Nice bit of news for solar energy technology vendors: Japan’s prime minister Naoto Kan is expected at this week’s meeting in France of the Group of Eight leaders to unveil the “Sunrise Plan” to extend installation of solar panels to all of Japan’s rooftops, for eligible buildings and homes, according to a report today by Kyodo News. The time frame is by 2030, the report says.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Shares of Yahoo! (YHOO) are up 42 cents, or 2.4%, at $18.12 after reports circulated that Greenlight Capital, the hedge fund run by noted investor David Einhorn, took a position in the stock at $16.93 in Q1, according to a write-up at Market Folly in advance of the 13-F filing by Greenlight.
Market Folly notes the position came amidst a 2.5% drop in Greenlight’s total return in the quarter. The firm apparently is banking on the value of Yahoo!’s stake in Asian e-commerce venture Alibaba Group, according to the report.
In addition to Yahoo!, Einhorn bought into Best Buy (BBY) at $33.33. Best Buy shares are up 60 cents, or 2%, at $31.82 this morning.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Yahoo! (YHOO) reported 17 cents in earnings beating analysts expectations for 16 cents. Revenue came in $1.06 billion in line with expectations. Shares were up 3% immediately after the report came out.
“We are solidly executing toward our plan for returning Yahoo! to sustainable revenue and profit growth,” said CEO Carol Bartz. “During the quarter, we beat the midpoint of revenue guidance while continuing to deliver on the bottom line. We continued to extend our lead as the world’s premier digital media company with users to Yahoo! branded properties increasing 15% year over year and minutes spend increasing 17%.”
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
VMWare (VMW) bounced after hours as its first quarter beat top and bottom line expectations, and it raised second-quarter guidance above forecasts.
The company said it earned 29 cents a share, a dime ahead of its year-ago profit, on revenue of $834.7 million, up from $633.5 million. On a non-GAAP basis, it would have earned 48 cents a share.
Analysts were expecting the firm to earn 42 cents a share on revenue of $815.3 million.
VMWare also guided for second-quarter revenue of $860 million to $880 million, easily beating the $845.1 million analysts had forecast.
Shares of VMWare lost ground during regular trading ahead of the report, but shot up after hours, gaining $7.04, or 8.2%, to a recent $93.14.
Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily
Celebu-vestor Ashton Kutcher is at it again, using his venture capital fund, A Grade Investments, to pour an undisclosed amount of funding into online ticket-search firm startup SeatGeek, the company announced today.
SeatGeek uses algorithms to match the best deal with a customer’s specific needs for an event. It lets event-goers can peruse thousands of potential pricing and seating options available for concerts and sporting events on the secondary market.
The company said it would use the money to hire more employees (it currently has about a dozen), add more events and venues, and begin a push into the lucrative European market.
The company is on a bit of a roll — on Tuesday it announced it has teamed up with one of the five biggest sporting publications online, Bleacher Report.
The New York-based startup landed $550,000 in funding from a group of investors and signed a distribution deal with the Wall Street Journal back in October.
It also partnered with Yahoo Sports as it continues to try to carve out a niche in the crowded ticket comparison and price forecasting sites for sporting and entertainment events.
Its competitors include similar ticketing sites FanSnap and TicketsBuy.
Kutcher is well known for spotting — and funding — the latest “cool kids” in Silicon Valley and has previously invested in companies such as Flipboard, Nowmov, Optimizely, Blekko and Quora.
Kutcher heads up A Grade Investments with Israeli businessman Guy Oseary.
Past funding has come from a consortium of previous backers PKS Capital, Founder Collective, Stage One Capital, Trisiras Group and angel investors Mark Wachen, Thomas Lehrman, Sunil Hirani, Allen Levinson and Arie Abecassis.
Although the terms of today’s deal were undisclosed, previous funding brought the start-up a total investment of over $2 million since its founding in 2009.
Companies: A Grade Investments, bleacherreport.com/, Blekko, FanSnap, Flipboard, Founder Collective, NowMov, optimizely, PKS Capital, quora, SeatGeek, Stage One Capital, TicketsBuy, Trisiras Group, yahoo sports
People: Allen Levinson, Arie Abecassis, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, Mark Wachen, Sunil Hirani, Thomas Lehrman
Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals
I just thought you should know that. To those of you who had your heart set on using that very name for your own shop, I’m sorry. Back to the drawing board.
Misfit Barbarian Performance Report
Article courtesy of Dealbreaker
On a conference call tonight following better-than-expected Q4 results but a profit forecast short of Street estimates, JDA Software’s (JDAS) management said it is continuing to make investment in the business.
The stock fell on the report, and is down currently $3.90, or almost 13%, at $27.01 in late trading.
CFO Peter [...]
Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily
Following better-than-expected Q4 results today, ARM Holdings’s (ARMH) president, Tudor Brown, was kind enough to call to discuss the report.
The central dynamic is that the company derived a greater number of royalty payments from microcontroller chips based on the ARM CPU design. That lead to a decline in ARM’s average [...]
Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily
You can count the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on Team Lebenthal.
The operating deficits most states are forecasting for fiscal 2012 are the result of the post-recessionary weak economy and have been erroneously conflated with longer-term issues such as debt, pension obligations and retiree health costs, Iris J. Lav, senior adviser at the Washington research group, and Elizabeth McNichol, a senior fellow, said in the report today.
“Overheated claims about state and local budget problems not only are inaccurate, but also could lead policy makers to take unwise steps such as allowing states to declare bankruptcy or forcing them to change the way they report their pension liabilities as a condition for issuing tax-exempt bonds,” Lav said in a press release accompanying the report’s release.
‘Fiscal Meltdown’ For States Exaggerated, Says Group [Bloomberg]
Article courtesy of Dealbreaker
As you may have heard, Goldman Sachs today released a 63-page report detailing what percentage of revenue comes from the bank’s own trading and investing, as well as other disclosures attempted to show pull the veil of secrecy back just a bit and show the world that while yes, ritual sacrifice in the basement of 200 West and a Buffalo warehouse is standard, Goldman Sachs is a friendly squid with nothing to hide. The second page of the document (via Deal Journal) kicks things off with “The Goldman Sachs Business Principles,” such as:
Our assets are our people, capital and reputation.
If any of these is ever diminished, the last is the most difficult to restore. We are dedicated to complying fully with the letter and spirit of the laws, rules and ethical principles that govern us. Our continued success depends upon unswerving adherence to this standard.
We stress creativity and imagination in everything we do.
While recognizing that the old way may still be the best way, we constantly strive to find a better solution to a client’s problems. We pride ourselves on having pioneered many of the practices and techniques that have become standard in the industry.
Our business is highly competitive, and we aggressively seek to expand our client relationships.
However, we must always be fair competitors and must never denigrate other firms.
We consider our size an asset that we try hard to preserve.
We want to be big enough to undertake the largest project that any of our clients could contemplate, yet small enough to maintain the loyalty, the intimacy and the esprit de corps that we all treasure and that contribute greatly to our success.
Another reason for the report was to show that contrary to what some people believe, Goldman Sachs loves its clients and that business about a buddy system between the prime brokerage and prop desk in order to facilitate front running of client trades? Baseless rumor at best. Sure, there were times when lines were flirted maybe occasionally crossed by accident. But that was the old Goldman Sachs. The new Goldman Sachs respects boundaries. Having said that, some clients like it when things are taken a little further than others are comfortable with and so, a formal chart has been devised so that GS can keep track of who’s down for anything and who’s not, called The Matrix.
Read The Goldman Sachs Business Practices Report [Deal Journal]
Article courtesy of Dealbreaker