Economic Conditions

White House Open to Using Bank Bailout Money for Auto Bailout — The White House signaled it might use TARP money (the earlier $700 billion bailout) to help out the Big Three. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms. However, given the current weakened state of the U.S. economy, we will consider other options if necessary — including use of the TARP program — to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers.” The Treasury Department also signaled it could help prop up the automakers, and that helped the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 stay in positive territory. Also... [Tags: amp, automakers, bank bailout, cnbc, collapse]

Tough times — As we announced in October, we’ve been aggressively managing our costs to bring them in line with the challenging economic conditions. Unfortunately, that means laying off employees –- by far the toughest part of being a manager. Here’s the email I sent to Yahoos today: yahoos,

 today, most of our layoffs in the US are happening, and they’ve been underway in other regions around the world. 

 this is a tough time for all of us and i wanted to take a moment to reach out to you.
 
 saying goodbye to colleagues and friends is never easy. they all... [Tags: ceo, chief yahoo, colleagues, difficult decision, economic conditions]

Linen n' Things Could Become Cardboard n' Plastic as Recycling Market Dries Up — Images by Jodi Hilton for The New York Times Lots of people are worried about what to do with all those empty big-box stores in power malls across North America. Here is a solution: Fill them up with recyclables. There doesn't seem to be much else to do with them right now as the bottom has fallen out of the market for old cardboard and plastic. As the New York Times points out: The scrap market in general is closely tied to economic conditions because demand for some recyclables tracks closely with markets ...... [Tags: cardboard, dries, economic conditions, images, jodi hilton]

Why Google is Just One Deal Away from Being Labeled a Monopoly — Back in July I suggested that, despite Google’s attempts to prove a Yahoo deal would not create a monopoly, the perception of a monopoly would likely scuttle the deal. Today, we learn that the Department of Justice was just 3 hours away from filing antitrust charges against Google: “We were going to file the complaint at a certain time during the day,” says Litvack, who rejoins Hogan & Hartson today. “We told them we were going to file the complaint at that time of day. Three hours before, they told us they were abandoning the agreement.” “It would have ended... [Tags: acquisitions, amp, antitrust charges, core products, department of justice]

While Google may be the darling of the tech industry, it’s not immune to the worsening economic conditions–aka the recession. A share price of just $275 is all the proof you need. The Wall Street Journal takes a close look–aka one long article that includes everything we’ve covered over the past few months–at how Google is battening down the hatches. If you rely on any of Google’s fringe services, you should be concerned about this: So with the U.S. economy in a recession, Google is ratcheting back spending and cutting new projects. “We have to behave as though we don’t... [Tags: andy beal, blogger, brilliant vision, core offerings, dark matter]

RIM lowers third quarter outlook, touts Storm sales — RIM no doubt got a boost of confidence from AvianResearch's sales numbers a few days ago, but it looks to be a bit of a gloomier mood today, as it has been forced to slightly lower its third quarter profit and revenue outlook. Apparently, instead of the previously forecast revenue of $2.95 to $3.10 billion, RIM now says it's expecting to rake in just $2.75 to $2.78 billion, with its adjusted earnings now expected to be 0.81 to $0.83 per share, and not $0.89 to $0.97 per share, as previously forecast. According to RIM's Jim Balsillie, the company is laying... [Tags: additions, confidence, earnings, economic conditions, engadget]

RIM: A Less-Than-Perfect Storm? — Research In Motion’s (RIM) downside guidance for the third quarter is playing hell with the company’s share price today. After market close Tuesday, RIM said revenues for the three months ended November will fall short of its earlier forecast. The BlackBerry maker expects to report Q3 sales of $2.75-2.85 billion, up 65 percent from a year earlier, but less than its earlier outlook of $2.95-3.10 billion. “Initial sales of new products have been very positive, and we believe we have the strongest smartphone portfolio in the industry by far,” RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie said in a statement. “However, product-launch... [Tags: blackberry, chief executive, deutsche bank, downside, economic conditions]

Endemic advertisers versus demographic advertisers — At a time when the act of direct advertising sales (both online and offline) is getting tougher due to economic conditions, I thought it'd be worthwhile to discuss the oft-unrecognized distinction between selling ads to endemic advertisers and selling ads to advertisers looking to reach a specific demographic.... [Tags: advertisers, advertising sales, direct advertising, distinction, economic conditions]

New From Google Labs: Google Layoffs? — As result of the continued disruptions in the global financial markets, worldwide economic conditions and their impact on levels of consumer spending have recently deteriorated in many countries and regions. Any decreases in or delays in advertising spending due to general economic conditions could reduce our revenues or negatively impact our ability to grow our revenues.” Google’s 10-Q, Nov. 7 If Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry is right, Google’s (GOOG) latest 10-Q is more prophecy than financial guidance, more foreknowledge than forecasting. In a dismal research note issued this week, Chowdry suggests Google is headed for a two-year... [Tags: advertisement, consumer internet, consumer spending, contraction, decreases]

Analyst: Google Revenues Will Shrink Through 2010 (GOOG) — Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry says Google (GOOG) will post revenue declines for the next three years -- $15.71 billion in 2008, $15.23 billion in 2009 and $14.57 billion in 2010. The 2008 number is consistent with the rest of Wall Street, but Chowdhry's 2009 and 2010 projections are far lower. 'Our research indicates that the challenging macro-economic conditions continue to worsen Google's advertising driven consumer Internet business,' he writes, according to Barron's. Chowdhry says contacts tell him Google's number of keywords sold is down 2% to 5%. He claims bids on keywords are down by as much as... [Tags: barron, consumer internet, declines, economic conditions, equities research]

Google: Could They Have Two Down Rev Years Ahead? — Here’s a scary thought for Google (GOOG) shareholders: What if the company’s revenues were to shrink in 2009 - and then shrink again in 2010? That’s the unpleasant scenario that Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry laid out in a research note today. He sees the company posting revenues of $15.71 billion this year, $15.23 billion next year and $14.57 billion in 2010, with profits of $19.44 a share this year, $19.24 next year and $17.98 for 2010. While his 2008 number is about in line with the Street consensus, he is way below most other forecasts for both 2009... [Tags: consensus, consumer internet, economic conditions, economic pressures, equities research]

Nissan To Unveil NV2500 Concept In Video Webcast December 4th [Nissan Nv2500] — Nissan bowed out of January's Detroit Auto Show due to deteriorating economic conditions, but it won't stop the automaker from unveiling the Nissan NV2500 Commercial Vehicle Concept in a video webcast December 4th. What this tells us is the decision to drop out of both the Detroit Auto Show and the Chicago Auto Show, (disregarding the decision to work with dealers in Chicago to show up and then to have Detroit dealers pay for the floorspace at Detroit), is really all about the deteriorating economic conditions because It's certainly cheaper to reveal a vehicle in a webcast than it is... [Tags: automaker, chassis, chicago auto show, debut, detroit auto show]

OmniVision Sees FY Q3 Revs Dramatically Short Of Ests — OmniVision (OVTI) this afternoon warned that results for its fiscal third quarter ending in January will be much lower than the Street had been anticipating. For FY Q2, the image sensor company posted revenue of $163.9 million and non-GAAP profits of 19 cents a share, close to the Street consensus of $166.4 million and 18 cents. But the guidance, oh my. OmniVision now sees revenue for the January quarter of $80 million to $100 million - at the low end, that is less than half the Street consensus of $164.4 million. OmniVision sees a non-GAAP loss for the quarter of... [Tags: 100 million, 163, consensus, economic conditions, expected shortfall]

Bernanke: lower interest rates are "feasible" — WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday that further interest-rate cuts are "certainly feasible," but he warned there are limits to how much such action would revive an economy likely to stay weak well into next year. The Fed's key interest rate now stands at 1 percent, a level seen only once before in the last half-century. To help lift the country out of a recession that started in December of last year, many economists predict Bernanke and his colleagues will drop the rate again at their next meeting on Dec. 15-16. Bernanke spoke just hours after the... [Tags: agency securities, answering questions, business leaders, conventional interest, economic activity]

Apple Black Friday sales believed to be healthy — Apple did fairly well during its Black Friday sales event in spite of terrible economic conditions, claims Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. While Apple is said to have kept to its normal discounts, hovering between 5 and 10 percent, checks with distributors and retail are said to show evidence of "strong" traffic at Apple outlets. Third-party vendors are said to have contributed even further, maki...... [Tags: apple, black friday sales, checks, economic conditions, kaufman bros]

TSMC Revises Down Q4 View on Economic Woes — TSMC revised down its Q4 financial forecast on worsening economic conditions.... [Tags: economic conditions, economic woes, financial forecast, revises]

TSMC Revises Down Q4 View on Economic Woes — TSMC revised down its Q4 financial forecast on worsening economic conditions.... [Tags: economic conditions, economic woes, financial forecast, revises]

London 2012's tech backbone to be trimmed — A focus on 'streamlining' the IT infrastructure follows warnings that the economic conditions for delivering the Games will be the toughest outside of wartime... [Tags: backbone, economic conditions, games, infrastructure, london 2012]

Nokia pulls out of Japan, nobody notices — It's not like Nokia was dominating sales in Japan anyway -- far from it. So it's not too big a loss to walk away from its near 1 percent market share when it's sitting atop a (dwindling) 40% 39% share globally. According to Nokia vice president Timo Ihamuotila, "We have judged that we cannot continue to invest in product development just for Japan amid the current tough economic conditions." Nokia will continue to sell its luxury Vertu branded phones though, presumably on that MVNO Nokia is rumored to be rolling out this spring.Filed under: CellphonesNokia pulls out of Japan,... [Tags: cellphones nokia, economic conditions, engadget, japan, market share]

Nokia pulls out of Japan, nobody notices — Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo It's not like Nokia was dominating sales in Japan anyway -- far from it. So it's not too big a loss to walk away from its near 1 percent market share when it's sitting atop a (dwindling) 40% 39% share globally. According to Nokia vice president Timo Ihamuotila, "We have judged that we cannot continue to invest in product development just for Japan amid the current tough economic conditions." Nokia will continue to sell its luxury Vertu branded phones though, presumably on that MVNO Nokia is rumored to be rolling out this spring.Nokia pulls... [Tags: economic conditions, engadget mobile, japan, market share, mvno]