Filed under: Business, Google, Microsoft, Search

The year of 2007 is coming to an end, and so, it seems, is Microsoft’s attempt to regain some ground in the hotly contested search market.

According to the data, Microsoft has two main troubles: getting people to use Live Search, and converting people to using Live Search as their main search portal. Translation: they ain’t doing so good.

The latest statistics published by Nielsen On the web give Live Search and MSN a share of just 12.0% of all the searches on the U.S. market in November, compared to 13.8% in October. Those numbers pale when put next to Google, who recorded less queries in November but still increased its market share to 57.7%.

So why the disparity? Simple: the name. You can easily tell someone in a casual conversation to “Google” it, but telling someone to “Live Search” it is just so not cool (okay, okay, it’s not the name; we simply didn’t want to elucidate on the myriad factors behind the philosophy and practice of web searches, and were looking to save some time).

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Filed under: Business, Web services, Microsoft, Mozilla, AOL

This day AOL announced plans to discontinue development on the beloved Netscape browser. As you may know, Netscape was the first mass market Internet browser, originally released in October 1994. AOL will stop developing the browser on February 1, 2008 according to the Netscape blog.

This blog’s parent company, AOL gained control of Netscape when they acquired it in November 1998 for the whopping price of $4.2 billion. The software, which is currently on version 9, was dominant in the 1990’s until Microsoft unleashed Internet Explorer. Recent figures show that Netscape has less than 1 percent market share after having more than 90 during the browser wars of the 1990’s.

The Netscape browser code has not been maintained to the community’s expectations. AOL has also done a pretty good job of obscuring the Netscape name. Netscape.com was briefly a Digg-style social news site, and now the internet site is basically a landing page for AOL.com. In order to even find the latest version of the Netscape web browser, you have to go to browser.netscape.com.

What was once a great Internet Suite gave birth to the Mozilla foundation when Netscape code was released to the Open Source community. Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird are remnants of the once-great Netscape Internet Browser.

Netscape will always have a dear place in our hearts. For many of us it was our first window in to the World Wide Web. Rest in Peace, Netscape Navigator.

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Filed under: Deals, Industry, Citigroup Inc. (C)

The Wall Street Journal reports that Citigroup (NYSE: C) and HSBC (NYSE: HBC) may sell units to raise capital. Citi has an auto loan unit and a piece of a credit card company in South America. However, with potential write-offs in the billions of dollars still expected in the fourth quarter, the sales of small units might not be enough.

It is more likely that if Citi is pressed for cash it might sell a huge unit like Smith Barney. There are no public numbers on what the unit is worth, but the opeartion does have over 9.3 million clients and nearly $1.3 trillion is assets. Giving that TD Ameritrade (NYSE: AMTD) is worth about $8 billion with just over six million clients, Smith Barney may be worth a great deal.

If current news about Citi’s problems are right and the bank might be facing a dividend cut, selling a huge unit might be the bank’s best chance at making its financial picture more stable.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Deals, Law, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Economic data, Housing

Wall Street seems bent on finishing 2007 on a high note and after yesterday’s big selloff following Pakistan’s former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, futures are up this morning, indicating U.S. stocks could start higher.

Yesterday, U.S. stocks tumbled on the assassination news — fearing further unrest in one of U.S.’s allies in its war on terror in Afghanistan and due to weaker-than-forecast rise in durable-goods orders. The positive consumer confidence report couldn’t offset the news. The Dow industrials dropped 192 points, or 1.42%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 47 points, or 1.75%, and the S&P 500 lost 21 points, also 1.42%.

News that could be moving the market this morning include speak of huge bank asset sales and later some data that’s due out:

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that several banks, including Citigroup (NYSE: C) and HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) are considering sales of any of their assets, from branches to entire units.

Economic data today includes Chicago PMI, a manufacturing sentiment index for December, due out a tiny after the opening bell.
No doubt, though, that investors await the release of November existing and news home sales due out at 10 a.m. EST. The report is expected to show further declines with new home sales in November approaching an 11-year low. What worries economists is that there’s no end in sight to the housing recession that’s threatening to stall growth in 2008. Still, others state that there’s improved consumer sentiment due to the lower prices.

Overseas, and not surprising, Asian markets tumbled following Bhutto’s assassination. Japan’s Nikkei shut down 1.7% also due to report of higher prices and falling factory output. In Europe, several reports indicating slower economies were out and by midday, markets were blended.

In corporate news, seems that Warren Buffett is sprinting towards the new year with yet another deal news Friday: Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) reached a deal to purchase reinsurer NRG from Dutch financial-services giant ING (NYSE: ING) for $433 million (€300 million).

Also, mall retailer The Finish Line Inc. (NASDAQ: FINL) must complete the $1.5 billion purchase of Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO), a judge ruled Thursday, saying that Genesco executives didn’t commit fraud during negotiations. GCO shares are up 27% in premarket trading.

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It’s good news if you’re buying a home, terrible if you’re selling one: Housing prices across the country continued their fall in October.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released on Dec. 26 showed that housing prices across the country dropped 6.7 percent in October. That drop is a signficant one: It ranks as the largest since April of 1991. This is the 10th consecutive month in which housing prices have declined.

The index’s results are more proof that buyers today can find great housing bargains. It’s obvious that sellers are lowering their prices. This is no surpirse. Many of them have been trying to sell their homes for a year or longer. Shrewd buyers should not only be able to get lower prices out of these sellers, they should also be able to nab concessions on closing dates, home fixes and other perks.

In the index’s survey of 20 metropolitan areas, Miami showed the largest price declines in the country, with housing values falling 12.4 percent in October compared with the same month one year earlier. Also in Florida, Tampa saw its housing values plummet 11.8 percent.

The only cities surveyed in the index that posted year-over-year housing gains were Charlotte, N.C.; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle. Charlotte, in fact, posted the largest gain in the entire survey, with its housing prices rising 4.3 percent this October compared to last.

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Is it Vegas? Who knows, but Nevada once again ranks as the fastest-growing say in the country.

This story on the United Press International Web site, quotes U.S. Census data as showing that Nevada’s population climbed 2.9 percent from July 1, 2006, to July 1, 2007. That was the largest population spurt any say saw during this time.

Arizona ranked second in terms of percentage increase.

Michigan and Rhode Island, according to the Census Bureau, were the only states to lose population during this period.

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Filed under: Deals, Coca-Cola (KO)

Coca Cola’s (NYSE: KO) strategy of acquiring premium non-carbonated beverage brands like Glac

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