2008 May 27 | money news blog

So you love Mac OS X. We love Mac OS X. But you don’t have the money to pony up for Office 200whatever, or maybe you don’t even enjoy it. Microsoft Office is overkill for most people who just need a easy word processor. We’ve used Open Office, but it’s probably too much to play around with if all you want to do is write a document.

Enter the Bean.

We’ve mentioned Bean before, along with other Mac “toolkit software”, but a new version came out late in April (version 1.2.0)l, so we felt it deserved another look.

Continue reading Bean for OS X - Great features baked right in

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27 05 2008

BCE buyout gets a lifeline

Posted by: in Latest News

Filed under: Deals, Private equity

Just last week, it looked like the $52.9 billion buyout of BCE (NYSE: BCE) was dead after a Canadian court ruled that the company must look at the interests of bondholders as well. The upshot: the deal was stopped.

Well, things are looking somewhat superior now as the Supreme Court of Canada is going to expedite the process to determine the validity of the ruling.

True, there’s no guarantee that the court will reverse the ruling, but then again, at least BCE will get a swift resolution, which is important in light of the June 30th deadline on the deal (when the private equity sponsors can walk away from the deal without paying a break-up fee).

Yet, the BCE transaction still has other major hurdles. The banks are nervous about extending the massive loans for the deal. Keep in mind that there is a November deadline after which the bankers are not required to fund the deal.

In light of all this, it seems a good bet that there’ll be a renegotiation on the terms of the deal.

So far in today’s trading, BCE’s shares are up nearly 4% to $35.27.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar On the internet Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

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27 05 2008

Before the bell: Futures blended after break, ahead of data

Posted by: in Latest News

Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Deals, General Electric (GE), Market matters, Economic data, Oil, Housing

U.S. stock futures were blended early Tuesday morning as investors return from a three-day weekend to a shortened week full of economic data. Oil prices have also kept their high levels due to ongoing supply concerns.

On the latest trading day, Friday, U.S. stocks once again completed the day with heavy losses — it was the third time in four sessions. Reasons for the considerable declines included the continued climb of oil prices, inflation and economic concerns. Both General Motors (NYSE: GM) and General Electric (NYSE: GE) hit multi-year lows Friday. The Dow industrials ended Friday 145 points lower, or 1.16%, the S&P 500 fell 18 points, or 1.32%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 19 points, or 0.81%. For the week, all three indexes lost some 3% to 4%.

On Friday, investors’ mood was dampened by reading from the housing sector, as a report showed considerable inventory and the the number of unsold U.S. homes piled up a 23-year high in April. Just as housing affected trade on Friday, it will no doubt have some impact today with the release of April new home sales due at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Economists anticipate the report to show yet another decline.
Also at the same time, May consumer confidence is due and is also expected to edge lower.

And, of course, the ever (recently) rising oil prices. While no new highs have registered over the weekend, crude prices held above $133 a barrel Tuesday, supported by supply concerns and worries about the health of the U.S. economy and hence the outlook for the U.S. dollar. A militant attack on a pipeline in Nigeria didn’t help matters either.

On the corporate front, Borders Group (NYSE: BGP), which Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) said it might be interested in buying, returned to web retailing, opening a site for selling books online Tuesday. Classic case of a day late and a dollar short? Borders is also due to report quarterly results after the market close.

Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) said its CEO Arun Sarin is stepping down. The surprise announcement came after the company reported swinging to a profit for the full year.

After setting a multi-year low Friday, General Electric (NYSE: GE) shares target price has been lowered to $33 from $35 by Deutsche Bank. Meanwhile, LG Electronics may be interested in GE’s appliance unit, which has recently been put up for sale.