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| Google faces antitrust lawsuit on US mobile internet search Thursday, May 01, 2014 11:32 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Consumer rights law firm Hagens Berman said it filed a nationwide antitrust class-action lawsuit against Google Inc alleging the company "illegally monopolized" the Internet and mobile search market in the United States. The lawsuit alleges that Google has expanded its monopoly of the internet search market by pre-loading its applications onto Android mobile devices through its Mobile Application Distribution Agreements. ... Full Story | Top |
| Twitter stock slumps 50 percent as Goldman, Deutsche Bank still say `buy' Thursday, May 01, 2014 10:02 PM PDT  Twitter Inc investors who heeded the advice of high-profile banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Deutsche Bank AG to buy the social media company's shares might be kicking themselves. Much more accurate calls were made by Wells Fargo, Atlantic Equities and Macquarie Research, whose analysts advised clients to get out of the high-flying stock about the time it peaked in December. On Wednesday the stock fell as low as $37.24, 50 percent below its peak of $74.73 the day after Christmas, wiping almost $18 billion off Twitter's market capitalization. The downgrades, and the subsequent swoon by the stock, reflect concern about slowing growth in Twitter's user base and the company's ability to reverse the trend. Full Story | Top |
| Netflix brings net neutrality concerns to U.S. regulators Thursday, May 01, 2014 04:57 PM PDT  By Alina Selyukh WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After weeks of public outcry, Netflix Inc brought its concerns about Internet neutrality directly to U.S. regulators this week in meetings with Federal Communications Commission staff, according to sources familiar with the matter. The video streaming company has been outspoken in its push to do away with fees that content companies pay Internet service providers to deliver their video and other data to consumers. Netflix recently agreed to pay such fees to Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc to ensure smooth delivery of its videos, but it argues they weaken the principle of net neutrality, which says all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Netflix's representatives brought that message to the FCC commissioners' offices in meeting with advisers over the course of several days this week, the sources said, as the agency prepares to rewrite so-called Open Internet rules that regulate net neutrality by setting limits to how Internet providers treat web traffic crossing their networks. Full Story | Top |
| Growth in online gaming, video watching boosts Akamai Thursday, May 01, 2014 03:53 PM PDT Akamai Technologies Inc, which hosts content for companies on its servers, forecast current-quarter results above analysts' estimates and it posted better-than-expected quarterly results as more people play games and watch videos online. Shares of Akamai, whose customers include Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, Nintendo Co and Comcast's NBC, rose 4 percent in extended trading. "We got a bunch of live events, generally of short duration, but had a lot bit more traffic than expected ...," Akamai Chief Executive Tom Leighton told Reuters on Thursday. Akamai saw strong growth in software downloads and online gaming in the first quarter ended March 31, the company said in a post-earnings conference call. Full Story | Top |
| Marks & Spencer targets 19 million customers in online drive Thursday, May 01, 2014 01:54 PM PDT  By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - Marks & Spencer, Britain's biggest clothing retailer, launched a new online push on Thursday, targeting the 19 million customers a year who shop in its UK stores but do not use its website. Marc Bolland, chief executive since 2010, is aiming to turn M&S into an international retailer that reaches customers through stores, the web and mobile devices and is better able to compete with faster-growing rivals like Next. Full Story | Top |
| EBay settles with U.S. over pact to not poach employees Thursday, May 01, 2014 12:30 PM PDT  By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The online commerce company eBay Inc has agreed to refrain from making deals with other technology companies to not poach each others' employees and by doing so limit workers' access to better jobs, U.S. authorities said on Thursday. EBay had been accused by the Justice Department of reaching an agreement with Intuit Inc, a software company best known for its tax preparation programs, to not recruit from each other. "EBay's agreement with Intuit served no purpose but to limit competition between the two firms for employees, distorting the labor market and causing employees to lose opportunities for better jobs and higher pay," said Bill Baer, assistant attorney general for antitrust at the U.S. Department of Justice. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft rescues XP users with emergency browser fix Thursday, May 01, 2014 10:45 AM PDT  By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - Microsoft is helping the estimated hundreds of millions of customers still running Windows XP, which it stopped supporting earlier this month, by providing an emergency update to fix a critical bug in its Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft Corp rushed to create the fix after learning of the bug in the operating system over the weekend when cybersecurity firm FireEye Inc warned that a sophisticated group of hackers had exploited the bug to launch attacks in a campaign dubbed "Operation Clandestine Fox. It was the first high-profile threat to emerge after Microsoft stopped providing support to its 13-year-old XP operating software on April 8. Microsoft on Wednesday initially said it would not provide the remedy to Windows XP users because it had stopped supporting the product. Full Story | Top |
| T-Mobile's discounted plans boost subscriber adds Thursday, May 01, 2014 10:44 AM PDT  T-Mobile US Inc said it added a record number of customers in the first quarter, blowing past its competitors as the company's aggressive discounts lured in subscribers T-Mobile shares jumped 7.3 percent as the company that has billed itself as the "uncarrier" signed up 2.4 million new customers in the first quarter, topping estimates of 932,000. No. 3 carrier Sprint Corp is currently meeting with banks to work out funding for a bid for T-Mobile, a source familiar with the situation said, as the mobile carrier works to ease regulatory concerns that the deal would hurt competition. U.S. authorities rejected a 2011 merger between AT&T and T-Mobile on grounds that the market needs at least four major players to be competitive "Certainly it is turning out that the fact that the FCC had the foresight to enable us to continue to compete and not combine with other duopolists has been a good thing," said Mike Sievert, chief marketing officer at T-Mobile. "Consolidation if done right and if it allows T-Mobile a super charged ability to be a disruptive competitor, improving the wireless industry for consumers, we would be interested," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Telefonica sweetens offer to win EU approval for E-Plus deal Thursday, May 01, 2014 09:08 AM PDT  By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Telefonica Deutschland has sweetened its offer of concessions in order to win European Union approval for its planned takeover of KPN's E-Plus unit in Germany, a spokesman for the telecoms firm said. Telefonica Deutschland, a unit of Spanish telecoms operator Telefonica, last month offered to lease spectrum above 2 gigahertz and access to its network to rivals after the European Commission expressed concerns about the 8.6 billion euro ($11.9 billion) deal. "As is usual in such processes, we have now filed a modified remedy package with the European Commission, which is based on the feedback of the first market test. We cannot comment on any details of the remedies," Telefonica Deutschland spokesman Albert Fetsch said on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| Sony slashes profit forecast again, raising pressure on CEO Thursday, May 01, 2014 08:58 AM PDT  By Sophie Knight TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp slashed its earnings guidance for the third time in a year on Thursday to barely 10 percent of its initial outlook as further losses from its PC exit cast a pall over its struggling electronics division. The steep cut marks the failure of chief executive Kazuo Hirai to fulfill promises he made upon taking the helm of the electronics giant two years ago to push electronics into the black and casts further doubt over his financial management after five cuts to earnings guidance during his term. The repeated misses - the latest just two weeks before Sony announces full-year results - are fuelling anger among investors even as Hirai rebuffs billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb's proposal to spin off Sony's profitable entertainment business. "To be honest, I really wonder if he's got a grip on what's going on with all his businesses," said Yasuo Sakuma, a portfolio manager at Bayview Asset Management in Tokyo, who does not own Sony shares. Full Story | Top |
| India invites U.S. to discuss IP, market access after election Thursday, May 01, 2014 03:31 AM PDT By Manoj Kumar NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said on Thursday it would hold trade talks on intellectual property rights with the United States after its general election, buying time to address friction over drug patents until a new government is formed. Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher praised a decision by the U.S. Trade Representative not to label India with its worst offender tag in an annual scorecard on protecting U.S. patents, copyrights and other intellectual property. "It is a very sensible decision," Kher, India's chief trade negotiator, told Reuters, saying India was committed to protecting copyrights and reining in piracy. "They know very well that India is in transition." But he defended India's right to overrule patents in special cases - a bone of contention between the U.S. drugs industry and New Delhi, which wants its 1.2 billion people to have access to affordable medicines. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli soldiers mount Facebook campaign for jailed comrade Thursday, May 01, 2014 01:39 AM PDT Israeli troops, covering their faces to avoid punishment, have mounted an online campaign in support of a soldier whom they believe was jailed for pointing his gun at Palestinians who were arguing with him. The massive outpouring of support on Facebook was described on Thursday in front-page reports in the Israeli media as a sign of soldiers' frustrations over their service in occupied territory, where their actions are often under scrutiny by journalists and pro-Palestinian activists with cameras. The Israeli military issued a statement saying the soldier's punishment was for unruly behavior towards superior officers and not connected to the incident, which was posted on YouTube on Sunday by Palestinian activists and took place in the West Bank city of Hebron. A Facebook page - "I also back David from Nahal" - showed hundreds of photographs, many of them of men and women soldiers in uniform who held placards in front of their faces with messages of support. Full Story | Top |
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