LONDON Bankers, civil servants and industrialists were squeezing out final concessions in talks to shake up aerospace group EADS on Tuesday, people familiar with the discussions said. Attention focused on transactions needed to allow the Berlin government to take a stake in the Airbus parent, which are especially complex between German partners. But barring surprise changes, the main political lines appeared to have been decided. EADS shares rose over two percent for a second day on hopes of a simpler structure for Europe’s largest aerospace group, which has been controlled by a maze of French and German public and private [...]
CHICAGO Details just leaked about Redbox’s plan to offer streaming video service to customers indicate that the offering will have a “more appealing consumer price point” than many observers had predicted, said John Kraft, analyst at Davenport & Co., in a Friday research note. According to tech blog GigaOm.com, the service, set to launch as early as Dec. 17 in association with Verizon Communications , will go for about $ 8 per month, including unlimited streaming of movies and four kiosk rentals. The $ 8 fee is similar to Netflix Inc.’s comparable offering. “We believe most investors expected the $ [...]
Autonomy co-founder Mike Lynch pushed Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) on Tuesday to specify its allegations that the enterprise software company cooked its books. In an open letter to H-P’s board published by tech blog All Things Digital, Lynch called on the company to publish its writedown calculations and release documents sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office. Lynch, who was fired earlier this year as Autonomy’s CEO, suggested the writedowns H-P said are tied to fraud were really caused by the company’s mismanagement. Lynch also once again rebuffed H-P’s charges, saying: “I utterly reject all allegations [...]
Best Buy Co Inc is aiming to achieve operating margin of 5 percent to 6 percent over time, the company said on Tuesday, though investors and analysts were left wanting for details on how – and how soon – the new chief executive would turn around the world’s largest consumer electronics chain. The aggressive new targets come as Best Buy faces cutthroat competition from online and discount retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc . CEO Hubert Joly got a difficult reception at an investor day in New York, as people questioned whether management was focusing too much on [...]
Best Buy Co Inc is aiming to achieve operating margin of 5 percent to 6 percent over time, the company said on Tuesday, though investors and analysts were left wanting for details on how – and how soon – the new chief executive would turn around the world’s largest consumer electronics chain. The aggressive new targets come as Best Buy faces cutthroat competition from online and discount retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc . CEO Hubert Joly got a difficult reception at an investor day in New York, as people questioned whether management was focusing too much on [...]
Best Buy Co Inc hopes to triple its operating margins over time, the company said on Tuesday, though investors and analysts were left wanting for details on how – and how soon – the new chief executive would turn around the world’s largest consumer electronics chain. The aggressive new targets come as Best Buy faces cut-throat competition from online and discount retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc . CEO Hubert Joly got a difficult reception at an investor day in New York, as people questioned whether management was focusing too much on wringing higher sales out of existing [...]
The New York Fed said it will start buying agency mortgage-backed securities on Friday, at a rate that is expected to total $ 23 billion over the remainder of September. It will then purchase securities at a clip of $ 40 billion each month. The New York Fed said it will concentrate its purchases in newly-issued agency MBS in the to-be-announced market, although it may purchase other agency MBS if market [...]
Struggling PC maker Dell (DELL) officially joined the dividend party on Thursday, unveiling its first-ever quarterly dividend. The dividend announcement helped lift Dell’s beaten-down stock just over 1% in after-market action. The Round Rock, Texas-based company said its board of directors signed off on plans to pay a quarterly cash dividend of 8 cents per share. The move “is intended to help contribute to long-term shareholder value,” Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer, said in a statement. “It is another element of our disciplined capital allocation strategy that includes an ongoing share-repurchase program and investments in research and development, capital [...]
LOS ANGELES Sharp Corp. has discussed setting a new per-share price for its deal with prospective investor Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. , with Hon Hai’s total investment to remain at 9.9% as previously agreed, the Nikkei business daily cited Sharp President Takashi Okuda as saying Saturday. Okuda says a final deal has been delayed due to questions about an overall Sharp-Hon Hai business alliance rather than issues surrounding the price, the Nikkei said. The deal for Hon Hai to buy a stake in cash-strapped Sharp was negotiated in March, since which time the Japanese tech conglomerate’s share price has [...]

