Earning Release
Xyratex Ltd’s (NASDAQ:XRTX) 4Q 08 revenues were marginally above our expectation. However, poor operational efficiencies led to significant margin contraction during the quarter and were below our expectations. In light of the current economic downturn in the US, Management has not provided any guidance for FY 2009. We continue to believe declining global [...]
The News Corporation Class B common stock has achieved our 22 December 2008 target price of US$10.20. As the current price no longer supports a BUY rating, we are downgrading the common stock rating from a BUY to a HOLD. We will reassess our rating for the News Corp Class B common stock after the [...]
—Roku player gets *Amazon* VOD: Owners of the Roku “Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) Player” will soon also be able to download content from Amazon’s VOD service. The deal adds more than 40,000 movies and TV shows to the library currently available via Netflix—though Amazon’s content is on a pay-per-view model as opposed to Netflix’ subscription. Crave poses the question of whether Roku will start rebranding its boxes to reflect the variety of content sources available, though it may face some opposition since Netflix invested $6 million for an undisclosed stake in the company last year.
—Online video viewing up 34 percent in November: The latest comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) Video Metrix stats found that Americans watched 12.7 billion videos in November 2008—up 34 percent year-over-year. Users watched 87 videos on average, amounting to about 276 minutes per viewer. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) (with YouTube) was the leader by a landslide, with 40 percent of all videos viewed. Fox Interactive Media (NYSE: NWS) came in a distant second place and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) Digital came in third, with 3.5 percent and 2.6 percent of video views, respectively. Hulu retained its sixth place spot, with just 1.8 percent of total video views—though it took the top spot in terms of video duration. The average duration for clips viewed overall was 3 minutes, but users watched clips that were nearly 12 minutes long on Hulu. Release.
—DECA pulls plug on Bush League : DECA has pulled the plug on its guy-centric online series Bush League, NewTeeVee reports. The BushLeague.tv site is still up, though new content hasn’t been posted since December 18. The Santa Monica-based digital entertainment studio still has a number of original series left in its roster for 2009, including teen video brand and site Smosh (which it took an undisclosed stake in, back in October) and the mommy-blogger talk show Momversation, among others.
—RipCode picks up $12.5 million third round: Video transcoding firm RipCode has picked up $12.5 million in a third round of funding—bringing its total raise since 2006 to $32 million. Granite Ventures led the round; previous backers Hunt Ventures, El Dorado Ventures, Vesbridge Partners and ATA Ventures also participated. The company signed a deal with MySpace last month to allow the social net’s users to stream video to their phones, highlighting a key feature of RipCode’s technology: it transcodes the clips on demand, eliminating the need to store an entire video library in multiple mobile formats. Of course, the tech works on Web video too, but the big opportunity is in the mobile sector. Find out more at our sister site mocoNews.net.
More after the jump. —Metacafe ties up with the NBA : Video site Metacafe has launched an NBA Channel. The channel features official highlight clips updated daily and weekly, including top plays from regular season games and the playoffs.
—Roku player gets *Amazon* VOD: Owners of the Roku “Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) Player” will soon also be able to download content from Amazon’s VOD service. The deal adds more than 40,000 movies and TV shows to the library currently available via Netflix—though Amazon’s content is on a pay-per-view model as opposed to Netflix’ subscription. Crave poses the question of whether Roku will start rebranding its boxes to reflect the variety of content sources available, though it may face some opposition since Netflix invested $6 million for an undisclosed stake in the company last year.
—Online video viewing up 34 percent in November: The latest comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) Video Metrix stats found that Americans watched 12.7 billion videos in November 2008—up 34 percent year-over-year. Users watched 87 videos on average, amounting to about 276 minutes per viewer. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) (with YouTube) was the leader by a landslide, with 40 percent of all videos viewed. Fox Interactive Media (NYSE: NWS) came in a distant second place and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) Digital came in third, with 3.5 percent and 2.6 percent of video views, respectively. Hulu retained its sixth place spot, with just 1.8 percent of total video views—though it took the top spot in terms of video duration. The average duration for clips viewed overall was 3 minutes, but users watched clips that were nearly 12 minutes long on Hulu. Release.
—DECA pulls plug on Bush League : DECA has pulled the plug on its guy-centric online series Bush League, NewTeeVee reports. The BushLeague.tv site is still up, though new content hasn’t been posted since December 18. The Santa Monica-based digital entertainment studio still has a number of original series left in its roster for 2009, including teen video brand and site Smosh (which it took an undisclosed stake in, back in October) and the mommy-blogger talk show Momversation, among others.
—RipCode picks up $12.5 million third round: Video transcoding firm RipCode has picked up $12.5 million in a third round of funding—bringing its total raise since 2006 to $32 million. Granite Ventures led the round; previous backers Hunt Ventures, El Dorado Ventures, Vesbridge Partners and ATA Ventures also participated. The company signed a deal with MySpace last month to allow the social net’s users to stream video to their phones, highlighting a key feature of RipCode’s technology: it transcodes the clips on demand, eliminating the need to store an entire video library in multiple mobile formats. Of course, the tech works on Web video too, but the big opportunity is in the mobile sector. Find out more at our sister site mocoNews.net.
—Roku player gets Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) VOD: Owners of the Roku “Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) Player” will soon also be able to download content from Amazon’s VOD service. The deal adds more than 40,000 movies and TV shows to the library currently available via Netflix—though Amazon’s content is on a pay-per-view model as opposed to Netflix’ subscription. Crave poses the question of whether Roku will start rebranding its boxes to reflect the variety of content sources available, though it may face some opposition since Netflix invested $6 million for an undisclosed stake in the company last year.
—Online video viewing up 34 percent in November: The latest comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) Video Metrix stats found that Americans watched 12.7 billion videos in November 2008—up 34 percent year-over-year. Users watched 87 videos on average, amounting to about 276 minutes per viewer. Google (NSDQ: GOOG) (with YouTube) was the leader by a landslide, with 40 percent of all videos viewed. Fox Interactive Media (NYSE: NWS) came in a distant second place and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) Digital came in third, with 3.5 percent and 2.6 percent of video views, respectively. Hulu retained its sixth place spot, with just 1.8 percent of total video views—though it took the top spot in terms of video duration. The average duration for clips viewed overall was 3 minutes, but users watched clips that were nearly 12 minutes long on Hulu. Release.
—DECA pulls plug on Bush League : DECA has pulled the plug on its guy-centric online series Bush League, NewTeeVee reports. The BushLeague.tv site is still up, though new content hasn’t been posted since December 18. The Santa Monica-based digital entertainment studio still has a number of original series left in its roster for 2009, including teen video brand and site Smosh (which it took an undisclosed stake in, back in October) and the mommy-blogger talk show Momversation, among others.
—RipCode picks up $12.5 million third round : Video transcoding firm RipCode has picked up $12.5 million in a third round of funding—bringing its total raise since 2006 to $32 million. Granite Ventures led the round; previous backers Hunt Ventures, El Dorado Ventures, Vesbridge Partners and ATA Ventures also participated. The company signed a deal with MySpace last month to allow the social net’s users to stream video to their phones, highlighting a key feature of RipCode’s technology: it transcodes the clips on demand, eliminating the need to store an entire video library in multiple mobile formats. Of course, the tech works on Web video too, but the big opportunity is in the mobile sector. Find out more at our sister site mocoNews.net.
So, I'm still trying to figure out a strategy for the coming year for my portfolio. Stocks are starting to feel a little better to me, but I'm very, very cautious about timing in terms of trades. For instance, I'd rather wait until we see a substantial pullback from the recent rally before taking some of my cash on the sidelines and putting it to work. But I've got two ideas in the movie sector that I'm looking at: DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) and Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL).
First off, both are great companies. No, not every move they make is perfect (example: Marvel still can't properly monetize its Incredible Hulk property with a decent film). But both stocks have held up relatively well, in my opinion, during the financial implosion. Both stocks are also below their respective 52-week high's and above their respective 52-week low's. That's not a bad position to be in (although I should point out that I generally would like to get these two around their 52-week low's). But which stock has the edge?
Well, Marvel's shares have been strong lately. According to the AOL quote at the time of this writing, Marvel is in the green in all time frames (year-to-date, one-month, one-year, etc.). DreamWorks Animation is in the red in a couple spots, but for the most part, it's been performing somewhat similarly to Marvel. I don't really see that much of a difference in terms of strength. Plus, both are arguably essentially equal in terms of valuation (at least in my opinion).
This website is in the business and financial news business. So are a number of other online financial sites like SeekingAlpha, TheBigMoney, ClusterStock, and Minyanville. Just a few years ago, none of these operations existed.
Last year, advertising pages in tradition business magazine like BusinessWeek and Forbes were down by double digits. With the recession deepening and marketers pulling back, 2009 may not be any better.
On TV, there are now two business channels, CNBC and Fox, which is barely a year old and has horrible audience numbers. So far. But CNBC is owned by GE (NYSE:GE) and Fox is owned by News Corp (NYSE:NWS). That means both are likely to be around for a long time. They both compete against Bloomberg TV.
In the news service business, Bloomberg, Reuters, and the AP all have large financial reporting operations. In the newspaper business, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times compete for readers.
Lest you say that this post is just a bunch of names typed onto a page, consider that the economic downturn will not support all of these media. Advertising will disappear. Perhaps more frightening, as people pull money out of the stock market, the interest in investing will drop. As investment professionals are fired, they may drop out of the business news consumption population as well.
Who may not make it? The traditional business magazines publish on weekly or fortnightly cycles. That is too long a time between articles in a world where the web delivers information in real time. They may not get enough readers on the internet to offset sales lost in print.
One thing for certain. A number of the operations with their names in this piece won't be here in 2010.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 237wallst.com.
Guess we've got to hand it to Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. I oftentimes criticize the enormous compensation packages of celebrity thespians, but I'll give credit where credit is due. These two stars have powered News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Marley and Me to great success (I suppose that dog helped out, too).
In its second weekend out in the marketplace, the film was again in the top slot at domestic theaters, with current estimates pegging its three-day gross at around $24 million. Marley is now well past the $100 million mark.
Another movie is doing well at the box office, one that I thought wasn't going to be so hot. Again, it has a big star to thank, to some degree at least. Adam Sandler and his Bedtime Stories flick, distributed by Disney (NYSE: DIS), came in second over the weekend, grossing about $20 million. It's total tally is at $85 million after two weekends.
Then there's Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, from Viacom (NYSE: VIA). Button was third with $18 million, and now has almost $80 million in its box-office bank account.
You know, I was really hoping to buy some Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) today. I really was. In fact, I was even thinking about CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS). These are all stocks that have been beaten down in 2008 and that I feel may rise if 2009 is a good year. I mean, in an existential sense, you figure that '09 is going to be a better year.
If only it were that easy. Out of all the stocks I mentioned above, Microsoft was the one I was considering the most. Yet, I just can't take the plunge. As of this writing, according to AOL quotes, Microsoft has traded about 26 million shares, and is up 3.9%. That puts it at over $20 per share, a level I was hoping to buy under (hey, I know that shouldn't matter, but I guess I'm as prone to psychology as everyone else). I was kind of hoping that maybe Microsoft would be down today on low volume; instead, it is up on low volume (the 30-day average for volume is close to 80 million shares). That would have given me a little more confidence in the trade. I just have this feeling that stocks may go down once the real trading begins next week, and the volume hopefully comes back. Obviously, Wall Street hasn't exited holiday mode just yet. But, the flip side is I'm wrong and stocks rally from here upward, and I become too afraid to buy Microsoft in the mid-$20's. Or, worse, I'm too afraid not to, and get in at a high price.
So, as you can see, I really don't know what's going to happen. I want to buy stocks today in case things go higher, but I'm not sure that will happen. What do you do in this case? Although it hurts, you do nothing. Thankfully, I have resisted giving in to emotion and buying just for the sake of buying (and I came close). I may end up being wrong about Microsoft, but that's okay. It may give me opportunities later in the year. For now, I think I made the correct choice, especially in front of a weekend.
Disclosure: I don't own any stock mentioned; positions can change without notice.
There's no doubt about it -- times are tough. People are struggling to find work and to pay the bills as the value of their homes and savings dwindle. The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer.
Or do they? It's all relative, of course, but world's billionaires have been taking some big hits too. We take a look at Sheldon Adelson, Kirk Kerkorian, and Lakshmi Mittal in their own separate posts, but here are some other billionaires who have lost billions this year (courtesy of Forbes and Business Sheet).
Brothers Anil and Mukesh Ambani of India's private conglomerate Reliance lost $32.5 billion and $28.2 billion, respectively.
Warren Buffett, the Sage of Omaha, lost $16.5 billion. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) are down about 32% since the beginning of the year.
Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen lost $12.3 billion and $2.6 billion, respectively, while CEO Steve Balmer lost $6.5 billion. Shares of Microsoft are down 46% since the beginning of the year.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, cofounders of Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG), lost $11.9 billion and $11.7 billion, respectively, and CEO Eric Schmidt lost $3.8 billion. The share price of Google has fallen 55% since the beginning of the year.
Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), lost $8.2 billion. Shares of Oracle are down 21% since the beginning of the year.
Media maven Sumner Redstone lost $7.2 billion. Shares of his private investment firm National Amusements fell 70% this year.
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) fired back at Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) today, signaling that it wasn't planning to back down and calling Yahoo's decision to reject its $45 billion unsolicited bid "unfortunate."
The bid would offer shareholders "superior value" and would make both companies better positioned to compete in the online services market, Microsoft argued.
Earlier in the day, Yahoo formally rejected Microsoft, saying the offer is not in the best interest of shareholders, but adding it is willing to look other options.
"The board believes that Microsoft (MSFT)'s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo (YHOO), including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments," said the statement.
But the Yahoo statement also seemed to leave the door open to a higher offer from either Microsoft or another suitor. It said its board "is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment."
"We remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders," it added.
Microsoft offered $31 a share for the firm in a cash and stock bid on Feb. 1 - a 62% premium from the previous day closing price for Yahoo.
Microsoft made that offer less than a week after Yahoo announced it would lay off 1,000 employees by mid-February, citing what CEO Jerry Yang described as "headwinds" facing the company.
Yahoo also reported lower fourth-quarter earnings that still beat Wall Street's modest expectations for the company, but gave a 2008 revenue forecast that disappointed analysts.
Still Yahoo leads in online display advertising revenue and its various Web sites are the most visited by U.S. Internet users, and No. 3 worldwide, according to tracking service ComScore.
A Microsoft-Yahoo combination also would create a powerful No. 2 player in the online search business, with nearly 30% of the market. But that would still be about half of the U.S. search market share that Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) now commands.
The rejection was not a surprise and had been expected by investors since late last week. Some believe this is part of an effort by Yahoo to get a higher sales price from Microsoft.
While the offer represented a large premium from the recent pre-offer price, it only represented the price level seen for Yahoo stock in November.
But getting a higher price from Microsoft would be easier for Yahoo if an alternative bidder had presented itself. While Google has voiced criticism of the proposed deal, it's not clear that the Internet search leader would be able to make a bid for rival Yahoo. And no other company has been seen moving to make an alternative offer.
Last week, News Corp. (NWS, Fortune 500) Chairman Rupert Murdoch, who has been buying online properties for his media conglomerate, said his company would not bid for Yahoo.
Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500), which held talks in the past about combining its AOL unit with Yahoo, appeared with its own announcement last week to be moving to shed part of its AOL operations, not add to them. CNNMoney.com is a unit of Time Warner.
Microsoft could decide to take the $31 a share offer directly to Yahoo shareholders, turning the unsolicited bid into a fully hostile one.
Microsoft did not have an immediate response to the statement. Shares of Yahoo opened Monday up 2.4% from Friday's close, while shares of Dow component Microsoft were little changed. Shares of Google opened nearly 1% higher.
This is not the first time Microsoft has been rejected in an attempt to acquire Yahoo.
The letter that Microsoft sent to Yahoo detailing this offer referred to talks held in late 2006 and early 2007 about ways the companies could work together. But it said Yahoo rejected the idea of a merger in February 2007, saying "now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction."
Microsoft's letter to Yahoo pointed out that "a year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved." It pointed out that combined the two companies would be better able to compete with Google for both new search technology and a share of the growing advertising dollars tied to search.
"Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition," said Microsoft's letter. "Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers and publishers."
CFRN Partners with TBN and Gener8xion Entertainment (GNXE) to alert the family, friends and supporters of Trinity Broadcast Network that a true Christian Disney is on the horizon.
As most of you know I had lunch with Matt Crouch last week. It is no secret to my listeners that I have been conducting due dilligence on GNXE for the last month. Guess what? I'm done!
What does that mean? I'M IN!
If there were ever an entity that aligned with the ministry, values, hopes, and dreams of CFRN, TBN fits the bill. In fact, my wife and I have been faithful supporters of TBN for the last 10 years. Yes, our tithes go into our local storehouse (our Church), but the Bible speaks of tithes and offerings, and TBN has been a part of our "offerings" for almost as long as we have been serving God. Again, anyone who listens to my show on a regular basis already knows that I've not always been a choir boy. I am quite simply, a sinner saved by Grace - Period!
The opportunity to invest in the dream of Paul and Jan Crouch's son is simply an honor.
I will be interviewing the CEO of GNXE, Matt Crouch in the coming weeks on CFRN, I will also interview Carlos De Matos, president of the company. Carlos has an extensive and stunning background in Hollywood that will simply amaze you.
trying to figure out a strategy for the coming year for my portfolio. Stocks are starting to feel a little better to me, but I'm very, very cautious about timing in terms of trades. For instance, I'd rather wait until we see a substantial pullback from the recent rally before taking some of my cash on the sidelines and putting it to work. But I've got two ideas in the movie sector that I'm looking at: 
Guess we've got to hand it to Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. I oftentimes criticize the enormous compensation packages of celebrity thespians, but I'll give credit where credit is due. These two stars have powered 
This post is part of our feature on 
