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Yahoo’s response to Microsoft offer

Board of Directors of Yahoo! Inc. have rejected Microsoft’s offer in a letter sent to Steve Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation.

Board cited various reasons for this decision, which include “Yahoo!”’s global brand name, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as its substantial unconsolidated investments. The letter also said that Yahoo! continues to believe that the proposal is not in its best interests and those of its stockholders.

Finally, the letter concluded with this strong statement against Microsoft: “Contrary to statements in your letter, stockholders representing a significant portion of our outstanding shares have indicated to us that your proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo!. Furthermore, as a result of the decrease in your own stock price, the value of your proposal today is significantly lower than it was when you made your initial proposal. ”

The original letter addressed to Steve Balmer.. Continue Reading»

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US Electronics giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which also has offices in India, announced on Tuesday that it will cut 10 per cent of its global payroll or over 1,600 jobs, because of deteriorating business conditions.

AMD, the second largest American chipmaker which has been facing problems largely because of a resurgent Intel, will begin reducing its workforce this month and the process is expected to be completed by the end of September. AMD expects to report revenue of USD 1.5 billion, down 15 per cent from the last quarter. AMD said that the revenue drop was caused by lower-than-expected sales across all business segments. The decline was more than expected.

However, details regarding the locations of job-cuts by the company, which has offices at Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi, were not given.

The reduction will be “global and will span all groups and all levels within the company and be based on business needs,” AMD spokesman Drew Prairie said.

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Will Yahoo! get bullied around?

Yahoo is not opposed to a deal with Microsoft but Microsoft should pay more than $31 a share if it wants to buy the company, Yahoo plans to say in a letter to Microsoft, a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday. In the letter to be sent on Monday, Yahoo is also expected to reject Microsoft’s suggestion that its business is deteriorating, the person said.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer in a letter to Yahoo’s board on Saturday threatened to lower his company’s bid and mount a proxy campaign if the Internet company does not agree to a deal in the next three weeks.

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Microsoft, playing a bully yet again, has threatened to take its offer directly to the shareholders of the Internet giant Yahoo! and hinted even at a proxy contest for a new board, if an agreement is not reached within the next three weeks. Continue Reading»

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US employers became jittery by talks of recession and slashed 80,000 jobs in March, the most in five years and the third straight month of losses. At the same time, the national unemployment rate in US rose from 4.8 per cent to 5.1 per cent (the highest in 2 1/2 years), the clearest signal yet that the economy might already be shrinking.

Job losses were widespread in March. Construction, manufacturing, retailing, financial services and various business services all racked up losses. That overwhelmed gains elsewhere, including in education and health care, leisure and hospitality as well as in government. The economy is suffering the effects of a housing collapse, a credit crunch and a financial system in turmoil. Continue Reading»

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Investors mostly got a raw deal from the stock markets, with as many as 1,000 companies, including top five IT firms Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Satyam and HCL Tech, collectively losing over Rs 2,50,000 crore in market value in 2007-08. Infosys, TCS and Wipro lost Rs 18,000-42,000 crore, while Satyam, HCL Tech and Patni lost Rs 2,000-4,500 crore.

Tata Motors, M&M, Hindustan Zinc, Cipla, Container Corp, Dr Reddy’s, Tech Mahindra, i-Flex, Videocon, MTNL, Bharat Forge, Sobha Developers, United Breweries, Amtek Auto, Cadila, Wockhardt, Aventis Pharma, Ansal Properties, Aurobindo Pharma, Mindtree Consulting, Hexaware, Subex and NIIT Tech all lost between Rs 1,000-10,000 crore each.

Flagship companies of two Ambani groups, Reliance Industries and Reliance Communications, are among the five biggest losers in the Sensex market capitalisation league during the first three months of 2008. Among the top five companies which suffered the most, Reliance Industries, DLF and Reliance Communication are promoted by richest Indians, Mukesh Ambani, K P singh and Anil Ambani respectively. ICICI Bank and Reliance Communications lost Rs 51,425 crore and Rs 49,079 crore respectively. Continue Reading»

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Gold prices ended sharply lower by Rs 440 per ten grams to Rs 11,685 (from the previous closing level of Rs 12,125) on the bullion market on lack of demand at higher levels along with fresh stockists offerings on the back of lower overseas advices. Silver also declined sharply in line with gold prices. Silver ready (.999 fineness) slipped by Rs 985 per kilo to end at Rs 22,640 as against Rs 23,625 previously.

Meanwhile, oil also fell toward $100 (dropped $1.55 to $100.03 a barrel) on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session as a strengthening US dollar triggered a wide sell-off across commodity markets. Analysts feel, the dollar was helped by Swiss bank UBS and Germany’s Deutsche Bank announcement of $23 billion in additional writedowns, which showed that credit problems are not limited to the United States. Continue Reading»

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Turns out, Tata’s the winner

In an extremely low-key announcement, Tatas and Ford have announced the details of the deal for the transfer of the iconic car brand Jaguar and Land Rover. The total amount to be paid in cash by Tata Motors for Jaguar Land Rover upon closing will be approximately US $2.3 billion. Continue Reading»

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Gold dipped on Friday but held above a 1-month low hit the previous day.Gold fell to $914.40/915.20 an ounce from $920.30/921.10 ounce late in New York and off Monday’s record high of $1,030.80 an ounce. Gold futures for April delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.72 per cent to $915 an ounce off Monday’s record of $1,033.90.

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The Paris-based Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has projected zero growth for the US economy in the second quarter of 2008, indicating that America is inching towards a recession.

“It may be premature to declare a recession, but with the pace of activity so far below potential, economic slack is widening rapidly,” the OECD said pointing out that economic growth rate was likely to slip from 0.1 per cent in Q1 to zero in the second quarter.

Giving growth projections for the G7 nations (US, Japan, Euro Area, Germany, France, Italy, UK and Canada), the OECD report said Japan and Europe were also likely to witness slowdown in growth.

In addition to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the OECD attributed the slowdown in the US Economy to factors like soaring energy and food prices.

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