International Business Machines is in talks to acquire Sun Microsystems, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
IBM is likely to pay at least $6.5 billion in cash to acquire Sun, the people told the paper.
That would translate into a premium of about 100 per cent over Sun's closing price on Tuesday of $4.97 a share on the Nasdaq, the paper said.
In recent months, Sun has approached a number of large tech companies in the hopes of being acquired, the paper said. Hewlett-Packard Co declined the offer, the paper said.
Sun is a maker of software and high-end computers. A spokesman for IBM declined to comment to the paper on questions about any talks with Sun. IBM and Sun could not be immediately be reached for comments.
Agencies
Showing posts with label Nasdaq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nasdaq. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Apple logs record $10-bn sales; beats recession
Apple Inc rose as much as 6.8% in Nasdaq trading as holiday demand beat estimates last quarter, helping allay concerns the recession and the absence of Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs will stymie growth.
Overseas demand for iPod players, Macintosh computers and iPhones offset a US slowdown and pushed quarterly sales past $10 bn for the first time, Apple said. Analysts had expected profit to drop for the first time in five years.
The cachet of Apple’s products helped the company maintain orders and command premium prices, even as the economy shrank, job losses swelled and consumer lending dried up. By updating models and pushing into new countries, Apple was able to shrug off the worst holiday shopping season in four decades. The company also is coping with the temporary loss of its CEO, who is giving up his day-to-day role until June to take a medical leave.
“It shows that people, even in a downturn, like Apple products and want to buy them,” said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon. He’s one of 25 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who recommend buying the shares.
First-quarter net income rose 1.5% to $1.61 bn, or $1.78 a share, from $1.58 bn, or $1.76, a year earlier, Apple said. Sales rose 5.8% to $10.2 bn in the period ended December 27. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated profit of $1.39 a share and sales of $9.76 bn.
Analysts had predicted a drop in profit after sales at US retailers fell more than twice as much as forecast in December, the sixth straight month of declines. The US accounts for more than half of Apple’s revenue.
Agencies
Overseas demand for iPod players, Macintosh computers and iPhones offset a US slowdown and pushed quarterly sales past $10 bn for the first time, Apple said. Analysts had expected profit to drop for the first time in five years.
The cachet of Apple’s products helped the company maintain orders and command premium prices, even as the economy shrank, job losses swelled and consumer lending dried up. By updating models and pushing into new countries, Apple was able to shrug off the worst holiday shopping season in four decades. The company also is coping with the temporary loss of its CEO, who is giving up his day-to-day role until June to take a medical leave.
“It shows that people, even in a downturn, like Apple products and want to buy them,” said Andy Hargreaves, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon. He’s one of 25 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who recommend buying the shares.
First-quarter net income rose 1.5% to $1.61 bn, or $1.78 a share, from $1.58 bn, or $1.76, a year earlier, Apple said. Sales rose 5.8% to $10.2 bn in the period ended December 27. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated profit of $1.39 a share and sales of $9.76 bn.
Analysts had predicted a drop in profit after sales at US retailers fell more than twice as much as forecast in December, the sixth straight month of declines. The US accounts for more than half of Apple’s revenue.
Agencies
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Madoff crambles out to find friends following scam
Bernard Madoff, the longtime Wall Street executive accused of cheating investors around the world out of $50 billion, scrambled to find friends or relatives to guarantee his bond on Tuesday and keep him out of jail.
In Massachusetts, where the disgraced investor long cultivated a loyal group of wealthy individuals, the state's chief securities regulator subpoenaed Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and Cohmad Securities Corp, a firm that marketed Madoff investment products.
The two firms must hand over the names and addresses of all local residents who let Madoff invest their money by December 29. They must also deliver notes, emails, meeting agendas related to investments made since 2000, William Galvin, the state's Secretary of the Commonwealth, said on Tuesday.
In New York, Madoff, who was arrested last week, has not yet fully met the conditions of his $10 million bond, according to court papers. He must find three co-signers to guarantee the bond.
If he fails to meet all the conditions, prosecutors could seek to have the 70-year-old Madoff jailed, pending trial. A court hearing was set for Wednesday on bail matters after a Tuesday hearing was postponed.
Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $5 million if convicted.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been accused of missing red flags about Madoff's investment business, is asking its internal watchdog to probe the agency's conduct in the case.
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said he was "gravely concerned" by the agency's "apparent multiple failures over at least a decade" to thoroughly investigate allegations or seek formal authority to pursue them.
As more banks, hedge funds and wealthy investors around the world realize they fell victim to a man long respected on Wall Street for the steady returns that his funds produced year after year, their outrage has grown.
LAW SCHOOL LAWSUIT
"The names and sizes of those exposed to Bernard Madoff keep growing and most remarkable of all is the concentration of investments made by funds of hedge funds which promise their clients a diversified portfolio," said Philippe Bonnefoy, chairman of the asset allocation committee at Cedar Partners, an investment adviser.
A fund of hedge funds is a basket of funds selected by the manager to spread around risk.
New York Law School sued Ascot Partners LP, an investment firm, general partner J. Ezra Merkin and auditor BDO Seidman LLP on Tuesday over investments with Madoff.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co acknowledged its exposure to Madoff after a hedge fund unit invested heavily with him. Tremont Holdings Inc's Rye Investment Management unit lost roughly $3 billion, nearly all of the money the unit managed, people familiar with the matter said.
Madoff is also closely tied to Carl Shapiro, a 95-year-old Boston philanthropist who gave much of his fortune to the city's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the city's Museum of Fine Arts.
Austria's Bank Medici, a closely held bank serving wealthy clients, also said it was affected by Madoff's scheme, but declined to give a total for its losses.
At the same time, prosecutors and regulators asked people who suspect they lost money to Madoff to come forward.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, which is prosecuting the Madoff case, set up a website for investors who may have been victimized. It also posted an FBI hotline number, 212-384-2359, for investors to call.
SIFTING THROUGH THE PAPERS
Investors were asked to gather any documents related to their Madoff investments and to check the website and others set up by the SEC, the trustee of Madoff's brokerage business and the court-appointed receiver in the case.
Lawyers worried that many of the financial statements that Madoff's firm mailed to clients were not accurate, and that it will take months to sift through the papers.
"This is a mess and it will take much longer than normal," said Douglas Hirsch, a partner at law firm Sadis & Goldberg, describing the work facing the trustee appointed to oversee the liquidation of Madoff's firm.
The Securities Investor Protection Corp, a nonprofit organization that provides limited insurance on investors' accounts, was named as trustee on Monday.
Madoff, who was well-known on the charity ball circuit and supported cancer and diabetes research, also gave about $238,200 to political candidates, parties and committees, mostly Democratic, since 1991, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political giving.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, received $12,000, while U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, received $10,000 over the years, the Center found.
The impact of Madoff's alleged fraud may be felt most severely among hedge funds. For example, the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index fell 4.15 percent in November, far more than the preliminary 0.7 percent decline reported last week.
Standard & Poor's said it will review public sector entities, such as universities, that invested with Madoff, to see whether their ratings should be cut as a result of their likely investment losses.
Source: Agencies
In Massachusetts, where the disgraced investor long cultivated a loyal group of wealthy individuals, the state's chief securities regulator subpoenaed Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and Cohmad Securities Corp, a firm that marketed Madoff investment products.
The two firms must hand over the names and addresses of all local residents who let Madoff invest their money by December 29. They must also deliver notes, emails, meeting agendas related to investments made since 2000, William Galvin, the state's Secretary of the Commonwealth, said on Tuesday.
In New York, Madoff, who was arrested last week, has not yet fully met the conditions of his $10 million bond, according to court papers. He must find three co-signers to guarantee the bond.
If he fails to meet all the conditions, prosecutors could seek to have the 70-year-old Madoff jailed, pending trial. A court hearing was set for Wednesday on bail matters after a Tuesday hearing was postponed.
Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, faces up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $5 million if convicted.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been accused of missing red flags about Madoff's investment business, is asking its internal watchdog to probe the agency's conduct in the case.
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said he was "gravely concerned" by the agency's "apparent multiple failures over at least a decade" to thoroughly investigate allegations or seek formal authority to pursue them.
As more banks, hedge funds and wealthy investors around the world realize they fell victim to a man long respected on Wall Street for the steady returns that his funds produced year after year, their outrage has grown.
LAW SCHOOL LAWSUIT
"The names and sizes of those exposed to Bernard Madoff keep growing and most remarkable of all is the concentration of investments made by funds of hedge funds which promise their clients a diversified portfolio," said Philippe Bonnefoy, chairman of the asset allocation committee at Cedar Partners, an investment adviser.
A fund of hedge funds is a basket of funds selected by the manager to spread around risk.
New York Law School sued Ascot Partners LP, an investment firm, general partner J. Ezra Merkin and auditor BDO Seidman LLP on Tuesday over investments with Madoff.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co acknowledged its exposure to Madoff after a hedge fund unit invested heavily with him. Tremont Holdings Inc's Rye Investment Management unit lost roughly $3 billion, nearly all of the money the unit managed, people familiar with the matter said.
Madoff is also closely tied to Carl Shapiro, a 95-year-old Boston philanthropist who gave much of his fortune to the city's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the city's Museum of Fine Arts.
Austria's Bank Medici, a closely held bank serving wealthy clients, also said it was affected by Madoff's scheme, but declined to give a total for its losses.
At the same time, prosecutors and regulators asked people who suspect they lost money to Madoff to come forward.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, which is prosecuting the Madoff case, set up a website for investors who may have been victimized. It also posted an FBI hotline number, 212-384-2359, for investors to call.
SIFTING THROUGH THE PAPERS
Investors were asked to gather any documents related to their Madoff investments and to check the website and others set up by the SEC, the trustee of Madoff's brokerage business and the court-appointed receiver in the case.
Lawyers worried that many of the financial statements that Madoff's firm mailed to clients were not accurate, and that it will take months to sift through the papers.
"This is a mess and it will take much longer than normal," said Douglas Hirsch, a partner at law firm Sadis & Goldberg, describing the work facing the trustee appointed to oversee the liquidation of Madoff's firm.
The Securities Investor Protection Corp, a nonprofit organization that provides limited insurance on investors' accounts, was named as trustee on Monday.
Madoff, who was well-known on the charity ball circuit and supported cancer and diabetes research, also gave about $238,200 to political candidates, parties and committees, mostly Democratic, since 1991, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political giving.
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, received $12,000, while U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, received $10,000 over the years, the Center found.
The impact of Madoff's alleged fraud may be felt most severely among hedge funds. For example, the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index fell 4.15 percent in November, far more than the preliminary 0.7 percent decline reported last week.
Standard & Poor's said it will review public sector entities, such as universities, that invested with Madoff, to see whether their ratings should be cut as a result of their likely investment losses.
Source: Agencies
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
More banks reveal exposure to Madoff
Banks and investment funds across the world lined up on Monday to admit investing billions of dollars in the companies of Bernard Madoff, whom US authorities accused of masterminding a massive fraud.
Britain’s HSBC was the latest bank to join the growing list, saying it had exposure of around $1 billion, making it one of the biggest victims of the alleged $50 billion fraud. Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group in the UK, Japan’s Nomura and France’s Natixis also said they were hit by the worldwide scandal.
Financial companies, reeling after a year of enormous writedowns on bad credit assets, have so far tallied up more than $10 billion in direct and indirect exposure to the possible fraud by Madoff, the 70-year old trader who was arrested on Thursday. “There is a broader danger here for the industry,” an equity analyst said.
“This huge fraud, supposedly in blue-chip funds, is going to make people nervous, and you’ve already seen massive redemptions,” the analyst said. Shares in France’s Natixis were down 4.7% after it said it had as much as E450 million ($605 million) of exposure to the fiasco. The wider DJ Stoxx banking index was 0.9% lower.
US prosecutors and regulators have accused Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, of running the fraud through his investment advisory business, which managed at least one hedge fund. Man Group, the world’s largest listed hedge fund manager, said it was exposed to Madoff through its fund of funds business RMF, which has $360 million invested in funds directly or indirectly sub-advised by Madoff. BNP Paribas and Santander detailed potential losses on Sunday, and others joined at the start of the trading week, with Italy’s UniCredit showing exposure of around E75 million.
RBS said its potential loss could amount to some £400 million ($595 million), if it assumed that the value of its assets in Madoff’s firm were nil.
Its exposure to the scandal was through trading and collateralised lending to funds of hedge funds invested in the group, the bank said in a statement.
Hedge funds are already struggling after a year that has badly damaged their boast that they can make money whichever way the market turns.
Source: Agencies
Britain’s HSBC was the latest bank to join the growing list, saying it had exposure of around $1 billion, making it one of the biggest victims of the alleged $50 billion fraud. Royal Bank of Scotland and Man Group in the UK, Japan’s Nomura and France’s Natixis also said they were hit by the worldwide scandal.
Financial companies, reeling after a year of enormous writedowns on bad credit assets, have so far tallied up more than $10 billion in direct and indirect exposure to the possible fraud by Madoff, the 70-year old trader who was arrested on Thursday. “There is a broader danger here for the industry,” an equity analyst said.
“This huge fraud, supposedly in blue-chip funds, is going to make people nervous, and you’ve already seen massive redemptions,” the analyst said. Shares in France’s Natixis were down 4.7% after it said it had as much as E450 million ($605 million) of exposure to the fiasco. The wider DJ Stoxx banking index was 0.9% lower.
US prosecutors and regulators have accused Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market, of running the fraud through his investment advisory business, which managed at least one hedge fund. Man Group, the world’s largest listed hedge fund manager, said it was exposed to Madoff through its fund of funds business RMF, which has $360 million invested in funds directly or indirectly sub-advised by Madoff. BNP Paribas and Santander detailed potential losses on Sunday, and others joined at the start of the trading week, with Italy’s UniCredit showing exposure of around E75 million.
RBS said its potential loss could amount to some £400 million ($595 million), if it assumed that the value of its assets in Madoff’s firm were nil.
Its exposure to the scandal was through trading and collateralised lending to funds of hedge funds invested in the group, the bank said in a statement.
Hedge funds are already struggling after a year that has badly damaged their boast that they can make money whichever way the market turns.
Source: Agencies
Monday, November 24, 2008
US-listed Indian cos on a losing spree
Indian companies listed on the American bourses lost nearly six billion dollars in just one week, with the market value of HDFC Bank eroding as much as 1.38 billion dollars, amid worsening financial turmoil and scour corporate news battering world markets.
The 16 Indian firms in the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq collectively lost 5.74 billion dollar in their market capitalisation for the week ended November 21, even as two companies gained valuation.
In recent weeks, the American markets went into a tailspin primarily due to heightened concerns of a protracted economic slowdown and declining consumer spending in the world's largest economy.
Among the 16 Indian stocks listed as American Depository Receipts, apart from HDFC Bank, another private sector lender ICICI Bank too lost more than one billion dollars of valuation.
While the market value of HDFC Bank tumbled 1.37 billion dollars, that of ICICI Bank dropped 1.12 billion dollars.
However, pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories and outsourcing firm Genpact added to their market capitalisation. Dr Reddy's Laboratories witnessed a rise of 37 million dollar in valuation, whereas Genpact's value increased by 4.3 million dollars.
IT bellwether Infosys' market valuation eroded by one billion dollars, while that of IT major Wipro decreased by 863 million dollars. In addition, Satyam Computer Services saw a value erosion of 457 million dollars.
Further, leading auto maker Tata Motors lost 77 million dollars and telecom entity Tata Communications saw a decline in value to the tune of 677.17 million dollars.
Other entities whose market capitalisation declined are internet firms -- Sify Technologies and Rediff.com, outsourcing entities -- WNS and EXLService Holdings, leading copper producer Sterlite Industries, telecom company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and IT firm Patni Computer Systems.
On Friday, the major American indices -- Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite -- snapped its four-day losing streak to close in the positive territory.
Dow jumped 494 points to end the day at 8,046.42 points, while S&P 500 rose over six per cent to 800 points. Nasdaq Composite jumped more than five per cent to close at 1,384.35 points.
The surge in stocks was mainly due to media reports that President-elect Barack Obama would appoint Timothy Geithner as the new Treasury Secretary. Geithner is presently the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Source: PTI
The 16 Indian firms in the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq collectively lost 5.74 billion dollar in their market capitalisation for the week ended November 21, even as two companies gained valuation.
In recent weeks, the American markets went into a tailspin primarily due to heightened concerns of a protracted economic slowdown and declining consumer spending in the world's largest economy.
Among the 16 Indian stocks listed as American Depository Receipts, apart from HDFC Bank, another private sector lender ICICI Bank too lost more than one billion dollars of valuation.
While the market value of HDFC Bank tumbled 1.37 billion dollars, that of ICICI Bank dropped 1.12 billion dollars.
However, pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories and outsourcing firm Genpact added to their market capitalisation. Dr Reddy's Laboratories witnessed a rise of 37 million dollar in valuation, whereas Genpact's value increased by 4.3 million dollars.
IT bellwether Infosys' market valuation eroded by one billion dollars, while that of IT major Wipro decreased by 863 million dollars. In addition, Satyam Computer Services saw a value erosion of 457 million dollars.
Further, leading auto maker Tata Motors lost 77 million dollars and telecom entity Tata Communications saw a decline in value to the tune of 677.17 million dollars.
Other entities whose market capitalisation declined are internet firms -- Sify Technologies and Rediff.com, outsourcing entities -- WNS and EXLService Holdings, leading copper producer Sterlite Industries, telecom company Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd and IT firm Patni Computer Systems.
On Friday, the major American indices -- Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite -- snapped its four-day losing streak to close in the positive territory.
Dow jumped 494 points to end the day at 8,046.42 points, while S&P 500 rose over six per cent to 800 points. Nasdaq Composite jumped more than five per cent to close at 1,384.35 points.
The surge in stocks was mainly due to media reports that President-elect Barack Obama would appoint Timothy Geithner as the new Treasury Secretary. Geithner is presently the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Source: PTI
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