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Posted
Apr 07 2009, 03:06 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
American International Group (AIG), still on the hook to pay back the government $173 billion, is attracting interest for its asset-management units, lining up a half-dozen potential buyers, the Wall Street Journal reports. That's the good news. The bad news is "the sale of the $100 billion portfolio has become complicated by client withdrawals and declines in asset prices," which value the units potentially hundreds of millions of dollars below what AIG had hoped to get for them, the newspaper adds. The aim is to sell off the units by May, but the stricken insurer could pull out of the auctions altogether if it believes the bids are too low.
Speaking of shaky deals, the business and tech press is left to wonder what lies ahead for Sun Microsystems (JAVA). Shares in Sun fell 23% yesterday after it emerged that takeover talks with IBM (IBM) had fallen apart over the weekend, "raising new questions about the prospects for Sun and its chief executive," the Journal writes.
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Posted
Apr 06 2009, 03:03 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
The tie-up between between IBM (IBM) and Sun Microsystems (JAVA) is "on the verge of unraveling," The Wall Street Journal reports. Citing sources close to the negotiations, the newspaper says the Sun board is split into two factions, one led by chief executive Jonathan Schwartz, who favors a deal, and one led by Sun chairman and co-founder Scott McNealy.
Their quibble is not with the price tag -- somewhere in the $7 billion range -- but rather "that the offer gave IBM too much 'optionality,' or leeway to walk away from the deal," the Journal writes. Still, a source told the newspaper the negotiation as "fluid."
The New York Times views the negotiations in far less optimistic terms, reporting that the deal has in fact collapsed and that, yes, the negotiations faltered when IBM presented the Sun board with a reduced price of $9.40 per share over the weekend.
Sun's board balked after hearing the offer Sunday, the Times writes.
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Posted
Mar 18 2009, 03:11 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money. IBM (IBM) is in early stage talks to buy Sun Microsystems (JAVA), the Wall Street Journal reports, in a deal that would "bolster IBM's heft on the Internet, in software and in finance and telecommunications markets." Talks could yet fall through, the Journal says, but there is also a chance the negotiations could wrap up as early as this week. IBM is likely to pay at least $6.5 billion in cash, the newspaper adds, a premium of more than 100% over Sun's closing price Tuesday. Sun's share price rocketed more than 80% in morning trading Wednesday on the news, while IBM shares fell slightly.
Big Blue's interest in Sun comes down to control of a $100 billion market, the Journal writes, and it's all focused on the data center -- the large computer rooms that keep businesses and the Internet running.
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Posted
Dec 30 2008, 08:52 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Thousands of employees have gone to Glassdoor's site to rant and rave (but mostly rant) about their jobs and share salary information. They also have plenty to say about their CEOs, and Glassdoor reviewed the CEO ratings to find out who's been naughty and nice this year. According to the reviews, the CEO that Santa should have rewarded the most this year is Art Levinson of Genentech, who was praised for making great products and taking care of his employees. Apple's Steve Jobs came in second place, followed by Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. Who was the naughtiest of them all? Steve Odland of Office Depot, who is accused of stifling retail stores with failed business programs and allowing underperforming workers to stay on board. Others on the list include AOL's Randy Falco and Greg Brown of Motorola. Here are the full naughty and nice lists:
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Posted
Dec 10 2008, 02:07 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It is that time of year where companies should have been evaluating their plans for the year ahead. Each year 24/7 Wall Street comes out with a list of companies who should get rid of their CEOs or which should make some strategic changes inside the company that revolve around the CEO. Boston Scientific Corp., Citigroup, Dillard's, Eastman Kodak, General Motors, Nortel Networks , Rite Aid, SanDisk, SIRIUS XM Radio and Sun Microsystems are all on this year's list.
With so many stocks down 50% and more, the list could have had hundreds of management teams if stock prices were the sole criteria. Our measure for change is far more than just poor stock performance. But, these are the really big companies that the CEOs have wrecked.
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Posted
Nov 20 2008, 02:50 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Sound the alarms! Consumer prices are in a freefall, stoking fears the economy is on the precipice of deflation. The Labor Department on Wednesday reported the prices of consumer goods fell by 1 percent in October, the biggest one-month drop in 61 years. As the New York Times points out, no, falling prices are not a good thing for an already shrinking global economy. "While most consumers might welcome the idea that things are getting cheaper, deflation is an economists’ nightmare," the NYT writes. For starters, declining prices would greatly minimize the impact of the Federal Reserve's previous rate cuts. Unresponsive monetary policy is what sunk Japan in the 1990s, the so-called "lost decade," pundits are quick to point out.
What is the Fed to do? Cut again. According to the Financial Times, "the U.S. central bank may cut interest rates again by as much as 50 basis points from the current level of 1 percent in December." Analysts at JP Morgan Chase predict the Fed will go even lower—down to zero by early next year. It's not just the U.S. that is seeing a rapid decline in prices. Prices are also falling across Europe and in Japan, the NYT reports
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Posted
Oct 31 2008, 10:14 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The horror story of the day belongs to Sun Microsystems, which reported a disappointing quarterly loss and saw its stock hit the lowest level in 10 years. Shares are already down some 70% this year, and have tumbled 13% today to $4.62. Motorola also had a scary week, with bleak forecasts for the next year, but at least it has a plan to revive itself. Sun, analysts say, is simply suffocating. "Sun is stuck, with negative product mix issues and a weak economic environment, neither of which we see changing over the next few quarters," wrote BMO analyst Keith Bachman, according to MarketWatch. The numbers don't look good at Sun, which makes servers and software.
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 05:41 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Filed under: Citigroup, Sprint, Wal-Mart, Intel, AMD, AT&T, Starbucks, Target, Sears, IBM, Costco, Sun Microsystems
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
With the trading year almost half over and results from the first quarter out, 24/7 Wall Street has created the latest installment of its Ten Worst Managed Companies In America list. This is a companion piece to the "CEO of the Year" list and "Large Companies that May Disappear" series.
This analysis is based on: 1) one-year and five-year stock performance relative to the major indexes and other companies in the industry, 2) the company's position in its industry both now and over the last five years, 3) whether management made identifiable and critical decisions which hurt the company, 4) a change in the company's relative market strength compared to its competition, and 5) whether the company could have identified mistakes and changed course quickly enough to avoid a catastrophe.
Some readers will think it is not fair to include companies which have had a recent
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Posted
May 02 2008, 10:33 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It's no surprise that Oracle's Larry Ellison tops Forbes' list of the best-paid CEOs in technology. Ellison is #14 on the list of world billionaires and gets big money from his company every year. His salary last year was only $1 million, but he got $182 million more through exercising stock options, according to Forbes.
Oracle shareholders can't be too upset. The company's total return in the fiscal year was 36.3%, according to Forbes. A year ago Oracle shares were in the $19 range. They reached the $23 mark in January and are now trading at around $21.34.
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