Company Money

Sooner or later we need to slam shut the door on technical have-nots. Pew Research found that nearly half of adults surveyed need help setting up computers and cell phones. Ars Technica notes what follows: Kids are always fixing their parents' PCs. But they don't take these insights to the logical conclusion: It's time to fire the IT support team. Imagine how much progress we could make as a society if we just dropped those who just can't merge onto the Information Superhighway. I will never get back those lost weekends I spent formatting my mom's Filemaker forms or troubleshooting... [Tags: adults, cell phone, cell phones, company money, converse]

Sirius XM Keeps Tanking: Now 14 Cents (SIRI) — How low will Sirius XM (SIRI) go? The satellite radio company closed at $0.14 today, down 14% on the day and down 30% from Tuesday, when it closed at $0.20. Why? No Sirius-specific news, again, but more general doom and gloom, and bad news from the auto industry, where Sirius gets most of its new subscribers. At least one financial analyst is now even comfortable being quoted using the "B" word -- bankruptcy. CNNMoney: "The outlook for Sirius XM has grown increasingly worrisome and at the current time looks bleak," said Frederick Moran, an analyst with Stanford Group. "At this... [Tags: auto industry, burn rate, capitalization value, cash cushion, company money]

Yes, Sirius (SIRI) Can Certainly Go To Zero — A friend approached us with a potential stock pick this afternoon: Sirius (SIRI) on the theory that it had gone so absurdly low ($0.20) that it couldn't go any lower and would probably soon go to $0.30, resulting in a 50% gain. We suggested our friend instead hoard his hard-earned cash. Could Sirius go to $0.30? Of course. Could it also go to zero? Yes. Mel Karmazin's company currently has an equity market capitalization (value of the stock) of $650 million. It also $360 million of cash and $3.3 billion of debt, so its "enterprise value"--the implied value of the... [Tags: burn rate, capitalization value, cash cushion, company money, debt holders]

"They start out way behind:" Ballmer on Android — Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday said at an annual Telstra investment meeting that the Google-designed Android operating system debuted in the T-Mobile G1 handset won't make the company money. According to a report originating from an event held by Australian cellular provider Telstra, Ballmer believes Google is essentially telling its investors the new product has no revenue model; he does...... [Tags: android, cellular provider, ceo steve ballmer, company money, g1]

Opera CEO: Chrome has been very good for us — Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner was in town today, so I spent a few minutes with him talking about the browser company he co-founded way back in 1995. With browser battles raging, I wanted to know how this almost historic company was holding up. Von Tetzchner says the launch of Google's Chrome had the effect of reminding people that there were alternative browser choices, which has accelerated downloads of the desktop product. And on the mobile front, where Opera has two products, the free Opera Mini (a proxy-based browser) and the Opera Mobile app, the success of the iPhone... [Tags: browser battles, browser choices, browser company, browser opera, company money]

Daniel J. H. Greenwood: Making or Taking? — Last year, four hedge fund managers took home over $1 billion each in pay. Seeming pikers by comparison, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies received an average over $14 million, according to the AFL-CIO's Executive PayWatch. But some did quite a bit better. For example, former Bear Sterns CEO James Cayne received about $40 million in pay last year. Then, in the bailout, he sold his stock -- pay from earlier years -- for another $61 million, for total receipts of $100 million while running his company into the ground. That's about $7000 per hour for the CEOs and $8.5 million... [Tags: afl cio, bailout, bear sterns, bribing government officials, business executives]

Telecommuting Our Way Out of the Downturn — Here’s some advice for businesses looking to cut costs because of the down economy: Shut down the office. Letting workers telecommute can increase productivity and save money. Telecommuters can help save a company money That’s according to CompTIA, a technology-industry group. Telecommuting is one of those double-edged swords. On one hand, it increases flexibility for workers. But we’ve also seen studies that say telecommuters make work uncomfortable for the folks who still go to the office. That hasn’t stopped most businesses from jumping on the telecommuting bandwagon, at least to an extent. Workers in 78% of the businesses CompTIA surveyed... [Tags: bandwagon, business technology, challenges, company money, down economy]

Who would have projected this? Walmart decided to keep the DRM servers running for now after announcing that they would be shutting down the DRM servers of their mp3 online store which would essentially mean that customers would not be able to transfer the music to another computer or device anymore. It was actually very easy to predict. One simply had to look at all the other companies who decided to turn off their DRM servers leaving their customers standing in the rain. All of them caved in after announcing that they would turn off their DRM servers. Why don’t... [Tags: company money, customer complaints, customer service team, decision makers, digital music]

Robert Creamer: An Obama Administration Must Deal with the Underlying Cause of Our Economic Meltdown: The Increasing Concentration of Wealth — Commentators are prone to blame the sub-prime lending crisis for the current meltdown in the American financial system. No doubt it is the proximate cause. But there is a much deeper cancer that underlies the current crisis and the eight year long stagnation of American incomes: a massive increase in the concentration of wealth. The now famous post bail-out AIG spa retreat has served to focus public outrage over the sense of entitlement that Wall Street's "Masters of the Universe" seem to have when it comes to claiming their "share of the pie". Voters were infuriated that after the... [Tags: american corporations, american incomes, bailout, cassano, company money]

Karmazin: Whoops! Sirius Liquidity Jokes Not Funny (SIRI) — Last week Mel Karmazin watched shares in Sirius XM Satellite Radio plummet 40% to sub $1-land. Why? The CEO gave a bearish view on 2009 subscriber growth. And he didn't exactly reassure anyone when he joked about lending the company his own company money when $300 million in convertible debt comes due in February. In retrospect, he tells the WSJ, that probably wasn't the best thing to say: "I wish I didn't say it," he said. "I tend to be candid. I said something off-handed. I wish it was as simple as that." Ultimately, he says there has been "a... [Tags: 6 million, apple, cbs, ceo, company money]

In a moment of what now seems like irrational exuberance, YouTube cofounder Steve Chen declared that the popular online video site would add live video streaming this year. Not so fast, says Google. YouTube is already struggling with the concept of profitability, and according to an anonymous source cited by Silicon Alley Insider's Michael Learmonth, Chen's idea is a financial black hole: YouTube execs estimated that if just 10 percent of the service's users took advantage of live streaming, the company would have to add 20 to 25 percent to its huge server and bandwidth infrastructure to support it. Sounds... [Tags: achilles, anonymous source, black hole, cofounder, company money]

Yahoo Stockholders Fume Over Botched Microsoft Deal, Human Rights —   Like a Samuel Beckett play, Yahoo's annual stockholder meeting was a futile display of people talking past each other without actually saying anything meaningful. In other words: Just what everyone expected. On the one hand, there was Yahoo, underscoring its own confidence in its success as an internet leader. On the other hand: A roomful of mostly peeved, unimpressed shareholders, including one who asked the board to step down. "I think you're involved in overplaying your hand with Microsoft, and I think you've overstayed your welcome as directors," said Eric Jackson, a shareholder with Ironfire Capital, in regard to... [Tags: chief competitor, chinese government, company money, eric jackson, friday morning]

Live Journal offers basic accounts... again — Filed under: Internet, News, BloggingDue to many complaints from users of LiveJournal the company announced it will again offer basic accounts. Unlike most other free blogging platforms, LJ's basic account has limited capabilities but the bonus of no advertising. The option of signing up for a basic account was removed in March. Makes sense considering a free account with no advertising generates no money for LJ and in fact, probably costs the company money in storage space at the very least. Apparently, LJ bloggers have grown accustomed to blogging without the distraction of ads. When the basic accounts were removed... [Tags: bad decision, basic accounts, bloggers, bonus, capabilities]