“Please take good care of Microsoft.” Ballmer on Ballmer: His Exit From Microsoft; Ballmer on how he came to believe he wasn’t the best person to remake the technology giant for its next act

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Ballmer on Ballmer: His Exit From Microsoft

MONICA LANGLEY

Updated Nov. 15, 2013 4:34 p.m. ET

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REDMOND, Wash.— Steve Ballmer paced his corner office on a foggy January morning here, listening through loudspeakers to his directors’ voices on a call that would set in motion the end of his 13-year reign as Microsoft Corp.’s MSFT -0.47% chief executive. Microsoft lagged behind Apple Inc.AAPL -0.60% and Google Inc.GOOG -0.16% in important consumer markets, despite its formidable software revenue. Mr. Ballmer tried to spell out his plan to remake Microsoft, but a director cut him off, telling him he was moving too slowly. Read more of this post

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A Return to Internet Mania? Some Market Observers Fear That We’re in a Bubble Reminiscent of the One We Saw in the Dot-Com Era

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

A Return to Internet Mania?

Some Market Observers Fear That We’re in a Bubble Reminiscent of the One We Saw in the Dot-Com Era

MARK HULBERT

Nov. 15, 2013 6:10 p.m. ET

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We aren’t heading for the next Internet bubble—at least not yet. At a time when the 23-year-old CEO of Snapchat, a two-year-old company with no revenue, turns down a nearly $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook, FB +0.04% and whenTwitter makes a spectacular debut, many people are reminded of the heady days of Internet stocks in the late 1990s and early 2000. Yet the analogy is misleading, according to the leading academic studies of investor sentiment. Read more of this post

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Zulily Shares Jump 71% After IPO; Zulily has sheltered itself from having to compete with crosstown rival Amazon.com by focusing on flash-sales merchandise from specialized vendors.

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Zulily Shares Jump 71% After IPO

GREG BENSINGER

Nov. 15, 2013 7:13 p.m. ET

Shares of online retailer Zulily Inc. jumped 71% in their debut Friday, a strong start as the Seattle company tries to compete in a space crowded by Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc. Zulily has sheltered itself from having to compete with crosstown rival Amazon.com by focusing on merchandise from specialized vendors. The company sells items like charm bracelets and zebra-print pajamas primarily through short-term discounts, known as flash sales. Read more of this post

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“Everybody wants to be the new Supercell”; Investors flock to Europe in search of next Supercell

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Investors flock to Europe in search of next Supercell

12:14pm EST

By Mia Shanley and Jussi Rosendahl

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Riding a wave of euphoria surrounding the success of Finnish mobile game maker Supercell, venture capital firms are chasing after European tech start-ups in search of the next big thing. Japanese tech and telecoms group SoftBank’s 51 percent stake purchase in 3-year-old Supercell, announced last month, valued the maker of hit games “Clash of Clans” and “Hay Day” at $3 billion. “Everybody wants to be the new Supercell,” Torleif Ahlsand, General Partner at Nordic technology investor Northzone, said at the annual “Slush” tech start-up conference in the Finnish capital. Read more of this post

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Dot London: City launches own domain to boost online presence

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Dot London: City launches own domain to boost online presence

2:41pm EST

By Shadi Bushra

LONDON (Reuters) – London will join a handful of cities launching their own internet domain names next year to build a greater online presence and promote the British capital, the mayor’s office said on Friday. ICANN, the world body that oversees the web’s naming conventions, gave London the go-ahead this week to use its own unique domain name from 2014, along with New York, Berlin, Vienna and Brussels. Read more of this post

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Here’s why Airbnb isn’t worried about New York’s crackdown

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Here’s why Airbnb isn’t worried about New York’s crackdown

By Brian Fung, Updated: November 15 at 2:17 pm

Airbnb has been on a tear lately. On Tuesday, the service that connects travelers with private rooms for rent announced a slew of new features designed to streamline its experience for hosts and guests. But the company is alsoembroiled in a legal fight with the New York attorney general, who is concerned that some landlords are abusing the service and renting their properties illegally. On Thursday, I sat down with Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk to talk with him about the issue and about what else the company has learned by putting up 150,000 people a day. The following transcript has been edited for length and clarity. Read more of this post

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Cisco CEO: ‘Never Seen’ Such a Falloff in Orders; Slowdown in China, Emerging Markets Deliver Blow; Shares Tumble

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Cisco CEO: ‘Never Seen’ Such a Falloff in Orders

Slowdown in China, Emerging Markets Deliver Blow; Shares Tumble

DON CLARK

Updated Nov. 14, 2013 11:16 p.m. ET

A slowdown in Cisco Systems Inc. CSCO -10.96% ‘s business is turning into a tailspin, hobbled by weak demand in China and other emerging markets. The Silicon Valley network-equipment giant on Wednesday said revenue rose just 1.8% in its first fiscal quarter, compared with its projection of 3% to 5% growth. Cisco followed up by projecting a decline of 8% to 10% in the current period, an unusually grim forecast for a company seen as a bellwether for corporate technology spending. Cisco’s shares fell 10% to $21.58 in after-hours trading following the company’s earnings report late Wednesday. Read more of this post

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Silicon Valley Nerds Seek Revenge on NSA Spies With Super Coding

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Silicon Valley Nerds Seek Revenge on NSA Spies With Super Coding

Google Inc. (GOOG), Facebook Inc. (FB) and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) are fighting back against the National Security Agency by using harder-to-crack code to shield their networks and online customer data from unauthorized U.S. spying. The companies, burned by disclosures they’ve cooperated with U.S. surveillance programs, are protecting user e-mail and social-media posts with strengthened encryption that the U.S. government says won’t be easily broken until 2030. Read more of this post

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Online Casinos Hobbled as Credit-Card Issuers Reject Bets

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Online Casinos Hobbled as Credit-Card Issuers Reject Bets

Just as legal online gambling gets started in the U.S., banks and payment processors are refusing to play. Credit-card issuers Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and American Express Co., along with EBay Inc.’s PayPal, aren’t allowing the transactions, according to the companies. Delaware and Nevada permit Internet wagering, with New Jersey poised to become the third and biggest state on Nov. 26. Read more of this post

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In win for Big Oil, U.S. proposes biofuel mandate cut

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

In win for Big Oil, U.S. proposes biofuel mandate cut

6:09pm EST

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration proposed on Friday slashing federal requirements for U.S. biofuel use in 2014, bowing to pressure from the petroleum industry and attempting to prevent a potential fuel crunch next year. It was the first cut to renewable fuel targets written into a 2007 law, and seen as a clear win for oil refiners and a loss for biofuel producers. It followed a prolonged lobbying blitz on both sides of the issue. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Beware Beijing’s Commitment Issues; First Up on the Reform Plans: Tackling Overcapacity

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Beware Beijing’s Commitment Issues

AARON BACK

Nov. 15, 2013 10:50 a.m. ET

China is once again promising an ambitious reform agenda. The latest policy vision is a welcome indication that Beijing understands the economic challenges the country faces as it tries to shift to a consumption-led model from an investment-driven one. Still, given Beijing’s track record of over-promising and under-delivering, skepticism is in order. Read more of this post

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Could You Live Without Private Equity? A Reporter’s Quest to Ditch PE-Backed Products Means Giving Up Movies, Social Media — Even, Sometimes, the Bathroom; PE firms spent $398 billion buying up a total of 2,176 U.K. companies from 2002 to 2012

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Could You Live Without Private Equity?

A Reporter’s Quest to Ditch PE-Backed Products Means Giving Up Movies, Social Media — Even, Sometimes, the Bathroom

BECKY PRITCHARD

Nov. 15, 2013 1:01 p.m. ET

It can be hard enough finding a public toilet in London. Try finding one that doesn’t use bathroom fittings made by a private equity-backed company. That is just one of the challenges I faced after deciding to spend a week avoiding anything touched by this giant industry. I couldn’t go to the office. I had to give up FacebookFB +0.04% and Twitter. Even brushing my hair was a no-no. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Japan’s Emperor Akihito will break with a centuries-old burial tradition by opting to be cremated like most ordinary citizens in the densely-populated nation

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Japan’s emperor breaks with centuries-old burial tradition

Friday, November 15, 2013 – 19:05

AFP

TOKYO – Japan’s Emperor Akihito will break with a centuries-old burial tradition by opting to be cremated like most ordinary citizens in the densely-populated nation, officials said Friday. That would mark the first time in almost four hundred years that a Japanese emperor has not been buried, according to the Imperial Household Agency. It added that the 79-year-old emperor’s wife, Empress Michiko, would also be cremated. Read more of this post

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Malaysia’s seafoood industry hit with millions of ringgit worth of charges when a new ruling comes into effect today, eroding the competitive edge of the local seafood industry

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Seafoood industry hit with millions of ringgit worth of charges

Friday, November 15, 2013 – 09:36

David Tan

The Star/Asia News Network

GEORGE TOWN – The seafood industry is likely to be hit with millions of ringgit of export and import charges annually when a new ruling comes into effect today, eroding the competitive edge of the local seafood industry. Malaysian Frozen Foods Processors’ Association (MFFPA) secretary Saw Hai Earn told StarBiz that the Malaysian Quarantine & Inspection Services (Maqis) was imposing exportation and importation inspection charges of RM2.50 for not more than 50kg of seafood, RM5 per container of less than 100kg of seafood and RM0.05 per kg of seafood for exports of more than 100kg of fish. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

China to ease one-child policy

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

China to ease one-child policy: Xinhua

Friday, November 15, 2013 – 20:58

AFP

BEIJING – China will relax its hugely controversial one-child policy, state media said Friday, in a major policy shift announced days after a meeting of China’s top Communist Party leaders. Couples will be allowed to have two children if one of the parents is an only child, the official news agency Xinhua reported, citing a “key decision” made by leaders at this week’s gathering, known as the Third Plenum. The policy was brought in during the late 1970s to control China’s huge population, the world’s largest. But it has at times been brutally enforced, with authorities relying on permits, fines and, in some cases, forced sterilisations and late-term abortions, with pictures of the results causing horrified reactions. Read more of this post

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BMW Makes Lone Shift to Carbon Fiber to Gain Auto Edge; In BMW’s Leipzig factory, steel is no longer the measure of toughness. A sign there reads “nerves of carbon fiber.” The company’s not afraid of going it alone

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

BMW Makes Lone Shift to Carbon Fiber to Gain Auto Edge

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)’s bid to save its cars from potential extinction starts with hundreds of thousands of fine white strands snaking upwards in a production hall in rural Washington. Looped through an almost mile-long course, what looks like the world’s thinnest rice noodles will be stretched, toasted and eventually scorched black to create carbon fiber — a material thinner than human hair and yet tougher than steel. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

New Fund Lets Investors Fish for Returns in Farmed Seafood

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

New Fund Lets Investors Fish for Returns in Farmed Seafood

ImpactIQ.org — Within a few years, most of the fish we eat will be farmed, not caught. That could be a boon for already over-stressed oceans. But the worldwide explosion of aquaculture since 1970 has left its own trail of environmental destruction, from toxic concentrations of waste, to outbreaks of disease, to the continued over-harvesting of smaller ocean fish for feeding their penned brethren. Read more of this post

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China’s 50-Year Bond Auction Draws Least Demand Since 2009

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

China’s 50-Year Bond Auction Draws Least Demand Since 2009

China’s sale of 50-year bonds drew the least demand since the country began issuing the securities in 2009 as economic growth slows and investors brace for a reduction in U.S. monetary stimulus. The Ministry of Finance sold at least 20 billion yuan ($3.3 billion) of notes due 2063 paying 5.31 percent, the highest yield since the nation started selling the tenor. A Bloomberg survey of five traders and analysts forecast a rate of 5.05 percent. The government received just 30.2 billion yuan in bids, compared to 42.6 billion in May, when the securities sold to yield 4.24 percent. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

UBS Stargazing Signals First Back-to-Back Bond Losses For Investment-Grade Securities

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

UBS Stargazing Signals Back-to-Back Bond Losses: Credit Markets

Wall Street is starting to signal that 2014 will look a lot like 2013 for U.S. corporate bond investors, setting the stage for the first back-to-back annual losses for investment-grade securities on record. The debt, on pace to lose 1.9 percent this year as investors reject record low yields in favor of stocks, will drop an additional 0.9 percent in 2014, UBS AG analysts led by Matthew Mish said this week. That followed Citigroup Inc.’s forecast last month for a 1.1 percent decline through next year. Read more of this post

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Maersk CEO Says Balancing Supply of Ships to Demand Is Years Off

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Maersk CEO Says Balancing Supply of Ships to Demand Is Years Off

A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S (MAERSKB), owner of the world’s largest container line, said the shipping industry must learn to live with excess capacity. Given the current order book for container vessels, achieving equilibrium between supply and demand “is not an immediate thing,” Chief Executive Officer Nils Smedegaard Andersen said in an interview. Industry estimates point to a balance being reached in 2015 or 2016, with Copenhagen-based Maersk on the “slightly more pessimistic side,” he said. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Investors take aim at ‘male, pale and stale’ U.S. boards

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Investors take aim at ‘male, pale and stale’ U.S. boards

5:15pm EST

By Nadia Damouni and Ross Kerber

NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters) – American boardrooms are looking grayer than ever. More retired executives are being offered directorships, mandatory retirement ages are rising, and directors are staying on longer. It is a trend that has some investors, particularly state pension funds, increasingly concerned. They say directors who stay on a board a long time can get too cozy with management and lose their independence. It also means that the clubby domination of boardrooms by older, mainly white, men can continue, with fewer opportunities for women and minorities to get directorships. Read more of this post

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Reluctant Germany casts cloud over Europe’s bank revamp

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Reluctant Germany casts cloud over Europe’s bank revamp

2:17pm EST

By Michelle Martin and John O‘Donnell

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European countries pledged on Friday to stand by banks found to be struggling after health checks next year as Germany pushed for investors to bear the brunt of repairing lenders to spare the use of euro zone funds. In a statement designed to underscore Europe’s readiness to act following the checks, ministers spelt out how they would have funds in place to help, overcoming German objections to eventually allow euro zone funds be used as a last resort. Read more of this post

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Midwest Farmland Values: Past Peak Season?

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Midwest Farmland Values: Past Peak Season?

Regional Fed Banks Report Declining or Slowing Growth in Prices

JACOB BUNGE

Nov. 15, 2013 4:46 p.m. ET

A multiyear run-up in the value of farmland in the U.S. Midwest may be running out of steam. Average cropland prices declined in parts of the Farm Belt in the third quarter from the previous quarter while rising at a low rate in other areas, according to separate reports this past week by regional Federal Reserve banks in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

It Pays to Look Under Tata’s Hood; Indian accounting standards give Tata discretion in accounting for R&D spending.

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

It Pays to Look Under Tata’s Hood

ABHEEK BHATTACHARYA 

Nov. 15, 2013 4:30 a.m. ET

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India’s Tata Motors 500570.BY +4.66% is in the big league of global car makers. When it comes to accounting for certain costs, though, it doesn’t play exactly the same way as its peers. India’s largest auto company by market value leapt onto the world stage after buying JaguarLand Rover in 2008. Now that the British luxury car maker makes up roughly 80% of Tata’s revenue, this Indian firm is competing with BMW, BMW.XE -0.06% Mercedes-Benz and a host of American and Japanese premium brands. And when compared with some of these peers, Tata looks to be a relative bargain. Although its shares are up more than 20% so far this year, the stock trades at 9.6 times estimated profit for the fiscal year that ends next March. That is at a discount to Daimler, which owns Mercedes, and BMW. Yet Tata’s valuation may be flattered by the way it treats certain costs. This has the effect of boosting its profit—in the near term, at least. Taking that into account, Tata is more expensive than it initially appears. At issue is how Tata treats research and development costs. Tata’s R&D program, at 6% of sales, is higher than the 4% or 5% global car makers typically spend on new products and designs. Read more of this post

Filed under Investing Process, Macro Trends

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Are There Cockroaches Under Tesla’s Hood?

Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) shareholders have had much to fret about lately, from a nosebleed valuation and sagging stock price to periodic YouTube videos of exploding Tesla electric cars. Here’s another one for the list: Sometimes Tesla acts like it doesn’t know what it’s doing when it comes to financial reporting. Consider Tesla’s news release last week disclosing its third-quarter financial results. The headline said Tesla had “Net income (non-GAAP) of $16 million.” Tesla spent parts of the first three pages discussing this and other nonstandard metrics that don’t comply with generally accepted accounting principles. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

Yu’E Bao Draws Chinese Investors as They Seek to Beat Inflation

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Yu’E Bao Draws Chinese Investors as They Seek to Beat Inflation

Yu’E Bao, an investment product offered through Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s third-party payment affiliate Alipay.com Co., has attracted more than 100 billion yuan ($16.4 billion) as Chinese investors seek returns that beat inflation. Users of Yu’E Bao, created by Beijing-based Tian Hong Asset Management Co., jumped 12 times to 30 million by Nov. 14 from the end of June. The scale of the product jumped almost 18 times to 100 billion yuan from 5.7 billion yuan, Tian Hong said in an e-mail. Read more of this post

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S. Korean steelmaker POSCO CEO resigns; Chung Joon-yang Decides to Leave After Global Slump in Steel Industry Hits Earnings

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Posco CEO Offers to Resign
Chung Joon-yang Decides to Leave After Global Slump in Steel Industry Hits Earnings
Nov. 15, 2013 4:40 a.m. ET
The chief executive of South Korea’s largest steelmaker, Posco, 005490.SE +0.62% has offered to resign after a protracted global slump in the steel industry hit its earnings. Chung Joon-yang, a 55-year-old veteran businessman, who has led the company since February 2009, has submitted his resignation letter to the board Friday, Posco said in a written statement. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

GE to Exit Retail Lending, Tightening Focus on Industrial Businesses

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

GE to Exit Retail Lending, Tightening Focus on Industrial Businesses

Conglomerate’s Plan Includes Partial Sale of Business Early Next Year

KATE LINEBAUGH

Updated Nov. 15, 2013 7:11 p.m. ET

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General Electric Co. GE +0.78% plans to exit the retail lending business—the conglomerate’s most aggressive move yet to shrink the size of its financing arm, which still generates half its profit. GE said Friday it will file for an initial public offering of its North American retail finance operations in next year’s first quarter. It plans to sell 20% of the unit to raise cash to better capitalize the stand-alone operations. Read more of this post

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Fixing the world’s metals warehousing: why so long?

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

Fixing the world’s metals warehousing: why so long?

2:22am EST

By Susan Thomas, Veronica Brown and Josephine Mason

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – In the mid-1990s the London Metal Exchange was embroiled in a criminal investigation after the discovery that a trader – nicknamed Mr. 5 Percent for the share of the world’s copper he reputedly controlled – had spent years manipulating its systems to hoard copper and boost the price. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

The Return of the Fashion Logo; Serious logomania may be long behind us, but there are newer (and more subversive) ways to say ‘I’m with the brand’

November 16, 2013 Leave a comment

The Return of the Fashion Logo

Serious logomania may be long behind us, but there are newer (and more subversive) ways to say ‘I’m with the brand’

MEENAL MISTRY

Nov. 15, 2013 5:31 p.m. ET

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F. Martin Ramin/The Wall Street Journal, Styling by Anne Cardenas (sweater, necklace, bag, cuff)

I COULD NEVER have predicted my reaction to Louis Vuitton’s new Vivienne bag—a petite cross-body satchel in fine-grained calfskin with a wholly unsubtle shiny, gold, 2-by-2-inch interlocking “LV” as its closure. The sizable chunk of hardware would normally be a bit much for my tastes, but it somehow made sense on this beautifully constructed satchel that rested on my hip just so. I adored the bag without reservation. Read more of this post

Filed under Macro Trends

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