manage employees.
SAP said it is offering $45 per share for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Ariba. Ariba shares closed Tuesday at $44.87, up $7.23, or 19 percent. The price indicates that investors expect the deal to be consummated at the price SAP is offering.
SAP shares fell 10 cents to $58.69 per share.
Ariba's board has approved the deal and SAP says it should close during the third quarter if Ariba shareholders approve the sale.
Ariba's business-to-business network connects 730,000 companies and transactions worth $319 billion per year, SAP said. It said it would keep the network open, letting companies that use competing business software packages from Oracle and Microsoft Corp. connect to it.
Ariba's revenue grew almost 40 percent to $444 million in its latest fiscal year. SAP says the deal should add to its adjusted profit in 2013. The company has about 2,600 employees.
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The deal continues Germany-based SAP's rivalry with database maker Oracle Corp. Both companies are buying up smaller ones that, like Ariba, provide software that's hosted on remote servers, in the so-called 'cloud.' Cloud-based applications remove the need for businesses to install and run software in-house.
In April, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle closed on the $1.9 billion acquisition of Taleo Corp., which provides cloud-based software that helps companies recruit and manage employees.
SAP said it is offering $45 per share for Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Ariba. Ariba shares closed Tuesday at $44.87, up $7.23, or 19 percent. The price indicates that investors expect the deal to be consummated at the price SAP is offering.
SAP shares fell 10 cents to $58.69 per share.
Ariba's board has approved the deal and SAP says it should close during the third quarter if Ariba shareholders approve the sale.
Ariba's business-to-business network connects 730,000 companies and transactions worth $319 billion per year, SAP said. It said it would keep the network open, letting companies that use competing business software packages from Oracle and Microsoft Corp. connect to it.
Ariba's revenue grew almost 40 percent to $444 million in its latest fiscal year. SAP says the deal should add to its adjusted profit in 2013. The company has about 2,600 employees.
This news article is brought to you by HUNTING - where latest news are our top priority.
SAP says it will buy Ariba for $4.5B
NEW YORK (AP) - Business software maker SAP AG says it will buy spending-management software company Ariba Inc. for about $4.51 billion.
SAP says it is offering $45 per share for the Sunnyvale, Calif., company. That's a premium of 19.6 percent from Monday's closing price of Ariba shares. Ariba had 100.2 million shares on the market as of March 31, according to FactSet.
Ariba's board has approved the deal and SAP says it should close during the third quarter if Ariba shareholders approve the sale.
SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, says the deal is worth about $4.3 billion.
Ariba's revenue grew almost 40 percent to $444 million in its latest fiscal year. SAP says the deal should add to its adjusted profit in 2013. The company has around 2,600 employees.
This news article is brought to you by HOME-BREWING - where latest news are our top priority.
SAP says it is offering $45 per share for the Sunnyvale, Calif., company. That's a premium of 19.6 percent from Monday's closing price of Ariba shares. Ariba had 100.2 million shares on the market as of March 31, according to FactSet.
Ariba's board has approved the deal and SAP says it should close during the third quarter if Ariba shareholders approve the sale.
SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, says the deal is worth about $4.3 billion.
Ariba's revenue grew almost 40 percent to $444 million in its latest fiscal year. SAP says the deal should add to its adjusted profit in 2013. The company has around 2,600 employees.
This news article is brought to you by HOME-BREWING - where latest news are our top priority.
Where are Facebook's friends? Stock slide deepens
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook's newly public stock is sliding further on its third trading day as investors reconsider how much the social network is worth.
The company's long-anticipated initial public offering of stock raised $16 billion, valuing the company at $104 billion - more than Amazon.com Inc., at $98 billion.
But Facebook's stock has plunged after the IPO. It fell $1.09, or 3.2 percent, to $32.94 in late morning trading Tuesday, after dropping as low as $30.98 earlier in the day. The latest price is 13 percent below the IPO price of $38 and values the company at about $91 billion.
Google Inc., meanwhile, is worth nearly $200 billion.
The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to Nasdaq Stock Market with a ticker symbol of 'FB.' Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public.
Facebook's IPO - like Netscape's in 1995 and Google's in 2004 - was billed as a milestone moment. Netscape's offering ushered in the era of the Internet browser. The company's stock more than doubled in its first day of trading. Google's IPO heralded the age of search. It posted an 18 percent gain in its stock market debut. Facebook was supposed to offer proof that social media is a viable business and more than a passing fad.
But investors don't seem convinced. Facebook's stock closed Monday at $34.03, down 11 percent from Friday's closing price of $38.23. The investment banks that arranged Facebook's offering set a price of $38 on Thursday. Although many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop, Facebook's stock opened Friday at $42.05 and fluctuated between $45 and $38 throughout the day.
For a host reasons, Facebook's falling share price shouldn't have been a surprise.
- Its IPO occurred the same week that the markets posted their worse performance so far in 2012. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4 percent.
- Meanwhile, Europe was trying to avert financial disaster.
- At the same time, the American public's love affair with the stock market continued to wane. People have yanked more than $400 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds since 2008.
- Banks are being cautious, too. All this is happening in the backdrop where banks are under pressure from regulators to become more conservative after the financial crisis. 'Regulators want banks to take less risk,' said Larry Tabb, founder and CEO of Tabb Group, a markets research firm. 'To support a $100 billion offering can be challenging in this environment.'
- Investors were also spooked by the trading glitches at the Nasdaq on Friday. Some people weren't sure if their trades had been executed. Trading of the stock was delayed by a half-hour.
'It was like trying to get a jumbo jet to take off in turbulent weather,' said Kathleen Shelton Smith, principal at Renaissance Capital, an IPO advisory firm. 'It's going to be a bumpy ride.'
With all of these factors in place on the day of Facebook's IPO, some people may wonder why Facebook's stock didn't do worse.
The answer: Facebook had some help. On Friday, Facebook only got as low as pennies above the offering price of $38 per share but never fell below. The banks that arranged the IPO, the deals underwriters such as Morgan Stanley and others, put in enough 'buy' orders at $38 to keep the price from dropping below that level.
It's a customary gesture from underwriters to support the company they helped bring to market, explains Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida. It's a way to save face and show that the company and the bankers gauged an appropriate level of demand from investors and valued the company correctly.
Pulling off a successful IPO means properly gauging supply and demand. The underwriters work with the company to decide how much stock to sell and at what price. Facebook sold 421 million shares. That was a lot of stock to sell. It is one of the largest IPOs on record.
Investors and the technology industry are closely tracking the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's shares. In the same way that Netscape ushered in a new era for Internet darlings in 1995, Facebook may have done the opposite for similar companies waiting to go public today. There are 168 companies in the pipeline trying to raise $41 billion through IPOs in the U.S.
'Facebook has raised cost of capital for all the companies that come with an IPO in its wake,' said Smith.
Facebook's falling share price may be a sign that investors are taking a rational look at the company's financial performance in comparison to its peers.
Though there are many ways to judge if a stock's price is too high or too low, one popular method is to compare it to earnings. The so-called price-earnings ratio, divides a company's stock price by the company's annual earnings per share. A higher ratio suggests a stock is expensive because, in a sense, it takes more years of earnings for investors to get back they paid for it. A lower ratio suggests it is cheap.
By this logic, Facebook looks expensive compared with some companies. It is trading at 74 times its earnings in the past year, according to FactSet, a research firm. That compares with Apple at 13.7 times and Google at 18.6 times. The Nasdaq index of technology stocks trades at 20.8 times.
'There must have been some sober second thoughts about this,' said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group who was first to come out with a 'Sell' rating on Facebook's stock on Friday.
It's not that he believes the world's largest online social network is a bad investment. But at $38 per share, it's just too expensive considering the risks associated with Facebook's brief history and unproven advertising model, he says. His fair price, or 'target price,' is $30.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who came out with an 'Outperform' rating on Facebook before its IPO, said he believes the investment banks that arranged the offering overestimated demand for the company's stock.
Facebook originally set a price range of $28 to $35 for its IPO, which would have valued the company at $95 billion at the high end. Last Tuesday, though, it increased the price range to $34 to $38 per share, valuing the company at as much as $104 billion.
Then, responding to extraordinary demand from prospective investors, the company announced on Wednesday that it would add 84 million shares to the offering. The shares came entirely from the company's early investors - such as Goldman Sachs and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The fact that these investors were offloading more stock instead of hanging on to it may have served as a warning sign to new investors.
'The late addition of 84 million shares to the offering overwhelmed demand, limiting the first day price,' Pachter said in a note to investors.
Aside from rational risk calculations, some investors 'un-friended' Facebook for emotional reasons on Monday. Alper Aydinoglu, a student at DePaul University in Chicago sold all 50 shares that he got via E-Trade at $38 last week. He took an 11 percent loss.
'I'm not willing to stick through the volatility,' Aydinoglu said.
___
AP Business Writers Bernard Condon and Michelle Chapman contributed to this story.
This news article is brought to you by IN LOVE WITH A CANCER MAN - where latest news are our top priority.
The company's long-anticipated initial public offering of stock raised $16 billion, valuing the company at $104 billion - more than Amazon.com Inc., at $98 billion.
But Facebook's stock has plunged after the IPO. It fell $1.09, or 3.2 percent, to $32.94 in late morning trading Tuesday, after dropping as low as $30.98 earlier in the day. The latest price is 13 percent below the IPO price of $38 and values the company at about $91 billion.
Google Inc., meanwhile, is worth nearly $200 billion.
The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to Nasdaq Stock Market with a ticker symbol of 'FB.' Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public.
Facebook's IPO - like Netscape's in 1995 and Google's in 2004 - was billed as a milestone moment. Netscape's offering ushered in the era of the Internet browser. The company's stock more than doubled in its first day of trading. Google's IPO heralded the age of search. It posted an 18 percent gain in its stock market debut. Facebook was supposed to offer proof that social media is a viable business and more than a passing fad.
But investors don't seem convinced. Facebook's stock closed Monday at $34.03, down 11 percent from Friday's closing price of $38.23. The investment banks that arranged Facebook's offering set a price of $38 on Thursday. Although many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop, Facebook's stock opened Friday at $42.05 and fluctuated between $45 and $38 throughout the day.
For a host reasons, Facebook's falling share price shouldn't have been a surprise.
- Its IPO occurred the same week that the markets posted their worse performance so far in 2012. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4 percent.
- Meanwhile, Europe was trying to avert financial disaster.
- At the same time, the American public's love affair with the stock market continued to wane. People have yanked more than $400 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds since 2008.
- Banks are being cautious, too. All this is happening in the backdrop where banks are under pressure from regulators to become more conservative after the financial crisis. 'Regulators want banks to take less risk,' said Larry Tabb, founder and CEO of Tabb Group, a markets research firm. 'To support a $100 billion offering can be challenging in this environment.'
- Investors were also spooked by the trading glitches at the Nasdaq on Friday. Some people weren't sure if their trades had been executed. Trading of the stock was delayed by a half-hour.
'It was like trying to get a jumbo jet to take off in turbulent weather,' said Kathleen Shelton Smith, principal at Renaissance Capital, an IPO advisory firm. 'It's going to be a bumpy ride.'
With all of these factors in place on the day of Facebook's IPO, some people may wonder why Facebook's stock didn't do worse.
The answer: Facebook had some help. On Friday, Facebook only got as low as pennies above the offering price of $38 per share but never fell below. The banks that arranged the IPO, the deals underwriters such as Morgan Stanley and others, put in enough 'buy' orders at $38 to keep the price from dropping below that level.
It's a customary gesture from underwriters to support the company they helped bring to market, explains Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida. It's a way to save face and show that the company and the bankers gauged an appropriate level of demand from investors and valued the company correctly.
Pulling off a successful IPO means properly gauging supply and demand. The underwriters work with the company to decide how much stock to sell and at what price. Facebook sold 421 million shares. That was a lot of stock to sell. It is one of the largest IPOs on record.
Investors and the technology industry are closely tracking the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's shares. In the same way that Netscape ushered in a new era for Internet darlings in 1995, Facebook may have done the opposite for similar companies waiting to go public today. There are 168 companies in the pipeline trying to raise $41 billion through IPOs in the U.S.
'Facebook has raised cost of capital for all the companies that come with an IPO in its wake,' said Smith.
Facebook's falling share price may be a sign that investors are taking a rational look at the company's financial performance in comparison to its peers.
Though there are many ways to judge if a stock's price is too high or too low, one popular method is to compare it to earnings. The so-called price-earnings ratio, divides a company's stock price by the company's annual earnings per share. A higher ratio suggests a stock is expensive because, in a sense, it takes more years of earnings for investors to get back they paid for it. A lower ratio suggests it is cheap.
By this logic, Facebook looks expensive compared with some companies. It is trading at 74 times its earnings in the past year, according to FactSet, a research firm. That compares with Apple at 13.7 times and Google at 18.6 times. The Nasdaq index of technology stocks trades at 20.8 times.
'There must have been some sober second thoughts about this,' said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group who was first to come out with a 'Sell' rating on Facebook's stock on Friday.
It's not that he believes the world's largest online social network is a bad investment. But at $38 per share, it's just too expensive considering the risks associated with Facebook's brief history and unproven advertising model, he says. His fair price, or 'target price,' is $30.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who came out with an 'Outperform' rating on Facebook before its IPO, said he believes the investment banks that arranged the offering overestimated demand for the company's stock.
Facebook originally set a price range of $28 to $35 for its IPO, which would have valued the company at $95 billion at the high end. Last Tuesday, though, it increased the price range to $34 to $38 per share, valuing the company at as much as $104 billion.
Then, responding to extraordinary demand from prospective investors, the company announced on Wednesday that it would add 84 million shares to the offering. The shares came entirely from the company's early investors - such as Goldman Sachs and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The fact that these investors were offloading more stock instead of hanging on to it may have served as a warning sign to new investors.
'The late addition of 84 million shares to the offering overwhelmed demand, limiting the first day price,' Pachter said in a note to investors.
Aside from rational risk calculations, some investors 'un-friended' Facebook for emotional reasons on Monday. Alper Aydinoglu, a student at DePaul University in Chicago sold all 50 shares that he got via E-Trade at $38 last week. He took an 11 percent loss.
'I'm not willing to stick through the volatility,' Aydinoglu said.
___
AP Business Writers Bernard Condon and Michelle Chapman contributed to this story.
This news article is brought to you by IN LOVE WITH A CANCER MAN - where latest news are our top priority.
UK virtual orchestra puts you in conductor's stand
LONDON (AP) - A London museum is putting the conductor's baton in visitors' hands, allowing guests to direct a virtual orchestra using three-dimensional motion sensors.
The 'Universe of Sound' installation at the British capital's Science Museum uses Microsoft's Kinect technology to capture the hand movements of visitors who stand in specially made pods.
Raise your left hand and the orchestra - which appears on a set of television screens - plays louder. Speed your right hand and the tempo of the music increases.
The pods are part of the Science Museum's effort to pick apart the traditional orchestra, using specially shot film footage, immersive sound, and electronic instruments to give an unusually close-up view of how classical music is made.
'Universe of Sound' opens Wednesday. Entry is free.
This news article is brought to you by LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP - where latest news are our top priority.
The 'Universe of Sound' installation at the British capital's Science Museum uses Microsoft's Kinect technology to capture the hand movements of visitors who stand in specially made pods.
Raise your left hand and the orchestra - which appears on a set of television screens - plays louder. Speed your right hand and the tempo of the music increases.
The pods are part of the Science Museum's effort to pick apart the traditional orchestra, using specially shot film footage, immersive sound, and electronic instruments to give an unusually close-up view of how classical music is made.
'Universe of Sound' opens Wednesday. Entry is free.
This news article is brought to you by LONG-DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP - where latest news are our top priority.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Where are Facebook's friends? Stock down after IPO
NEW YORK (AP) - Facebook was supposed to soar. Instead, it plunged.
After the social network's stock fizzled on Friday in its long-awaited debut, its stock fell 11 percent on Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied.
The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses, and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to the stock market - Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public.
Facebook's IPO -like Netscape's in 1995 and Google's in 2004- was billed as a milestone moment. Netscape's offering ushered in the era of the Internet browser. The company's stock more than doubled in its first day of trading. Google's IPO heralded the age of search. It posted an 18 percent gain in its stock market debut. Facebook was supposed to offer proof that social media is a viable business and more than a passing fad.
But investors don't seem convinced. Facebook's stock closed Monday at $34.03, down 11 percent from Friday's closing price of $38.23. The investment banks that arranged Facebook's offering set a price of $38 on Thursday. Although many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop, Facebook's stock opened Friday at $42.05 and fluctuated between $45 and $38 throughout the day.
For a host reasons, Facebook's falling share price shouldn't have been a surprise.
-Its IPO occurred the same week that the markets posted their worse performance so far in 2012. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4 percent.
-Meanwhile, Europe was trying to avert financial disaster.
-At the same time, the American public's love affair with the stock market continued to wane. People have yanked over $400 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds since 2008.
-Banks are being cautious too. All this is happening in the backdrop where banks are under pressure from regulators to become more conservative after the financial crisis. 'Regulators want banks to take less risk,' said Larry Tabb, founder and CEO of Tabb Group, a markets research firm. 'To support a $100 billion offering can be challenging in this environment.'
-Investors were also spooked by the trading glitches at the Nasdaq stock market on Friday. Some people weren't sure if their trades had been executed and trading of the stock was delayed by a half hour.
'It was like trying to get a jumbo jet to take off in turbulent weather,' said Kathleen Shelton Smith, principal of Renaissance Capital, IPO research. 'It's going to be a bumpy ride.'
With all of these factors in place on the day of Facebook's IPO, some people may wonder why Facebook's stock didn't do worse.
The answer is: Facebook had some help. On Friday, Facebook only got as low as pennies above the offering price of $38 per share but never fell below. The banks that arranged the IPO, the deals underwriters such as Morgan Stanley and others, put in enough 'buy' orders at $38 to keep the price from dropping below that level. It's a customary gesture from underwriters to support the company they helped bring to market, explains Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida. It's a way to save face and show that the company and the bankers gauged an appropriate level of demand from investors and valued the company correctly.
Pulling off a successful IPO means properly gauging supply and demand. The underwriters work with the company to decide how much stock to sell and at what price. Facebook sold 421 million shares. That was a lot of stock to sell. It is one of the largest IPOs on record.
Investors and the technology industry are closely tracking the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's shares. In the same way that Netscape ushered in a new era for Internet darlings in 1995, Facebook may have done the opposite for similar companies waiting to go public today. There are 168 companies in the pipeline trying to raise $41 billion through IPOs in the U.S.
'Facebook has raised cost of capital for all the companies that come with an IPO in its wake,' said Smith.
Facebook's falling share price may be a sign that investors are taking a rational look at the company's financial performance in comparison to its peers.
Though there are many ways to judge if a stock's price is too high or too low, one popular method is to compare it to earnings. The so-called price-earnings ratio, divides a company's stock price by the company's annual earnings per share. A higher ratio suggests a stock is expensive because, in a sense, it takes more years of earnings for investors to get back they paid for it. A lower ratio suggests it is cheap.
By this logic, Facebook looks expensive compared to some companies. It is trading at 74 times its earnings in the past year, according to FactSet, a research firm. That compares with Apple at 13.7 times and Google at 18.6 times. The Nasdaq index of technology stocks trades at 20.8 times.
'There must have been some sober second thoughts about this,' said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group who was first to come out with a 'Sell' rating on Facebook's stock on Friday.
It's not that he thinks the world's largest online social network is a bad investment. But at $38 per share, it's just too expensive considering the risks associated with Facebook's brief history and unproven advertising model, he says. His fair price, or 'target price,' is $30.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who came out with an 'Outperform' rating on Facebook before its IPO, said he thinks the investment banks that arranged the offering overestimated demand for the company's stock.
Facebook originally set a price range of $28 to $35 for its IPO, which would have valued the company at $95 billion at the high end. Last Tuesday, though, it increased the price range to $34 to $38 per share, valuing the company at as much as $104 billion.
Then, responding to extraordinary demand from prospective investors, the company announced on Wednesday that it would add 84 million shares to the offering. The shares came entirely from the company's early investors - such as Goldman Sachs and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The fact that these investors were offloading more stock instead of hanging on to it may have served as a warning sign to new investors.
'The late addition of 84 million shares to the offering overwhelmed demand, limiting the first day price,' Pachter said in a note to investors.
Aside from rational risk calculations, some investors 'un-friended' Facebook for emotional reasons on Monday. Alper Aydinoglu, a student at DePaul University in Chicago sold all 50 shares that he got via Etrade at $38 last week. He racked up an 11 percent loss.
'I'm not willing to stick through the volatility,' said Aydinoglu.
___
AP Business Writers Bernard Condon and Michelle Chapman contributed to this story.
This article is brought to you by BUY CHEAP COMPUTERS.
After the social network's stock fizzled on Friday in its long-awaited debut, its stock fell 11 percent on Monday, even as the rest of the stock market rallied.
The downward spiral has left some people sitting on big losses, and others scratching their heads. After all, nothing fundamental has changed at Facebook in the days since the much-hyped company came to the stock market - Facebook still has more than 900 million users, its 28-year-old founder Mark Zuckerberg controls the company, and it is still one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public.
Facebook's IPO -like Netscape's in 1995 and Google's in 2004- was billed as a milestone moment. Netscape's offering ushered in the era of the Internet browser. The company's stock more than doubled in its first day of trading. Google's IPO heralded the age of search. It posted an 18 percent gain in its stock market debut. Facebook was supposed to offer proof that social media is a viable business and more than a passing fad.
But investors don't seem convinced. Facebook's stock closed Monday at $34.03, down 11 percent from Friday's closing price of $38.23. The investment banks that arranged Facebook's offering set a price of $38 on Thursday. Although many investors had hoped for a big first-day pop, Facebook's stock opened Friday at $42.05 and fluctuated between $45 and $38 throughout the day.
For a host reasons, Facebook's falling share price shouldn't have been a surprise.
-Its IPO occurred the same week that the markets posted their worse performance so far in 2012. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 4 percent.
-Meanwhile, Europe was trying to avert financial disaster.
-At the same time, the American public's love affair with the stock market continued to wane. People have yanked over $400 billion from U.S. stock mutual funds since 2008.
-Banks are being cautious too. All this is happening in the backdrop where banks are under pressure from regulators to become more conservative after the financial crisis. 'Regulators want banks to take less risk,' said Larry Tabb, founder and CEO of Tabb Group, a markets research firm. 'To support a $100 billion offering can be challenging in this environment.'
-Investors were also spooked by the trading glitches at the Nasdaq stock market on Friday. Some people weren't sure if their trades had been executed and trading of the stock was delayed by a half hour.
'It was like trying to get a jumbo jet to take off in turbulent weather,' said Kathleen Shelton Smith, principal of Renaissance Capital, IPO research. 'It's going to be a bumpy ride.'
With all of these factors in place on the day of Facebook's IPO, some people may wonder why Facebook's stock didn't do worse.
The answer is: Facebook had some help. On Friday, Facebook only got as low as pennies above the offering price of $38 per share but never fell below. The banks that arranged the IPO, the deals underwriters such as Morgan Stanley and others, put in enough 'buy' orders at $38 to keep the price from dropping below that level. It's a customary gesture from underwriters to support the company they helped bring to market, explains Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida. It's a way to save face and show that the company and the bankers gauged an appropriate level of demand from investors and valued the company correctly.
Pulling off a successful IPO means properly gauging supply and demand. The underwriters work with the company to decide how much stock to sell and at what price. Facebook sold 421 million shares. That was a lot of stock to sell. It is one of the largest IPOs on record.
Investors and the technology industry are closely tracking the Menlo Park, Calif.-based company's shares. In the same way that Netscape ushered in a new era for Internet darlings in 1995, Facebook may have done the opposite for similar companies waiting to go public today. There are 168 companies in the pipeline trying to raise $41 billion through IPOs in the U.S.
'Facebook has raised cost of capital for all the companies that come with an IPO in its wake,' said Smith.
Facebook's falling share price may be a sign that investors are taking a rational look at the company's financial performance in comparison to its peers.
Though there are many ways to judge if a stock's price is too high or too low, one popular method is to compare it to earnings. The so-called price-earnings ratio, divides a company's stock price by the company's annual earnings per share. A higher ratio suggests a stock is expensive because, in a sense, it takes more years of earnings for investors to get back they paid for it. A lower ratio suggests it is cheap.
By this logic, Facebook looks expensive compared to some companies. It is trading at 74 times its earnings in the past year, according to FactSet, a research firm. That compares with Apple at 13.7 times and Google at 18.6 times. The Nasdaq index of technology stocks trades at 20.8 times.
'There must have been some sober second thoughts about this,' said Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group who was first to come out with a 'Sell' rating on Facebook's stock on Friday.
It's not that he thinks the world's largest online social network is a bad investment. But at $38 per share, it's just too expensive considering the risks associated with Facebook's brief history and unproven advertising model, he says. His fair price, or 'target price,' is $30.
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who came out with an 'Outperform' rating on Facebook before its IPO, said he thinks the investment banks that arranged the offering overestimated demand for the company's stock.
Facebook originally set a price range of $28 to $35 for its IPO, which would have valued the company at $95 billion at the high end. Last Tuesday, though, it increased the price range to $34 to $38 per share, valuing the company at as much as $104 billion.
Then, responding to extraordinary demand from prospective investors, the company announced on Wednesday that it would add 84 million shares to the offering. The shares came entirely from the company's early investors - such as Goldman Sachs and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. The fact that these investors were offloading more stock instead of hanging on to it may have served as a warning sign to new investors.
'The late addition of 84 million shares to the offering overwhelmed demand, limiting the first day price,' Pachter said in a note to investors.
Aside from rational risk calculations, some investors 'un-friended' Facebook for emotional reasons on Monday. Alper Aydinoglu, a student at DePaul University in Chicago sold all 50 shares that he got via Etrade at $38 last week. He racked up an 11 percent loss.
'I'm not willing to stick through the volatility,' said Aydinoglu.
___
AP Business Writers Bernard Condon and Michelle Chapman contributed to this story.
This article is brought to you by BUY CHEAP COMPUTERS.
Webcasts push solar eclipse to the masses
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - It was one of the best places in the western United States to watch the annular solar eclipse, and people drove for days just to get to this dusty stretch west of Albuquerque.
Did it matter?
Some say no. The game of chasing celestial spectacles like Sunday's eclipse has forever changed thanks to live webcasting by astronomy experts and social network sites that are being fueled by grainy smartphone photographs and video clips.
The National Park Service streamed the eclipse live on its website from Petroglyph National Monument. It marked a first for the agency.
Across town, the University of New Mexico was doing the same. In Japan, Panasonic went live from Mount Fuji.
UNM astronomy professor Richard Rand says this new way of experiencing eclipses and other celestial events can only add to their understanding and result in more interest in science.
This article is brought to you by AFFORDABLE COMPUTERS.
Did it matter?
Some say no. The game of chasing celestial spectacles like Sunday's eclipse has forever changed thanks to live webcasting by astronomy experts and social network sites that are being fueled by grainy smartphone photographs and video clips.
The National Park Service streamed the eclipse live on its website from Petroglyph National Monument. It marked a first for the agency.
Across town, the University of New Mexico was doing the same. In Japan, Panasonic went live from Mount Fuji.
UNM astronomy professor Richard Rand says this new way of experiencing eclipses and other celestial events can only add to their understanding and result in more interest in science.
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Sunday, May 20, 2012
Yahoo to sell half of its Alibaba stake for $7.1B
HONG KONG (AP) - Struggling Internet company Yahoo Inc. has agreed to sell half of its 40 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba for about $7.1 billion.
The deal, announced Sunday in the U.S., will see Alibaba Group buying back the stake from Yahoo Inc. for $6.3 billion cash and up to $800 million of Alibaba preference shares.
The announcement caps at least a year of on-and-off talks as Yahoo tried to sell its stake. Money from the sale might help Yahoo appease its shareholders by giving it the ability to pay dividends, make acquisitions or buy back its own shares.
The two companies also have an agreement for Yahoo to sell the remainder of its Alibaba stake in stages later on.
Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn said in a statement that the agreement provides 'clarity' for Yahoo shareholders.
A person with knowledge of the deal said there are incentives built into the transaction that would make it attractive for Alibaba Group to hold an initial public offering by the end of 2015.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details, said there was no timing or formal commitment for an IPO.
Alibaba Group is in the process of privatizing its Hong Kong listed unit.
Alibaba Chairman and CEO Jack Ma said the deal establishes a 'balanced ownership structure that enables Alibaba to take our business to the next level as a public company in the future.'
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The deal, announced Sunday in the U.S., will see Alibaba Group buying back the stake from Yahoo Inc. for $6.3 billion cash and up to $800 million of Alibaba preference shares.
The announcement caps at least a year of on-and-off talks as Yahoo tried to sell its stake. Money from the sale might help Yahoo appease its shareholders by giving it the ability to pay dividends, make acquisitions or buy back its own shares.
The two companies also have an agreement for Yahoo to sell the remainder of its Alibaba stake in stages later on.
Yahoo's interim CEO Ross Levinsohn said in a statement that the agreement provides 'clarity' for Yahoo shareholders.
A person with knowledge of the deal said there are incentives built into the transaction that would make it attractive for Alibaba Group to hold an initial public offering by the end of 2015.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details, said there was no timing or formal commitment for an IPO.
Alibaba Group is in the process of privatizing its Hong Kong listed unit.
Alibaba Chairman and CEO Jack Ma said the deal establishes a 'balanced ownership structure that enables Alibaba to take our business to the next level as a public company in the future.'
This article is brought to you by BUY CHEAP COMPUTERS.
Day after historic IPO, Facebook's Zuckerberg weds
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - For Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it was quite a week - from birthday, to IPO, to I DO.
A day after the historic Facebook stock offering, Zuckerberg on Saturday wed 27-year-old Priscilla Chan, his girlfriend of nearly a decade, according to a guest authorized to speak for the couple. The person spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
Zuckerberg gave his new bride a ring he had designed with a 'very simple ruby' to end an incredibly eventful week, according to the guest.
The couple married at his Palo Alto, Calif. home in front of fewer than 100 stunned guests who thought they would be attending a party to celebrate Chan's graduation from medical school.
On Monday, Zuckerberg turned 28 and Chan graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, where she'd studied pediatrics.
Then on Friday, Zuckerberg took his blue-and-white web behemoth public in one of the most anticipated IPOs in Wall Street history.
The seemingly well-coordinated timing was largely a coincidence, the guest said. The wedding had been planned for months and the couple was waiting for Chan to finish medical school, but the date of the IPO was a 'moving target' not known when the wedding was set.
Attendees, including Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, were told after they arrived that they were not mere party guests but wedding guests.
'Everybody was shocked,' the guest said.
The person would not discuss the names of others who attended to protect their privacy.
Ditching his trademark hoodie and sneakers, Zuckerberg sported a dark blue suit and tie with a white shirt for the ceremony, while Chan wore a traditional white wedding dress with veil and lace.
Food was served family-style and included dishes from the couple's favorite Palo Alto sushi restaurant.
Zuckerberg met Chan at Harvard, where he founded Facebook in a dorm room in 2004, and have been together for more than nine years.
Chan's own Facebook page, which now lists her as married to the founder, said she is a native of Braintree, Mass., and attended high school in nearby Quincy.
She graduated Harvard in 2007 then taught science to fourth and fifth graders at the Harker School in San Jose for two years before starting medical school, according to her profile.
Her page also says she 'loves cooking and soft things.'
Even after the IPO, Zuckerberg, who grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., remains Facebook's single largest shareholder, with 503.6 million shares, and he controls the company with 56 percent of its voting stock.
The site has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people and made its founder, Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2010, one of the most famous businessmen of the Internet age.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this story from Los Angeles.
This article is brought to you by BUY CHEAP COMPUTERS.
A day after the historic Facebook stock offering, Zuckerberg on Saturday wed 27-year-old Priscilla Chan, his girlfriend of nearly a decade, according to a guest authorized to speak for the couple. The person spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
Zuckerberg gave his new bride a ring he had designed with a 'very simple ruby' to end an incredibly eventful week, according to the guest.
The couple married at his Palo Alto, Calif. home in front of fewer than 100 stunned guests who thought they would be attending a party to celebrate Chan's graduation from medical school.
On Monday, Zuckerberg turned 28 and Chan graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, where she'd studied pediatrics.
Then on Friday, Zuckerberg took his blue-and-white web behemoth public in one of the most anticipated IPOs in Wall Street history.
The seemingly well-coordinated timing was largely a coincidence, the guest said. The wedding had been planned for months and the couple was waiting for Chan to finish medical school, but the date of the IPO was a 'moving target' not known when the wedding was set.
Attendees, including Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, were told after they arrived that they were not mere party guests but wedding guests.
'Everybody was shocked,' the guest said.
The person would not discuss the names of others who attended to protect their privacy.
Ditching his trademark hoodie and sneakers, Zuckerberg sported a dark blue suit and tie with a white shirt for the ceremony, while Chan wore a traditional white wedding dress with veil and lace.
Food was served family-style and included dishes from the couple's favorite Palo Alto sushi restaurant.
Zuckerberg met Chan at Harvard, where he founded Facebook in a dorm room in 2004, and have been together for more than nine years.
Chan's own Facebook page, which now lists her as married to the founder, said she is a native of Braintree, Mass., and attended high school in nearby Quincy.
She graduated Harvard in 2007 then taught science to fourth and fifth graders at the Harker School in San Jose for two years before starting medical school, according to her profile.
Her page also says she 'loves cooking and soft things.'
Even after the IPO, Zuckerberg, who grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., remains Facebook's single largest shareholder, with 503.6 million shares, and he controls the company with 56 percent of its voting stock.
The site has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people and made its founder, Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2010, one of the most famous businessmen of the Internet age.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this story from Los Angeles.
This article is brought to you by BUY CHEAP COMPUTERS.
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg weds on day after IPO
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A day after the historic Facebook IPO, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg updated his status Saturday to 'married.'
Zuckerberg wed 27-year-old Priscilla Chan, his girlfriend of nearly a decade, according to a guest authorized to speak for the couple. The person spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
The couple married at his Palo Alto, Calif. home in front of fewer than 100 stunned guests who thought they would be attending a party to celebrate Chan's graduation from medical school.
Zuckerberg gave his new bride a ring he had designed with a 'very simple ruby' to end an incredibly eventful week, according to the guest.
On Monday, Zuckerberg turned 28 and Chan graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, where she'd studied pediatrics.
Then on Friday, Zuckerberg took his blue-and-white web behemoth public in one of the most anticipated stock offerings in Wall Street history.
The seemingly well-coordinated timing was largely a coincidence, the guest said. The wedding had been planned for months and the couple was waiting for Chan to finish medical school, but the date of the IPO was a 'moving target' not known when the wedding was set.
Attendees, including Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, were told after they arrived that they were not mere party guests but wedding guests.
'Everybody was shocked,' the guest said.
The person would not discuss the names of others who attended to protect their privacy.
Ditching his trademark hoodie and sneakers, Zuckerberg sported a dark blue suit and tie with a white shirt for the ceremony, while Chan wore a traditional white wedding dress with veil and lace.
Food was served family-style and included dishes from the couple's favorite Palo Alto sushi restaurant.
Zuckerberg met Chan at Harvard, where he founded Facebook in a dorm room in 2004, and have been together for more than nine years.
Chan's own Facebook page, which now lists her as married to the founder, said she is a native of Braintree, Mass., and attended high school in nearby Quincy.
She graduated Harvard in 2007 then taught science to fourth and fifth graders at the Harker School in San Jose for two years before starting medical school, according to her profile.
Her page also says she 'loves cooking and soft things.'
Even after the IPO, Zuckerberg, who grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., remains Facebook's single largest shareholder, with 503.6 million shares, and he controls the company with 56 percent of its voting stock.
The site has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people and made its founder, Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2010, one of the most famous businessmen of the Internet age.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this story from Los Angeles.
This article is brought to you by BUY A NEW COMPUTER.
Zuckerberg wed 27-year-old Priscilla Chan, his girlfriend of nearly a decade, according to a guest authorized to speak for the couple. The person spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
The couple married at his Palo Alto, Calif. home in front of fewer than 100 stunned guests who thought they would be attending a party to celebrate Chan's graduation from medical school.
Zuckerberg gave his new bride a ring he had designed with a 'very simple ruby' to end an incredibly eventful week, according to the guest.
On Monday, Zuckerberg turned 28 and Chan graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, where she'd studied pediatrics.
Then on Friday, Zuckerberg took his blue-and-white web behemoth public in one of the most anticipated stock offerings in Wall Street history.
The seemingly well-coordinated timing was largely a coincidence, the guest said. The wedding had been planned for months and the couple was waiting for Chan to finish medical school, but the date of the IPO was a 'moving target' not known when the wedding was set.
Attendees, including Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, were told after they arrived that they were not mere party guests but wedding guests.
'Everybody was shocked,' the guest said.
The person would not discuss the names of others who attended to protect their privacy.
Ditching his trademark hoodie and sneakers, Zuckerberg sported a dark blue suit and tie with a white shirt for the ceremony, while Chan wore a traditional white wedding dress with veil and lace.
Food was served family-style and included dishes from the couple's favorite Palo Alto sushi restaurant.
Zuckerberg met Chan at Harvard, where he founded Facebook in a dorm room in 2004, and have been together for more than nine years.
Chan's own Facebook page, which now lists her as married to the founder, said she is a native of Braintree, Mass., and attended high school in nearby Quincy.
She graduated Harvard in 2007 then taught science to fourth and fifth graders at the Harker School in San Jose for two years before starting medical school, according to her profile.
Her page also says she 'loves cooking and soft things.'
Even after the IPO, Zuckerberg, who grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., remains Facebook's single largest shareholder, with 503.6 million shares, and he controls the company with 56 percent of its voting stock.
The site has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people and made its founder, Time magazine's Person of the Year in 2010, one of the most famous businessmen of the Internet age.
___
Associated Press Writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this story from Los Angeles.
This article is brought to you by BUY A NEW COMPUTER.
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