An online news start-up is going where Google and other giants haven’t: sharing revenue with the people who write the news.
Fwix, a one-year-old start-up backed by BlueRun Ventures, is one of a growing number of portals for “hyperlocal” news, a buzzword that refers to sites about schools, culture, gossip and other information on a neighborhood level.
A recent shift in merchandising strategy by the world’s largest retailer spells more trouble for DVD sales and the entertainment industry that depends on them for profits.
As part of a larger effort to clean up its aisles and appeal to higher-end shoppers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is doing away with display cases to promote the latest hot movie titles.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
As expected, the huge Q2 earnings and revenue surprise by Intel last night has triggered a huge tech rally.
The question, though, is whether this is whether the trend will continue – and in particular, whether the U.S. consumer will be buying PCs in the upcoming back-to-school period.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Nokia shares are headed sharply higher this morning after the company indicated the worst may be over for the mobile phone business.
For the first quarter, the company posted revenue of 9.276 billion Euros, down 26.7 percent year over year, and 26.8 percent sequentially. Revenues from the device business were down 33.4 percent year over year, and 24.2 percent from Q4.
Is Juniper Networks calling the bottom for telecom and computer networking equipment? A few people think so this morning, the day after Juniper announced that revenue for March-ending fiscal Q1 will be less than originally expected.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Best Buy this morning reported sharply higher-than-expected profits for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Feb. 28.
For the quarter, the last large national electronics retailer posted revenue of $14.724 billion, a bit below the Street consensus at $14.8 billion. But adjusted EPS of $1.61 a share nicely beat the Street at $1.40 a share.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
It was almost exactly a year ago, in mid-March 2008, that Yahoo laid out its once-secret three-year growth plan for the Street as part of its strategy to demonstrate that Microsoft’s takeover offer for the company was too low.
Here’s hoping that the soothsayers at eBay are a little more accurate that the ones at Yahoo.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Wireless technology company InterDigital shares are heading lower in early trading after the company posted weaker-than-expected Q4 profits. The company’s profits of nine cents a share fell short of the Street’s expectation of 16 cents.
by Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Digits
Google today reported a year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter profit, hurt by $1.09 billion in write-downs related to AOL and Clearwire. Operating earnings rose, however, and revenue climbed 18 percent to $5.70 billion from the year-earlier period. Google’s revenue, excluding traffic-acquisition costs, was $4.22 billion, above the Thomson Reuters estimate of $4.12 billion. Earnings per share, excluding certain items, was $5.10, beating estimates. The company also announced plans for an options exchange program for workers whose stock options are underwater.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Ariba, which helps businesses manage spending via its software solutions, got a cautionary note today. The service business may not fare as well as analysts were assuming, given that product upgrades and extensions are met with more caution in the current economy. Also, Ariba has 170,00 square feet of office space it needs to sublet, with a shrinking pool of potential tenants–which could end up costing the company $150 million over the next five years.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
DISH Networks did not have a good third quarter. The company’s expected profits of 58 cents per share actually came in at 20 cents. Not too much luck getting or keeping customers, either–the network lost 10,000 customers in the third quarter alone and attracted a disappointing number of new subcribers. All of this and more, according to Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett, spells trouble.
by Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Sirius XM (SIRI) shares are down sharply again this morning, one day after the company provided updated guidance that disappointed the Street.
The company’s new guidance, in case you missed it:
Subscribers: 19.5 million at year-end 2008, 21.5 million at year-end 2009.
by Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
Following a beat-and-raise quarter last night for online software vendor Salesforce’s (CRM), the rewards are not what you might expect, with the shares down $11.60, or 17.8 percent, at $53.73. The company’s forecast for a profit of 34 cents to 35 cents for the current quarter, excluding its cost to acquire privately held Instranet, was unimpressive to the Street.
by Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron's, Tech Trader Daily
On the heels of Netflix’s (NFLX) problems last week getting DVDs out the door to subscribers, Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf initiated coverage this morning of Blockbuster (BBI) with a “Hold” rating.
This is a section of the All Things Digital Web site featuring posts from around the Web, from other Dow Jones properties and also original pieces we solicit. The section is now explicitly labeled that it comes "from other Web sites."
We are fully aware of the controversies around how linking and aggregating is done on the Web and we, in no way, are attempting to "scrape" original content created by others. Instead, regarding third-party posts, we are trying to point readers of this site to other posts from around the Web that we admire and are trying to do so in the quickest manner possible.
The Internet is full of terrific content that is not ours and we want to help our readers find it by making editorial suggestions--Look, Mom, no algorithm!--of posts we think are worth their time.
That is why we have made even more changes to Voices to ensure we do this in the most transparent and timely way. While we don't expect that everyone will agree with our policies, we have made changes that reflect our intent in pointing to content outside our site.
Because the site is wholly owned by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, we aim to adhere to the journalistic standards of the best of the mainstream media. But, because it is run autonomously as a small online startup, we aim to exhibit the fresh thinking and nimbleness of the best of the new media. We want to be first, and sassy, but also well sourced and accurate. We will offer lots of opinion and analysis, but plenty of fact as well.