A Crippling Blow to Facebook?
courtesy of Facebook Inc.One of the strengths of Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), perhaps second to its one billion users, is the amount of time people spend on the social network. That length of time…
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Douglas A. McIntyre
The Best Part of the CBO Budget
ThinkstockThe best part of any budget is the part in which its architects forecast what will happen years into the future. Nations, companies and nonprofits have five-year plans. Most of these plans are not…
What’s Important in the Financial World (2/6/2013)
ThinkstockHackers Hit the Fed Hackers have scored another victory in a series that has extended from Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) China site, to the New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) site, to The Wall…
Media Digest (2/6/2013) Reuters, WSJ, FT
courtesy of Facebook Inc.Liberty Global Inc. (NASDAQ: LBTYA) will buy U.K. cable firm Virgin Media Inc. (NASDAQ: VMED) for $15.75 billion. (Reuters) Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (NYSE: RBS) expects LIBOR penalties in the hundreds…
Eight Companies Ruined by Their Founders
courtesy of DellFor every Sergey Brin, there is a Michael Dell. While the Google co-founder and CEO has made his company one of the most valuable in the world with its shares reaching an…
Boeing Ready for 787 Dreamliner to Fly Again
Wikimedia CommonsBoeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is trying to get back in the game of flying its 787 Dreamliner. So far, the prospects do not seem very good, depending on which reports are to be…
Toyota Completes Comeback, Raises Forecast
courtesy of Toyota Motor Corp.As Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) announced its third-quarter results, for the period that ended on December 31, it raised it forecasts and cemented its position as the world’s top…
Consumer Reports Finds Turbocharged Ford Fusions Underperform
courtesy of Ford Motor CompanyConsumer Reports states that claims about fuel economy and acceleration in small turbo engine power cars are often false: Consumer Reports tests many cars with small, turbocharged engines, and lots…
What’s Important in the Financial World (2/5/2013)
Courtesy Research in Motion Ltd.787 to Fly Again? Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) is trying to get back in the game of flying its 787 Dreamliner. So far, the prospects do not seem very good,…
Yum! Brands: How Little Things Bring a Company Down
courtesy of KFCThe value of the shares in Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) rose consistently over the past five years, until a few weeks ago they were up well over 100% for that period.…
As Gas Costs Hurt American Financials, Gas Tax Issue Revisited
ThinkstockThe U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released data that show the average American household spent $2,912 on gas last year, just under 4% of income before taxes. Except for in 2008, this number is…
What Took the Justice Department So Long on S&P Charges?
(July, 2011) Standard and Poor's State Credit Rating, Provided by The Tax FoundationJustice delayed might be not be justice denied, but as far as many regular U.S. citizens are concerned it seems justice was…
Media Digest (2/5/2012) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg
thinkstockThe United States begins a lawsuit against McGraw Hills Companies Inc.’s (NYSE: MHP) S&P for its role in the mortgage-backed paper debacle. (Reuters) BP PLC’s (NYSE: BP) fourth-quarter profits are strong though it faces…
A Truce in the U.S.-Mexico Tomato Wars
ThinkstockThe tomato wars between Mexico and the United States are over. The announcement was front page news, although it is hard to see why that happened. According to The New York Times: The United…
Best Buy Tries to Smack Down 24/7 Wall St.
courtesy Best Buy Co. Inc.Over the weekend, a Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) public relations department manager, Jonathan Sandler, decided to mount a personal attack on a 24/7 Wall St. writer for an analysis…
U.S. Prepared to Preemptively Strike Against Cyber Attacks
thinkstockThe federal government has watched the hacks of Twitter and the sites of The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) and Washington Post Co. (NYSE: WPO) and is ready to defend America against any…
Microsoft Should Cut Prices on Its Surface Tablet
By the estimates of industry research firm IDC, Microsoft posted 900,000 sales of its Surface tablet in the fourth quarter. That put it behind industry leaders like Apple and Samsung, but not hopelessly behind…
Foreign Car Companies Face China Flop
courtesy of General MotorsThree years ago, China seemed so promising to foreign car companies. Annual sales of cars and light trucks passed those in the United States, which had been the largest market for…
Swatch Earnings Surge, but Who Buys Watches?
ThinkstockSwatch, the largest watch and watch component company in the world, announced record second half profits for 2012. Its net income at $967 million was a 27% increase over the same period in 2011.…
What’s Important in the Financial World (2/4/2013)
ThinkstockA Tomato Truce The tomato wars between Mexico and the United States are over. The announcement was front page news, although it is hard to see why that happened. According to The New York…