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Stocks & Securities news WellPoint: Bulking Up Even More
In buying WellChoice, the health-care giant gets access to the key New York market. It's also a further step to being a nationwide outfit If there was any doubt about his ambitions to build a coast-to-coast health-care powerhouse, WellPoint (WLP ) CEO Larry C. Glasscock has dispelled it with his newest deal. Less than a year after vaulting his Indianapolis Blue Cross/Blue Shield outfit into national prominence with a $16.4 billion purchase of a California insurer, Glasscock ... CI Fund, Telus, Vincor International: Canadian Equity Preview
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in the Canadian market. This preview includes news that broke after markets closed yesterday. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names. Prices are from yesterday's close. The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index rose 61.70, or 0.6 percent, to 11,067.17. CI Fund Management Inc. (CIX CN): Canada's No. 2 mutual-fund company postponed plans to become an ... CHRONOLOGY - General Motors credit ratings history
NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings downgraded General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) deeper into junk status on Monday as the ratings agency has become increasingly concerned with the financial costs that could fall on GM as part of Delphi Corp.'s (DPH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) restructuring. Fitch cut GM's debt ratings one notch to "BB," the second highest junk level, from "BB-plus." The rating downgrade follows GM's cut to ... Boeing, striking machinists cut deal as new orders soar
BLOOMBERG Tuesday, Sep 27, 2005,Page 12 Boeing Co, the world's largest aircraft maker, reached the quickest labor settlement in four decades with its machinist union to resume production in the strongest commercial plane market in about five years. The company proposed a three-year contract to end the 24-day strike that will boost pension payments and drop a requirement for workers to pay more of medical insurance costs. Leaders of the International ... Motorola Aims Low-Cost Cell Phones At Developing Countries
Sept. 27, 2005 One model offers talk times of up to 450 minutes, reducing the need for frequent recharging. The under-$30 handsets will be available early next year. By Mike Clendenin EE Times Taipei, Taiwan — The campaign to provide ultra low-cost handsets to developing markets crossed into its second phase Tuesday (Sept. 27) with Motorola Inc. rolling out several models based on its C11x platform that bring the wholesale cost ... SEC steps up probe into Taser
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; 10:15 AM NEW YORK (Reuters) - Taser International Inc. on Tuesday said U.S. regulators have stepped up their investigation into the stun gun maker and have expanded the probe into new activities. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has now upgraded its probe to a formal investigation, allowing it to subpoena documents. The SEC had opened an informal probe of the company over statements about the safety of its stun guns and ... Trading Begins at Stock Exchange in Dubai
By JIM KRANE The Associated Press Monday, September 26, 2005; 11:41 AM DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Trading kicked off Monday at the new Dubai International Financial Exchange, which the United Arab Emirates hopes will promote its aim of becoming a global financial hub. The first trades were only in five stock-index certificates as the exchange has no individual company listings. Its first initial public offering is expected to come next month when ... BA picks insider for CFO as Rishton goes to Ahold
British Airways Plc said on Monday its finance chief had quit to join Dutch retailer Ahold, but Europe's third-biggest airline headed off talk of a change in strategy by appointing an insider as successor. BA said 49-year-old Keith Williams was replacing Chief Financial Officer John Rishton from Jan. 1, when Rishton takes up a similar post at Ahold, the world's fourth-largest food retailer by sales. Williams joined BA as head of taxation in 1998 and three year later became ... Ahold Names British Airways Exec As CFO
Ahold Ltd. on Monday said it appointed British Airways PLC Chief Financial Officer John Rishton as its CFO, effective Jan. 1. The company, one of the world's largest food retailers, said Rishton was CFO at British Airways since 2001 and joined the airline in 1994. Rishton, 47, plans to relocate to The Netherlands, the company said. Ahold said Rishton will succeed interim CFO Joost Sliepenbeek, who was named to that post in September following the resignation of Hannu ... Porsche drops on plan to take VW stake
FRANKFURT, SEPTEMBER 26: Porsche shares fell as much as 11.7 per cent on concern its plan to take a 20 per cent stake in Volkswagen would wipe out cash that the world's most profitable carmaker might have given investors. While the non-voting stake in Europe's biggest carmaker would cost some 3.3 billion euros ($4 billion), Porsche said it could still finance projects such as its new Panamera sports coupe. VW shares initially rose and then slipped as Porsche's plan ... Panel Investigates Whether Guidant Violated Agreement
By BARRY MEIER Published: September 23, 2005 Senator Charles E. Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, notified the Guidant Corporation yesterday that his committee was investigating whether the company, which makes medical devices, had violated a 2003 agreement that required it to alert the government to product problems. The letter from Mr. Grassley appears to signal the start of a new round of scrutiny for Guidant, which has been under a ... Goodyear to cut costs up to $1 bln, close plants
Friday 23 September 2005, 10:20am EST NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Friday set plans to cut costs by up to $1 billion over the next three years, close plants and sell certain assets in a bid to counter high commodity prices and pension costs. Shares of Goodyear, the largest U.S. tire maker, rose 6 percent in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The company said it would cut costs ... McDonald's plans to sell stock in Chipotle
OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) — McDonald's (MCD), the world's largest fast-food company, said Wednesday that it plans an initial public offering (IPO) of a minority stake in its Chipotle Mexican Grill brand in the first quarter 2006. The company said it plans to file disclosures for the initial public offering by the end of October. McDonald's also said its board raised the company's annual dividend 22%, to 67 cents a share for 2005, nearly tripling the dividend since 2002. The move ... US announces global intellectual-property plan
Anne Broache CNET News.com September 22, 2005, 10:35 BST Intellectual-property infringement is costing US businesses $250bn a year, according to the US government The Bush administration on Wednesday announced new plans to expand its crackdown on intellectual-property infringement overseas. During California visits with high-tech and movie industry representatives, Commerce Department secretary Carlos Gutierrez described two new ... Miramax minimized
By Greg Hernandez, Staff writer Less than two weeks before he officially takes over the reins as CEO of The Walt Disney Co., Bob Iger said the Burbank-based conglomerate will be dramatically scaling down the output from its Miramax Films division now that founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein have departed. "Miramax under them had basically become a major studio," Iger said at Goldman Sachs Communicopia Conference in New York. "We're still in the Miramax ... How Microsoft can 'kill' Google
Simple - just buy its customers By Faultline Published Thursday 22nd September 2005 11:20 GMT When Steve Ballmer yelled at a departing Microsoft employee that he would “kill Google” we had no idea just how direct a method he had in mind. Buying all or part of AOL may be the first part of the master plan, as Google relies heavily on the advertising pages that come from Yahoo!, since it now syndicates its search to Google. One estimate suggested ... Judge OKs $6.1B in WorldCom Settlements
NEW YORK (AP) - Former WorldCom Investors can now claim back some of the billions of dollars they lost in a massive accounting fraud, after a federal judge approved legal settlements of "historic proportions." The deal approved Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, will divide payments of $6.1 billion among approximately 830,000 people and institutions that held stocks or bonds in the telecommunications company around the time of its collapse in 2002. But ... Delta Says It Plans Another $3 Billion in Cost Cuts
By MICHELINE MAYNARD Published: September 22, 2005 Delta Air Lines, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, said today that it plans to cut another $3 billion in costs, including more pay and benefit reductions for all its employees, including its chief executive. The airline said it would eliminate another 8,000 jobs over the next two years, on top of previously announced cuts , and retire more than 80 aircraft. The move was the latest in ... Sizing up Microsoft's new Windows chief
By Alorie Gilbert, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: September 21, 2005, 4:53 AM PT Can Microsoft's top sales executive fill the shoes of one of its most technical leaders? That was the question on some analysts' minds when Microsoft announced Tuesday that Kevin Johnson, its former sales chief, would succeed chief Windows architect Jim Allchin next year when he retires. Johnson has spent most of his 13 years at Microsoft rising through the ... AOL To Roll Out TotalTalk VoIP Service
Sept. 20, 2005 Set to debut on Oct. 4, the service does not require AOL membership. By Messaging Pipeline Staff AOL announced today that it will begin rolling out its TotalTalk VoIP service on October 4. An AOL subscription is not required, and current AOL Internet Phone subscribers will be upgraded to the new service automatically. The TotalTalk service transforms any high-speed Internet connection into a phone service that AOL says is simple ... Heinz Considers Selling Various Brands
09.20.2005, 12:09 PM H.J. Heinz Co. said Tuesday it is considering trimming European operations and may sell off a host of brands for about $1 billion in a move to focus operations on its ketchup and other core products. The Pittsburgh-based condiment and food maker said the businesses that it may sell account for about $1.4 billion in yearly sales and include its seafood, vegetable and frozen-food businesses in Europe and its Tegel poultry unit in New Zealand. Aegis gets $2.8 bln approach, paper names Publicis
Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:53 AM ET By Santosh Menon LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - British advertising firm Aegis Group Plc (AGS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday it had received a takeover approach valuing it at around 1.57 billion pounds ($2.8 billion), sending its shares to near five-year highs. "The approach is preliminary in nature and there can be no certainty that an offer will be made," the owner of Carat, Europe's biggest media buying and ... Glaxo Settles U.S. Fraud Charges
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: September 21, 2005 WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (AP) - GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay more than $150 million to settle fraud accusations over the pricing and marketing of two antinausea drugs, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. The company, according to the government, engaged in an effort to inflate the price of the two drugs, Zofran and Kytril, for the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs, which reimburse health care providers ... Glaxo to pay 150 million dollars to settle drug price fraud claims
The British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay 150 million US dollars to settle US government charges that it fraudulently priced two anti-nausea drugs purchased by federal health-care programs, the US Justice Department said Tuesday. The company is accused of violating the US False Claims Act in the sale and marketing of the anti-nausea prescription drugs Zofran and Kytril for cancer patients under treatment. The Justice Department said Glaxo engaged in a ... Times Co. to cut 500 jobs; earnings forecast reduced
By Katharine Q. Seelye The New York Times WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005 NEW YORK The New York Times Co. has announced that it will cut its work force by 500 employees, including 45 in The New York Times newsroom and 35 in the newsroom of The Boston Globe. The announcement came on the same day that Knight Ridder said it was cutting 100 editorial staff in Philadelphia: 75 from the newsroom at The Philadelphia Inquirer and 25 from The Philadelphia Daily ... Morgan Stanley's profit down 83%
Charge of $1 billion from sale of aircraft-leasing business offsets revenue from increased trading. September 21, 2005: 9:16 AM EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment bank Morgan Stanley said Wednesday that third-quarter profit fell 83 percent as a $1 billion charge from the sale of its aircraft-leasing business offset higher revenue from increased banking and trading. The New York-based company's net income fell to $144 million, or 13 cents, in the quarter ended ... Google Should Lose Book Piracy Suit
Google is being sued for "massive copyright infringement" by the Authors Guild and three authors -- and the authors should win the suit. Google is plain wrong for its unauthorized scanning and copying countless books without permission. When publishers initially didn't jump at Google's plan to scan their copyrighted book and make them freely searchable via Google, the search giant took the underhanded route --- it made deals with four academic libraries (Stanford, Harvard, Oxford ... With eye on rivals, Microsoft regroups
By Dean Takahashi Mercury News Microsoft reorganized its top team Tuesday, setting up three stand-alone divisions that can move more quickly in Internet-related businesses against rivals Google and Yahoo. The new structure, which combines seven divisions into three, is aimed at giving several executives more power to unify strategies across the company, and it creates the biggest executive shuffle at the software giant since 2002. Compass to buy TexasBanc for $464 million
NEW YORK, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Southeast regional bank Compass Bancshares Inc. (CBSS.O: Quote, Profile, Research) on Monday said it agreed to buy TexasBank parent TexasBanc Holding Co. for $464 million in cash and stock, expanding its presence in the fast growing Texas market. Compass said it will exchange about 5 million shares of its stock plus $232 million in cash for all shares of TexasBanc and create the fifth-largest bank in Texas with assets of $31.1 billion. Microsoft could face fresh EU case in future
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission may bring a new competition case against Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) after the EU executive received fresh complaints about the U.S. software giant, the EU competition commissioner said in a newspaper interview on Tuesday. Neelie Kroes told the International Herald Tribune she would not wait for the outcome of an appeal by Microsoft before considering more action against the U.S. firm. "We have had informal ... |
On the web: Stocks decline as jitters about consumers revive (AP via Yahoo! News)A profit warning from Wal-Mart Thursday touched off fresh worries about consumers' willingness to spend and sent stocks lower for a second session. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 100 points. Stocks Fall on Retail Sales Reports (Washington Post)Stocks headed down today as retailers reported poor sales last month and even titan Wal-Mart failed to meet expectations. Stocks decline as jitters about retail return (AP via Yahoo! News)Wall Street's worries about weak consumer spending revived Thursday, sending stocks lower as bad news from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. signaled that even the stronger U.S. retailers struggled during the holiday shopping season. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 100 points. Stocks trade mixed as jitters about retail return (AP via Yahoo! News)Wall Street's worries about weak consumer spending revived Thursday, sending stocks lower as bad news from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. signaled that even the stronger U.S. retailers struggled during the holiday shopping season. Stocks choppy ahead of jobs report (CNN Money)Stocks struggled Thursday on worries about the consumer following weak retail sales and ahead of Friday's December employment report, expected to show massive job losses. Stocks flat as stimulus hopes offset Wal-Mart (Reuters via Yahoo! News)Stocks were little changed on Thursday as investors took bleak signs of more deterioration in consumer spending as likely to spur Washington to approve a stimulus plan quickly to jolt the economy out of recession. Stocks open lower as jitters about retail return (AP via Yahoo! News)Wall Street's worries about weak consumer spending revived Thursday, sending stocks lower as bad news from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. signaled that even the stronger U.S. retailers struggled during the holiday shopping season. The Dow Jones industrials fell by 100 points. Stocks open lower on Wal-Mart and retailers (Reuters via Yahoo! News)Stocks opened lower on Thursday after Wal-Mart Stores Inc posted disappointing December sales and cut its fourth-quarter profit outlook, compounding investors' concerns about the worsening recession. Brazil stocks mixed in early trading (AP via Yahoo! News)Brazil's stocks are mixed early as investors digest losses in Asia and Europe along with negative domestic news. Stocks slip on consumer worries (CNN Money)Stocks slipped Thursday morning as weak sales results from Wal-Mart and other retailers combined with jitters about Friday's jobs report, sparking an early selloff. |
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