Google finally takes Motorola Mobility after China says yes May 22, 2012 GOOGLE yesterday completed its $12.5bn (£7.9bn) acquisition of Motorola Mobility after receiving the green light from the Chinese authorities. “Long-time Googler” Dennis Woodside was ushered into the top spot, taking over from Sanjay Jha as Motorola Mobility’s chief executive. In a blog post, Google boss Larry Page said: “Many users coming online today may never [...]
Yell hides poor results behind name change May 22, 2012 YELL Group, the struggling publisher of the Yellow Pages, yesterday unveiled a new name as it posted a £1.2bn loss. Subject to shareholder approval, the group will be renamed Hibu, pronounced high-boo, as part of its attempt to change its fortunes. But the re-brand, which would have cost the company hundreds of thousands in consulting fees, [...]
Facebook shares decline deflates internet banking star May 22, 2012 HOTSHOT Morgan Stanley banker Michael Grimes is the target of some angry finger pointing after Facebook’s share price fall since its debut on Friday. In many ways he shouldn’t be surprised. In the run-up to the float, Grimes was the subject of a number of press reports extolling his prominence in the technology sector, detailing [...]
One in ten investors reject Shell pay deal May 22, 2012 OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell yesterday suffered an embarrassing investor rebellion when 9.1 per cent of its shareholders voted against its executive pay deal, up from two per cent a year before. Chief executive Peter Voser earned €11.7m (£9.5m) for 2011, double what he took home for the previous year, despite little improvement in the company’s [...]
SAP taps software rival Ariba in $4.3bn deal May 22, 2012 EUROPEAN software company SAP AG plans to buy US software maker Ariba in a deal valuing the company at $4.3bn in a bid to compete more aggressively against rival Oracle in the fast-growing cloud computing market. SAP and Ariba, a darling of the first dotcom boom that has since reinvented itself as a major networking [...]
SEC looking at JP Morgan accounts May 22, 2012 US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will look into the “appropriateness and completeness” of JP Morgan Chase’s financial reporting following the bank’s recent disclosure of large trading losses, SEC chairman Mary Schapiro said yesterday. Earlier this month JP Morgan announced it had suffered at least $2bn in losses after trades that the bank says were [...]
PIRC’s slap on wrist for Deutsche May 22, 2012 Deutsche Bank has received a reprimand from shareholder group PIRC over its succession planning. The group also warns that the bank could see the vote against its pay packages increase from the 42 per cent seen at last year’s annual general meeting because “shareholders’ concerns over the remuneration system have not been adequately addressed”.
Renminbi marketing blitz planned May 22, 2012 The UK, China and banks with big operations in both countries are planning a marketing blitz to encourage firms to take advantage of new freedom to settle trades in renminbi, Beijing’s currency. At a meeting of the London Forum, which includes government representatives and envoys from HSBC, Barclays and Standard Chartered among others, discussion focused on [...]
Accor offloads $1.9bn hotels arm May 22, 2012 Accor is to sell its troubled US budget hotel business for $1.9bn (£1.2bn) to private equity group Blackstone, in an expected move by the French hotel group to focus on growth outside the US. Accor will take a one-time non-cash hit of €600m linked to the early buyout of fixed-lease hotels as part of the [...]
Vodafone is top dividend payer in the FTSE 100 May 22, 2012 VODAFONE yesterday became the UK’s highest dividend payer after hiking its shareholder payout for the year by 52 per cent to 13.52p. Announcing its full year results, the telco giant said it paid out a total of £10.2bn to shareholders in fiscal 2011, including £3.6bn in a share buyback and £2bn from the reapings of [...]
