December 21st, 2011
In a new move, Salesforce.com Inc is entering the business of selling human resources software. This move would raise the stakes in its battle to woo customers away from bigger rivals SAP AG and Oracle Corp.
On Thursday, the provider of web-based software for managing sales, customer service, and marketing said it has agreed to purchase Rypple, a closely held company with 350 customers including social networking giant Facebook. The deal is expected to close in the quarter ending April 30, 2012, Salesforce said. The acquisition was described as the first step in an effort to build out a line of web-based human resources software for corporations.
December 16th, 2011
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is all set to urge key officials of Europe to take decisive action next week at a make-or-break summit for preventing a debt crisis from turning into runaway contagion.
Treasury announced Geithner would be meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy, new Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, and Spanish Prime Minister-elect Mariano Rajoy on the December 6-8 trip.
Jan Eberly, the Treasury’s chief economist, said a European recession brought about by the debt crisis would pose serious risks to the U.S. economy.
“That’s a substantial exposure from U.S. economy to what happens in Europe, so that’s absolutely a source of concern,” Eberly, the assistant secretary for economic policy, told reporters.
December 15th, 2011
On Wednesday, U.S. stocks suffered a sixth straight day of losses as frustration over the euro zone’s debt crisis, coupled with weak Chinese factory data, to further dent investor sentiment.
With the leaders of France and Germany still at odds over a longer-term structural solution, a weak German bond sale sparked fears the debt crisis was even beginning to threaten Berlin.
From in.finance.yahoo.com:
The poor demand for German government bonds showed that investors viewed investing in the euro zone as being too risky.
Debt problems plaguing Europe and the United States have pressured markets, knocking the S&P 500 down more than 7 percent over the last six sessions. World stocks hit their lowest in six weeks on Wednesday.
“A poor auction of German bonds added to recent worries that the risks from the debt mess are spreading to the core of the euro zone,” said WhatsTrading.com options strategist Frederick Ruffy.
All 10 S&P 500 sectors were negative, with financials among the biggest decliners over concerns about exposure to European debt. JPMorgan Chase & Co dropped 3.5 percent to $28.38 and Citigroup Inc lost 3.9 percent to $23.51.
The Dow Jones industrial average sank 236.17 points, or 2.05 percent, to 11,257.55 at the close. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 26.25 points, or 2.21 percent, to 1,161.79. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 61.20 points, or 2.43 percent, to 2,460.08.
December 14th, 2011
State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) in India have increased the prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) on Tuesday by two percent, effective from Nov 16.
The aviation turbine fuel at IGI Airport in Delhi goes up by 1.95 percent at Rs.62, 310.33 per kilo litre from Rs.61, 115.36.
From in.news.yahoo.com:
The recent hike is the second such increase in November. The OMCs had increased jet fuel prices by 3.8 percent on Nov 1.
The latest hike is expected to further burden the industry, which has seen many airlines reporting losses owing to the high cost of jet fuel.
The ATF cost accounts for nearly 50 percent of the operating cost of any airline. Jet fuel prices also vary from state to state which levy sales tax on the ATF in the region of 22 to 23 percent.
Oil marketing companies revise ATF prices on every 1st and 16th of the month based on the average international crude oil price during the fortnight.
December 3rd, 2011
The owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune newspapers, Tribune Co (TRBCQ.PK), has filed a third reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
The company said the plan has the backing of its co-proponents, the Unsecured Creditors Committee, Oaktree Capital Management, L.P., Angelo, Gordon & Co, L.P., and JP Morgan Chase Bank.
From Reuters.com:
Last month, the court rejected Tribune’s plan to end its three-year stay in bankruptcy as well as a competing plan from the company’s noteholders, but said Tribune’s plan had a stronger creditor backing and suggested that it might offer the company a way out of bankruptcy.
The amended reorganization plan continues to include a proposed settlement of around $500 million payable to noteholders.
It also includes certain modifications based on court rulings and a proposal that would allow the court to resolve potential disputes between creditors over amounts to be paid to various parties without impeding the company’s efforts to emerge from bankruptcy.
The bankruptcy wiped out the value of the company’s notes that had a face value of more than $1 billion.
December 1st, 2011
The chairman of Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallaya, provided little to revive its finances after India’s No.2 carrier by market share reported its quarterly loss doubled.
On Tuesday, Mallaya said Kingfisher had not asked banks to “take a haircut” but was looking for ways for minimizing the interest paid on its debt of $.3 billion and enhancing working capital.
From in.news.yahoo.com:
Investors have grown increasingly worried over the future of Kingfisher Airlines in a fast-growing but loss-making industry.
Kingfisher, named after its parent firm’s best-selling beer, cancelled scores of flights last week as it abruptly shut some routes. It has also been late paying salaries.
Mallya said the government should allow foreign airlines to buy stakes in Indian carriers, a move the authorities are reportedly considering.
Ravi Nedungadi, chief financial officer of UB Group, the airline’s parent, said it had been approached by strategic investors. An official with one of Kingfisher’s lenders said Mallya was talking to a potential strategic investor.
“We cancelled flights not because we could not afford to fly,” Mallaya said, adding the situation could have been handled better. “We cannot, as a private company, afford to fly on routes that are heavily loss-making. We are not in the same arena as the national carrier (Air India),” he said.
November 29th, 2011
Mandatory appointments of outside directors on boards of large firms would be proposed by a Japanese government panel in the hope of averting the kind of accounting scandal that has engulfed Olympus Corp.
Tin the hope of averting the kind of accounting scandal that has engulfed Olympus Corp, experts said.
From in.finance.yahoo.com:
The British ex-CEO of Olympus, Michael Woodford, emerged from a meeting of directors on Friday convinced its board would eventually quit.
Major foreign shareholders have called for Woodford to be immediately reinstated, saying he can restore faith in the 92-year-old cameral and endoscope maker.
Olympus fired Woodford, a rare foreign CEO in Japan, alleging he had failed to adapt to Japanese culture and the company’s management style. Woodford says he was axed for questioning dubious merger and acquisition payments.
The ruling party would propose a revision to the law next year based on the draft to be submitted next month, the Asahi newspaper reported on Saturday without citing sources.
November 27th, 2011
On Friday, shares in retailers jumped after the government moved to open up the supermarket sector to global giants, a move that prompted a flurry of investments and tie-up opportunities for local players.
On Thursday, the Indian government 51 percent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, paving the entry of international firms such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, and Carrefour into the $450 billion market.
From in.finance.yahoo.com:
“Accelerating the pace of investment in the supply chain to meet demands of increasing scale and enhancing efficiencies… besides expertise of foreign retailers.”
Shares in Pantaloon Retail (India) jumped as much as 18.2 percent, Shopper’s Stop rallied 11.4 percent, and Trent, part of the salt-to-steel Tata Group conglomerate, rose 17.2 percent.
In comparison, the BSE Sensex was down 0.7 percent at 9:35 a.m. (0405 GMT).
The government said late on Thursday that would also raise the cap on foreign investment in single-brand retailing to 100 percent from 51 percent.
“FDI in multi-brand retail would benefit capital-constrained retailers such as Pantaloon Retail,” Wall Street bank JPMorgan said in a research note on Friday.
November 26th, 2011
In the latest target of Chief Executive Larry Page’s moves to focus the Internet giant on fewer efforts, Google Inc has abandoned an ambitious project to make renewable energy cheaper than coal.
On Tuesday, Google said it was pulling the plug on seven projects, including Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal as well as a Wikipedia-like online encyclopedia service known as Knol.
From in.news.yahoo.com:
The plans, which Google announced on its corporate blog, represent the third so-called “spring cleaning” announcement that Google has made since Google co-founder Page took the reins in April.
The changes come as Google is facing stiff competition in mobile computing and social networking from Apple Inc and Facebook, and as some investors have groused about rising spending at the world’s No.1 Internet search company.
“To recap, we’re in the process of shutting down a number of products which haven’t had the impact we’d hoped for, integrating others as features into our broader product efforts, and ending several which have shown us a different path forward,” wrote Google Senior Vice President of Operations Urs Holzle in the blog post.
November 25th, 2011
Syria has called for an emergency Arab summit for preventing being suspended by the Arab League, but the organization said it would meet opposition.
Decision of the Arab League to suspend Syria and impose sanctions over its violent crackdown on eight months of protests infuriated Damascus and triggered attacks on Saudi Arabian, French, and Turkish missions in Syria on Saturday night.
From news.yahoo.com:
The United States, France and Britain, which have all called on Assad to step aside and pressed for United Nations condemnation of Syria, praised the Arab League’s suspension of Damascus, which takes effect on Wednesday.
Syrian state television said the aim of its proposed summit would be to discuss the unrest and the “negative repercussions on the Arab situation.”
Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said on Sunday that League officials would meet representatives of Syrian opposition groups on Tuesday, but added that it was too soon for the Cairo-based body to consider recognising the Syrian opposition as the country’s legitimate authority.
Most foreign media have been banned by Syrian authorities from the country, making independent confirmations of reports difficult.
