Tech Mahindra Ltd, which is taking over Satyam Computer Services Ltd, said on Monday the fraud-hit Indian outsourcer would continue to function as a standalone unit.
The mid-sized Indian IT services firm's immediate priority was to retain and win back lost clients of Satyam, a statement from Tech Mahindra said.
Tech Mahindra's deal to take over Satyam will propel it into the top tier of Indian IT firms and throw a lifeline to the firm at the centre of India's biggest corporate scandal.
Three months ago, Satyam's founder and chairman shocked investors by saying profits had been overstated for years, putting in doubt the survival of a company once ranked as India's fourth-largest software services exporter.
The government quickly stepped in and sacked the board to limit damage to India's once-shining IT sector.
Agencies
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Is IBM no longer keen on buying Sun anymore?
IBM is no longer interested in buying smaller rival Sun Microsystems Inc at any price, CNBC reported, although many investors appear to believe a deal was still possible.
Citing sources close to Sun, CNBC said the high-end computer maker had approached International Business Machines Corp earlier this week to ask it to return to the negotiating table, indicating that Sun would be flexible about price.
But IBM has decided it is not interested in any further negotiations with Sun, the cable news network reported, citing sources close to IBM. IBM and Sun declined to comment.
IBM had withdrawn a $7 billion offer for Sun earlier this month, after the smaller company rejected the bid of up to $9.40 per share as too low, sources with knowledge of the matter have said.
Shares of Sun were up 4.24 percent at $6.39 after the CNBC report, but lower than before the market opened on Thursday. Sun traded at around $4.97 before talks between the two technology companies were first reported in March.
Avian Securities' head of research, Avi Cohen, said he believed the two sides would talk again.
"If the deal made sense a couple weeks ago, it certainly would still make sense today," he said. "If there was a willingness, which I think there is, if there was a business case, which I think there is, I think they will start up talks."
CNBC said IBM decided against the move after looking at Sun's structured contracts, as well as change of control clauses that would make an acquisition of the company costly.
It also reported that IBM's contacts within the US Justice Department, US Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union have all advised the company that such a merger could be subject to an antitrust review lasting six to nine months.
Analysts have said a deal may be crucial for Sun's long-term survival as it has been losing market share in servers to IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co, and analysts expect it to report a third straight quarter of losses excluding special items.
Sun, which rose to prominence in the 1990s, had been searching for a buyer for several months, according to bankers.
The Silicon Valley company never fully recovered from the burst of the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, when demand for servers cratered. It has also failed to fully capitalize on its software assets, including its Java software platform.
Agencies
Citing sources close to Sun, CNBC said the high-end computer maker had approached International Business Machines Corp earlier this week to ask it to return to the negotiating table, indicating that Sun would be flexible about price.
But IBM has decided it is not interested in any further negotiations with Sun, the cable news network reported, citing sources close to IBM. IBM and Sun declined to comment.
IBM had withdrawn a $7 billion offer for Sun earlier this month, after the smaller company rejected the bid of up to $9.40 per share as too low, sources with knowledge of the matter have said.
Shares of Sun were up 4.24 percent at $6.39 after the CNBC report, but lower than before the market opened on Thursday. Sun traded at around $4.97 before talks between the two technology companies were first reported in March.
Avian Securities' head of research, Avi Cohen, said he believed the two sides would talk again.
"If the deal made sense a couple weeks ago, it certainly would still make sense today," he said. "If there was a willingness, which I think there is, if there was a business case, which I think there is, I think they will start up talks."
CNBC said IBM decided against the move after looking at Sun's structured contracts, as well as change of control clauses that would make an acquisition of the company costly.
It also reported that IBM's contacts within the US Justice Department, US Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union have all advised the company that such a merger could be subject to an antitrust review lasting six to nine months.
Analysts have said a deal may be crucial for Sun's long-term survival as it has been losing market share in servers to IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co, and analysts expect it to report a third straight quarter of losses excluding special items.
Sun, which rose to prominence in the 1990s, had been searching for a buyer for several months, according to bankers.
The Silicon Valley company never fully recovered from the burst of the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, when demand for servers cratered. It has also failed to fully capitalize on its software assets, including its Java software platform.
Agencies
Will Sony Ericsson layoff additional 2,000 jobs?
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, the mobile-phone venture of Sony Corp and Ericsson AB, said it will cut an additional 2,000 jobs to revive profit amid falling demand.
The measure will reduce costs by 400 million euros ($524 million) annually by mid-2010 and cost 200 million euros to implement, Sony Ericsson said in a statement. It follows a plan announced in July to slash 2,000 positions to save 300 million euros, which has been completed, and another unveiled in January to reduce costs by 180 million euros by the end of 2009.
Sony Ericsson reported its third straight quarterly loss today after it slipped to fourth place in global handset shipments at the end of last year. The London-based company has suffered as consumers snapped up touchscreen models from competitors such as Apple Inc with its iPhone.
“As expected, the first quarter of this year has been extremely challenging for Sony Ericsson due to continued weak global demand” Chief Executive Officer Dick Komiyama said in the statement. “We are aligning our business to the new market reality with the aim of bringing the company back to profitability as quickly as possible.”
Third loss
The first-quarter net loss was 293 million euros, compared with a profit of 133 million euros a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell 36 per cent to 1.74 billion euros.
Analysts in an SME Direkt survey predicted a 293 million- euro net loss on sales of 1.68 billion euros, based on 28 estimates.
Sony Ericsson’s gross margin, or sales minus manufacturing costs, narrowed to 8.4 per cent in the quarter from 29.2 per cent a year earlier.
Restructuring charges for the first two cost-cutting programmes will stay within the 300 million-euro sum set aside in July to pay for the measures, the company said.
The venture shipped 14.5 million phones, a 35 per cent drop from a year earlier. The company estimated its market share fell two percentage poi
nts to 6 per cent from the fourth quarter. The average selling price of its handsets fell to 120 euros from 121 euros in the fourth quarter as well as the year-earlier period.
Sony Ericsson predicts global industry handset unit sales will shrink at least 10 per cent this year from the 1.19 billion sold in 2008. Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker, yesterday reiterated its forecast of about a 10 per cent drop in the global handset market.
Nokia reiterated its margin targets for the year after announcing job cut programmes that will cover about 3,000 employees. The Espoo, Finland-based company’s first-quarter net income declined 90 per cent to 122 million euros.
Agencies
The measure will reduce costs by 400 million euros ($524 million) annually by mid-2010 and cost 200 million euros to implement, Sony Ericsson said in a statement. It follows a plan announced in July to slash 2,000 positions to save 300 million euros, which has been completed, and another unveiled in January to reduce costs by 180 million euros by the end of 2009.
Sony Ericsson reported its third straight quarterly loss today after it slipped to fourth place in global handset shipments at the end of last year. The London-based company has suffered as consumers snapped up touchscreen models from competitors such as Apple Inc with its iPhone.
“As expected, the first quarter of this year has been extremely challenging for Sony Ericsson due to continued weak global demand” Chief Executive Officer Dick Komiyama said in the statement. “We are aligning our business to the new market reality with the aim of bringing the company back to profitability as quickly as possible.”
Third loss
The first-quarter net loss was 293 million euros, compared with a profit of 133 million euros a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell 36 per cent to 1.74 billion euros.
Analysts in an SME Direkt survey predicted a 293 million- euro net loss on sales of 1.68 billion euros, based on 28 estimates.
Sony Ericsson’s gross margin, or sales minus manufacturing costs, narrowed to 8.4 per cent in the quarter from 29.2 per cent a year earlier.
Restructuring charges for the first two cost-cutting programmes will stay within the 300 million-euro sum set aside in July to pay for the measures, the company said.
The venture shipped 14.5 million phones, a 35 per cent drop from a year earlier. The company estimated its market share fell two percentage poi
nts to 6 per cent from the fourth quarter. The average selling price of its handsets fell to 120 euros from 121 euros in the fourth quarter as well as the year-earlier period.
Sony Ericsson predicts global industry handset unit sales will shrink at least 10 per cent this year from the 1.19 billion sold in 2008. Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker, yesterday reiterated its forecast of about a 10 per cent drop in the global handset market.
Nokia reiterated its margin targets for the year after announcing job cut programmes that will cover about 3,000 employees. The Espoo, Finland-based company’s first-quarter net income declined 90 per cent to 122 million euros.
Agencies
Friday, April 17, 2009
Will Cisco layoff 6,600 employees?
Is it pinkslips time at Cisco? Predicting a significant drop in revenue for the fourth quarter, a JP Morgan analyst has reported that Cisco Systems Inc "could" soon announce a workforce reduction of 10 percent (this could be equal to about 6,600 employees).
In his 49-page first-quarter 2009 preview of communications equipment and networking companies, analyst, Ehud Gelblum, of JP Morgan wrote, "We expect Cisco to guide fourth fiscal quarter revenue down 17-22%, year over year, as demand continues to deteriorate, in-line with our estimate for a 21 per cent year over year decline," "We believe Cisco could also announce a 10% headcount reduction, which we calculate could save $900M annually," he wrote.
The recent lowering of sales projections by two of Cisco's competitor's Juniper Network and F5 Network has led to a similar speculation about the company.
Cisco spokesman reportedly refused to comment on JP Morgan report directly. However, in a statement he said that on our fiscal second quarter 2009 earnings call in February we discussed a limited restructuring where we could in the near term see a total reduction of between 1500 and 2000 jobs company wide. This does not represent a broad-scale layoff in our workforce.
The spokesman added that this limited restructuring is part of our ongoing, targeted realignment of resources. While Cisco constantly manages its business priorities, resources and overall employee alignment as part of our overall business management process, we are sensitive to the impact these decisions have on employees during this challenging economic environment. We are doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring.
Indiatimes
In his 49-page first-quarter 2009 preview of communications equipment and networking companies, analyst, Ehud Gelblum, of JP Morgan wrote, "We expect Cisco to guide fourth fiscal quarter revenue down 17-22%, year over year, as demand continues to deteriorate, in-line with our estimate for a 21 per cent year over year decline," "We believe Cisco could also announce a 10% headcount reduction, which we calculate could save $900M annually," he wrote.
The recent lowering of sales projections by two of Cisco's competitor's Juniper Network and F5 Network has led to a similar speculation about the company.
Cisco spokesman reportedly refused to comment on JP Morgan report directly. However, in a statement he said that on our fiscal second quarter 2009 earnings call in February we discussed a limited restructuring where we could in the near term see a total reduction of between 1500 and 2000 jobs company wide. This does not represent a broad-scale layoff in our workforce.
The spokesman added that this limited restructuring is part of our ongoing, targeted realignment of resources. While Cisco constantly manages its business priorities, resources and overall employee alignment as part of our overall business management process, we are sensitive to the impact these decisions have on employees during this challenging economic environment. We are doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring.
Indiatimes
Infosys to cut variable pay compenent
Infosys has cut the variable pay for employees, with the cuts being deeper at the higher levels. For senior executives, the variable pay, which constitutes nearly 50 per cent of their total compensation, has been slashed by 58 per cent.
“Some boardroom executives have even taken a 70 per cent to 85 per cent variable pay cut,” said T V Mohandas Pai, head of HR in Infosys. The company's hiring has been steadily declining.
In Q4, it added (net) only 1,772 people, compared to 2,772 in Q3, and 2,586 in Q4 of 2007-08. In the whole of 2008-09, it hired (net) 13,663 people, down from 18,946 in the year before.
The company maintained that it will not seek to trim its payroll by laying off software professionals. There will, however, be no salary hike this year, as the company plans to keep its operational costs under control.
“We are not laying off anybody and there are no such plans,” said Infosys Technologies HR-director, TV Mohandas Pai.
Infosys plans to hire 18,000 professionals in the current fiscal, including almost 16,000 fresh graduates and experienced hires. It will also recruit around 1,000 non-Indians outside the country to increase the number of foreign professionals in its workforce.
Times News Network
“Some boardroom executives have even taken a 70 per cent to 85 per cent variable pay cut,” said T V Mohandas Pai, head of HR in Infosys. The company's hiring has been steadily declining.
In Q4, it added (net) only 1,772 people, compared to 2,772 in Q3, and 2,586 in Q4 of 2007-08. In the whole of 2008-09, it hired (net) 13,663 people, down from 18,946 in the year before.
The company maintained that it will not seek to trim its payroll by laying off software professionals. There will, however, be no salary hike this year, as the company plans to keep its operational costs under control.
“We are not laying off anybody and there are no such plans,” said Infosys Technologies HR-director, TV Mohandas Pai.
Infosys plans to hire 18,000 professionals in the current fiscal, including almost 16,000 fresh graduates and experienced hires. It will also recruit around 1,000 non-Indians outside the country to increase the number of foreign professionals in its workforce.
Times News Network
Thursday, April 16, 2009
New email server for Microsoft
Microsoft Corp said it will launch a test version of its Exchange Server, marking the latest development in the technology used by 65 percent of businesses worldwide to run their email systems.
The public beta test version of Exchange Server 2010, as the product is called, is the first of a wave of upgrades to Microsoft programs as the software giant gears up for the next release of its highly successful and profitable Office suite of applications.
Microsoft, which is gradually moving toward Internet distribution for some of its products to counter threats from Google Inc and other new competitors, said the latest Exchange Server can work entirely as an online service, which may attract customers looking to save money on hardware and support for their email and messaging systems.
For users, the new Exchange Server offers a few innovations, including the ability to "mute" streams of email, or opt out of conversations of limited interest to the recipient.
The new system also offers a range of tips to avoid embarrassment or wasting time, by warning users before they send mail to large distribution groups, to out-of-office recipients or to people outside the organization, which Microsoft hopes will protect against information leaks and reduce unnecessary e-mail messages.
It also has a function to transcribe voice messages sent to the computer. The full public roll-out of Exchange Server 2010 is scheduled for the second half of 2009 while Microsoft's Office 2010 is expected to be available in the first half of 2010.
Agencies
The public beta test version of Exchange Server 2010, as the product is called, is the first of a wave of upgrades to Microsoft programs as the software giant gears up for the next release of its highly successful and profitable Office suite of applications.
Microsoft, which is gradually moving toward Internet distribution for some of its products to counter threats from Google Inc and other new competitors, said the latest Exchange Server can work entirely as an online service, which may attract customers looking to save money on hardware and support for their email and messaging systems.
For users, the new Exchange Server offers a few innovations, including the ability to "mute" streams of email, or opt out of conversations of limited interest to the recipient.
The new system also offers a range of tips to avoid embarrassment or wasting time, by warning users before they send mail to large distribution groups, to out-of-office recipients or to people outside the organization, which Microsoft hopes will protect against information leaks and reduce unnecessary e-mail messages.
It also has a function to transcribe voice messages sent to the computer. The full public roll-out of Exchange Server 2010 is scheduled for the second half of 2009 while Microsoft's Office 2010 is expected to be available in the first half of 2010.
Agencies
Will Yahoo layoff hundreds of employees?
Yahoo Inc is gearing up for its third round of mass layoffs in 14 months, signaling the long-slumping Internet company is still struggling to snap out of its financial malaise under a new leadership team.
The cuts will likely affect several hundred employees, a person familiar with the plan said, confirming a report first published on The New York Times' Web site.
The person asked to remain anonymous because Yahoo isn't publicly discussing anything that might affect its stock price until the April 21 release of the Sunnyvale, California-based company's first-quarter earnings report.
Most analysts expect those results to be lackluster, extending a pattern of disappointing profits that began in 2006.
Yahoo hired technology veteran Carol Bartz as its chief executive in January to steer a turnaround. The blunt-talking Bartz has spent much of her tenure trying to understand Yahoo's strengths and weaknesses while promising to throw out the dead wood. She already has reorganized Yahoo's management team.
Bartz's predecessor, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, also tried to shake things up by laying off about 1,000 workers in February 2008 only to expand the payroll again in the next few months. Just before Bartz's hiring, Yahoo eliminated more than 1,500 jobs to enter 2009 with 13,600 workers.
When they made the last cuts, Yahoo executives warned more layoffs could be coming if the recession worsened — an unwelcome turn that occurred during the first three months of the year.
The deepening downturn has caused more advertisers to trim their spending, a trend that has hurt all companies like Yahoo that depend on advertising for most of their revenue. The retrenchment has been a bigger problem for more traditional media, particularly newspapers, but it's also forcing Internet companies to tighten their belts.
Even Internet search leader Google Inc, which generates three times more revenue than Yahoo, decided to lay off about 340 workers and curb other expenses during the first quarter to bolster its profits during the tough times.
Agencies
The cuts will likely affect several hundred employees, a person familiar with the plan said, confirming a report first published on The New York Times' Web site.
The person asked to remain anonymous because Yahoo isn't publicly discussing anything that might affect its stock price until the April 21 release of the Sunnyvale, California-based company's first-quarter earnings report.
Most analysts expect those results to be lackluster, extending a pattern of disappointing profits that began in 2006.
Yahoo hired technology veteran Carol Bartz as its chief executive in January to steer a turnaround. The blunt-talking Bartz has spent much of her tenure trying to understand Yahoo's strengths and weaknesses while promising to throw out the dead wood. She already has reorganized Yahoo's management team.
Bartz's predecessor, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, also tried to shake things up by laying off about 1,000 workers in February 2008 only to expand the payroll again in the next few months. Just before Bartz's hiring, Yahoo eliminated more than 1,500 jobs to enter 2009 with 13,600 workers.
When they made the last cuts, Yahoo executives warned more layoffs could be coming if the recession worsened — an unwelcome turn that occurred during the first three months of the year.
The deepening downturn has caused more advertisers to trim their spending, a trend that has hurt all companies like Yahoo that depend on advertising for most of their revenue. The retrenchment has been a bigger problem for more traditional media, particularly newspapers, but it's also forcing Internet companies to tighten their belts.
Even Internet search leader Google Inc, which generates three times more revenue than Yahoo, decided to lay off about 340 workers and curb other expenses during the first quarter to bolster its profits during the tough times.
Agencies
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