Filed under: Business, Fun, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!

If you like to keep track of your friendly neighborhood media conglomerates, and what smaller companies they’ve recently swallowed into their great, yawning maw, then you need to download Who Owns What v2.1.

Who Owns What is a printable chart (PDF) that tracks the recent acquisitions of a number of huge companies: Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, AOL, News Corporation, and IAC. Looking at the chart, you’ll see that each company seems to have fingers in a lot of pies: everything from travel to search engines to dating sites is represented.

The longest list award goes to, you guessed it, Google.

One caveat: the chart isn’t completely exhaustive. The creator, Amy Webb of MyDigiMedia, figured that if the chart was complete, there would be no way to print it out. And yes, she does want us to print it out, in order to constantly remind ourselves that “this digital stuff isn’t going away.”

[Via Digital Inspiration]

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Filed under: Business, News, Search

Amazon has launched a trial of a new program called Product Ads. The program grants retailers to buy ad space on Amazon without selling their products on the site. When a user clicks on the ad rather than being taken to a product within Amazon, the customer will instead be sent to the companies 3rd celebration site to make a buy.

Product Ads will show a 3rd party competitor, along with the price they’re offering an item at right on the same page as the Amazon item. Reminiscent of PriceGrabber, different sites and their price for a particular item are listed below the item and description on Amazon. Users can see all the prices at the same time and make a decision whether to continue with their buy on Amazon, or click over to the 3rd party website to make a buy.

Much like other advertising programs advertisers only pay for their ad when a user clicks on an ad and is taken to the advertisers site. Both Google Product Search and Shopping.com run similar programs, but neither is the selling powerhouse that Amazon is. By combining advertising along with their extensive product catalog Amazon is setting themselves up to be even more of a leader in the online shopping arena.

The new program also forces Amazon to stay extremely competitive in its pricing in order to make users want to purchase items from them, however it also gives them the ability to make money off users who do choose to shop somewhere else. It will be interesting to see if the program survives. No doubt the program is great for shoppers, but how do you think Amazon will do with Product Ads? Do you think it will make it through the trial?

[via VentureBeat]

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Filed under: Business, Windows

What a short, strange trip it has been. Dell has reportedly stopped selling AMD-based computer systems from its online store, just 21 months after they announced their intention to sell AMD-based systems to the general public.

However, contrary to first reports and the sandwich board wearing doomsayers, this move doesn’t mean the curtain is falling on the Dell/AMD releationship. In fact, Dell reiterated this day their commitment to AMD on their Direct2Dell blog.

So what’s Dell doing? For the time being, they have largely relegated their AMD-based systems to brick-and-mortar-big-box stores, such as Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club. Thankfully, if your laziness precludes you from getting out of that simple chair, you can still order over the phone as well.

[via Softpedia]

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Deals, Bad news, Management, Sears Holdings (SHLD)

Eddie Lambert might have to loan Sears Holdings (NYSE: SHLD) some money. Cash at the company be getting very tight. According to the Wall Street Journal, “some analysts wonder whether falling sales, slimmer profit margins and other woes are causing cash flows to decline to a level that could hinder a turnaround.”

The last cash balance that Sears announced was lower than most analysts expected. If the company needs to spend money to improve its stores or increase inventory in products it thinks will sell well, it could draw down the cash level even further.

For Lampert, the bad news keeps getting worse. Sears stock has staged a mini-rally over the last two weeks, moving from below $85 to $103. News about cash problems could push the shares back down.

Lampert made the classic error of thinking that with Sears and K-Mart 1+1=3. In reality, he took two weak companies and saved some money in a merger. The problem was that the companies got even weaker.

Who says that hedge fund managers don’t make good corporate chiefs?

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

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Filed under: Deals, Launches, Law, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL)

There’s no justice for the large record labels. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) dominates the music download business and pays the music publishers a modest fee. Since Apple controls most of the digital music business, what can the publishers do?

Universal Music has proposed creating a project called Total Music which would pull together the massive music publishers including Sony BMG and Warner Music (NYSE:WMG). The Justice Department has decided to look into that. Perhaps it thinks of the new project as a monopoly.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Universal and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the No. 1 and No. 2 music companies world-wide by market share, have gotten letters of inquiry from the Justice Department.”

It is an example of where the law is perverse and justice isn’t served. Apple has a de facto lock on the digital music industry and can set prices almost at will. No one sees the Justice Department going after the company.

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

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When considering a move to a new city, homeowners have to consider a host of factors: Will my family like our new metropolis? Are the schools good? Are there enough parks and recreational facilities? Is the crime rate low?

And, of course, how far will my salary stretch in my new city?

Fortunately, CNNMoney.com has a tool that lets you take your current salary and location and compare it with another. It’s a fascinating tool to explore, and you can check it out here.

The tool is simple: Plug in your current salary and location. Then plug in the city you’re considering moving, too. You might be surprised at what comes up. For instance, when I plugged in a salary of $100,000 in Chicago and a new destination city of St. Cloud, Minn., here’s what came up: Someone making $100,000 in Chicago was comparable to someone earning slightly more than $88,622 in St. Cloud. That’s because housing costs, on average, slightly more than 28 percent less in St. Cloud than it does in Chicago. Groceries cost about 9 percent less, utilites more than 5 percent less and transportation more than 9.7 percent less.

Of course, the salaries can go the other way, too. That same person making $100,000 in Chicago would have to make $150,000 in San Francisco — one of the most expensive cities in the country — to enjoy the same standard of living. That’s because everything is more costly in San Francisco: Housing is about 114 percent higher, groceries about 30 percent, utilities more than 18 percent and healthcare more than 14 percent.

The salary-comparison tool is a fun one to use even if you’re not planning to move anytime soon. And if you’re dead set against ever moving again, the tool may provide you with just one more reason to stay put.

Tags: Chicago, CNNMoney.com, Minnesota, salary comparison, San-Francisco

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