Filed under: Deals, Wal-Mart (WMT)

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), after having been connected to multiple safety recalls in 2008, has finally stated it will require higher standards from its suppliers. Not just any suppliers, but those specifically manufacturing in China. It’s no surprise — China has been the source of almost all of these recalls, from baby food to toys to play guitars.

Wal-Mart indicated yesterday that it will be setting new quality standards for its Chinese suppliers. What has transpired in China recently is totally pathetic; it its quest to grow its already-hot economy, the country appears to have little quality oversight in many, many areas. But when Wal-Mart states that it wants better quality, things could change. China is - by far - Wal-Mart’s largest overall supplier.

But then again, lip service could be at play here by the world’s largest retailer. If it really wants to change things, make quality standards public and transparent to the WMT shareholder and your customers. Then, and only then, will Wal-Mart’s new “quality standards” requirement have any real worth. Until then, the proof won’t be worth any pudding.

Wal-Mart sets new quality standards for Chinese suppliers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Industry

The economic upheaval around the globe just torpedoed another deal. South Korean electronics giant Samsung said it will abandon its effort to acquire personal memory and consumer electronics manufacturer SanDisk, noting a particularly shaky environment for SanDisk’s various markets it sells into.

Samsung CEO Lee Yoon-woo told CNBC that “Your surprise announcements of a quarter billion dollar operating loss, a hurried renegotiation of your relationship with Toshiba and major job losses across your organization all point to a considerable increase in your risk profile and a material deterioration in value, both on a stand-alone basis as well as to Samsung.” Yowza. Nothing like going from one extreme to the other. But he’s right - SanDisk’s outlook has gone down the toilet. Along with it went Samsung’s $5.9 billion takeover offer.

Yoon-woo went on to say that his company is no longer interested in buying SanDisk for $26 per share. Don’t think Samsung won’t be back at some point if SanDisk’s share price trails downward, though. SanDisk already told Samsung to get lost when the bid was announced, but Samsung - to me - is still very interested in getting its hands on SanDisk. When the initial bid was announced, SanDisk said that Samsung’s bid failed to recognise the intrinsic value of SanDisk’s intellectual property. What intrinsic value? Commodity memory and consumer electronics products?

Samsung reverses itself on SanDisk buyout, backs away originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Business, Utilities, Windows, Productivity, Freeware

While network planning and design isn’t usually part of my job, I do sometimes need to put together a quick sketch of a client’s systems to help me oragnize a plan of attack.

Network Notepad is exactly what I was looking for - a small, free app that lets me lay out network devices, servers, printers, and workstations quickly and easily. It’s a great tool for documenting sites in case another tech has to attend to a call in my absence. Once you’ve set IP addresses, you’re able to use the F1-F6 keys as hotkeys to ping, surf, or telnet to a device.

Don’t be fooled by the Notepad in the name, though. This app is full-featured enough to tackle complicated networks. Be sure to download the Cisco-created object libraries and hub/switch pack, as they provide several icons that aren’t included in the default set.

There’s even a flow chart icon pack which turns Notepad into a kind of poor man’s Visio (if you’re looking for a Visio clone, try the open source Dia). You can’t argue with the price, and the feature set is impressive for such a small download.

Network Notepad creates quick diagrams and flow charts originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Business, Design, AOL

Download Squad isn’t alone when it comes to awesome redesigns — this day, Weblogs Inc.’s parent company, AOL, launched a completely redesigned AOL.com. It looks pretty great, especially when you compare it to the other portal offerings from Microsoft, Yahoo and Google. The biggest change comes in the form of allowing direct access to outside content — including e-mail providers like Yahoo and Gmail, social networks like Facebook and MySpace and links to non AOL sites via a new RSS reader built into the site.

I had the chance to talk to James Clark, the VP of AOL Business, about the redesign process, both from a business and web development level, as well as ways AOL is hoping to use the newly designed page to help transform the AOL brand.

Redesigning a site of any scale can be a challenge, but redesigning a site that receives 115 million PVs a month opens up an entirely new set of both business and user challenges. Starting in 2007, the AOL team started doing research on how its competitors display the web and more importantly, how end users (not necessarily AOL users, just World wide web users) use the World wide web. James told me that what they found was that the “one size fits all portal was outdated and outmoded.” In today and age, even traditional AOL users get content from multiple services and expect a level of control that traditional portals just don’t give them.

Last month, AOL addressed those needs by implementing the ability to check and view e-mail from other providers — like Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail — directly from the AOL.com page, the same way AOL users can access AOL mail. Today’s redesign continues with that trend, offering access to MySpace, Facebook, and AIM (Twitter and Bebo support will be complete very soon) all from AOL.com. You can even update all profiles simultaneously directly from the toolbar.

Additionally, users can add their own links to pages right at the top of the screen (and you don’t even have to register or login to access any of this stuff — not even Google will let you customize stuff without logging in with a Google account). Probably the coolest feature is at the bottom of the home page. AOL has integrated an RSS reader into the page. It comes preloaded with categories and websites, but you can add your own categories and your own sites. Even more interesting, the sites aren’t just AOL properties. In the Tech section, for instance, CNET, TechCrunch, Slashdot and Wired are all listed — and none of those sites are affiliated with AOL.

Continue reading AOL.com launches a new redesign and it doesn’t suck!

AOL.com launches a new redesign and it doesn’t suck! originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP)

When I visited the offices of LinkedIn about six months ago, the place was frenetic with activity as the business networking site was in the midst of surging growth.

Investors wanted a piece of it, naturally, and indeed this day LinkedIn announced a Series D funding of $22.7 million. The investors include a mix of VCs as well as strategics: Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), SAP Ventures (NYSE: SAP) and Bessemer Venture Partners.

The deal indicates that LinkedIn’s growth prospects remain intact. After all, in the current tough economic environment, business networking is critical.

LinkedIn’s investor roster also shows that the company is likely to expand into new categories. For example, with the support of SAP, LinkedIn can make inroads into on-demand enterprise computing.

Dan Nye, who is the CEO of LinkedIn, wrote this in his blog:

“I’d like to reiterate our commitment to creating the right partnerships to help us build a great service for over 30 million professionals on LinkedIn today - a number that’s growing by leaps and bounds each month. This funding strengthens LinkedIn further, and will help us to continue creating additional services for professionals to connect and collaborate more effectively, around the world. Services that grant you to connect with the people you trust, build out a robust on the web professional profile and collaborate with members of your professional network on LinkedIn.”

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He’s also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

LinkedIn connects with $22.7 million originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Amazon.com (AMZN), General Motors (GM), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Market matters, McDonald’s (MCD), AT and T (T), Boeing Co (BA), ConocoPhillips (COP), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Wachovia Corp (WB), Merck and Co (MRK), Amgen Inc (AMGN), Economic data, General Dynamics Corp (GD)

U.S. stock futures were lower Wednesday morning, indicating stocks may have a second day of declines. As money markets worldwide continue improving, attention has shifted to corporate earnings and concerns are growing how a global slowdown would slow them. Asian markets shut sharply lower and European stocks tumbled at the open as well. Meanwhile, oil veered below $70 a barrel again despite a probably OPEC production cut on fears the U.S. economy is headed into a sever recession that would crimp demand for oil. Today weekly crude inventories will be released.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one company that’s bucking the earnings trend. The consumer electronics giant reported results after the close Tuesday, surprising the Street with higher earnings as all three product categories showed improvement. Specifically it sold far more iPhones than expected, actually outselling market-leading BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd (NASDAQ: RIMM). The company, known for always lowballing estimates, gave a weak outlook that didn’t affect investors sentiment much. AAPL shares, which jumped almost 13% in after-hours trading, are up nearly 8% this morning in pre-market trade. Analysts liked in general iPhone sales with Calyon Securities upgrading Apple to Purchase from Add, and Goldman Sachs recommending investors to buy shares. Still, UBS has downgraded Apple from Purchase to Neutral.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)’s show, on the other hand, was quite different than Apple’s. While the stock is also up in pre-market action — 2.7% (it was up 7% in after-hours trade Tuesday afternoon) — it is mainly due to the severe cost cuts the web giant has announced during the dusmal earnings release. As it was saying profit plunged 64%, Yahoo! also said it is redcucing its workforce by 10% or some 1,500 employees.

Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks to plunge; AAPL, YHOO, VMW, BA, MRK, WMT, MCD …

Before the bell: Stocks to plunge; AAPL, YHOO, VMW, BA, MRK, WMT, MCD … originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Dell (DELL)

Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) said yesterday that it will sell a 900-person customer support call center in El Salvador to an outsource company that handles support for large global corporations. Stream Global Services, Inc. will take over the customer support center as Dell continues to find ways to slash costs as much as it can.

Stream Global indicated that it will enhance the center to handle upcoming support needs from emerging Latin American markets. My question is this: is Dell once again having an identity crisis about running its own support organization? After all, this is the company that outsourced some U.S.-based support to India a while back, an effort that fell flat on its face. Yes, there’s a difference between support centers in India that take care of U.S. customers and Latin American support centers taking care of Latin American customers.

Still, Dell should once and for all just outsource global support for its consumer product lines and call it a day. But wait a minute — isn’t the consumer market the one Dell has used in the last 18 months to claw its way back to growth after discovering consumer retail sales were a sales holy grail? Yes it is. And there are some heavy competitors in the commodity PC business these days, along with a market share-grabbing Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to deal with. At this time, Dell, did not have any comment on the possible sale of other global call centers. The company probably does not know what it wants to do. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Dell sells 900-person call center in El Salvador originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Scandals

Shares of Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) rose in after-hours trading yesterday after Adrenalina (OTC BB: AENA) announced an offer to acquire the company for $4.50 per share. Shares of PacSun had shut at $3.80. The press release announcing the offer said that the proposed deal would consist of a “combination of cash and Adrenalina common stock” and is ” subject to PacSun’s Board and shareholders approval, execution of a definitive agreement, obtaining the requisite financing and certain other terms and conditions.”

There are so many red flags here that it’s hard to know where to start. Pacific Sunwear has a market cap of $250 million, more than 10 times that of Adrenalina’s. Adrenalina also has just $329,000 in cash and a history of huge losses for a company of its size. A few years ago, minnows could gobble up sharks but with credit markets as tight as they are, it’s hard to see a company of Adrenalina’s size swinging a deal like this.

Then there’s the CEO of Adrenalina, Ilia Lekach. You may remember him as the former CEO of Parlux (NASDAQ: PARL), where he made numerous offers to take the company private that swiftly disappeared, and frequently complained about market manipulation by short sellers. You can read more about him in Herb Greenberg’s “Worst CEO of the Year” column from 2006.

Investors would do well to ignore Lekach’s offer based on his history of smoke-blowing, and focus on the mess that’s Pacific Sunwear’s current operations.

UPDATE: Pacific Sunwear has announced that it has rejected the offer. Shares are down 1.5% today, at $3.74.

Are PacSun shareholders being thrown an airball? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals

While there are signs of a thawing of the credit crisis, the fact remains that getting financing for deals is no easy feat. Along those lines, HTLH Corp. (NASDAQ: HLTH) and WebMD (NASDAQ: WBMD) announced this week that they’re terminating their $2.31 billion merger deal.

Interestingly enough, HLTH already has an 84% stake in WebMD. In other words, HLTH had lots of leverage in the proposed transaction.

But, of course, it wasn’t enough.

There is some good news, though; that is, by not having to take on debt, HLTH and WebMD will have some flexibility in buying other companies. With the recent plunge in equities, there are certainly many compelling bargains.

However, HLTH still has some issues. The company has to manage $650 million in long-term debt (WebMD, on the other hand, has $340 million in the bank and has no long-term debt). What’s more, the company is having trouble with the sale of its Porex division. So, to make up for things, HLTH plans to buy back up to 50 million shares for $9.20 a piece.

Based on the news, HLTH shares fell 13% to $7.96 and WebMD’s shares spiked 26% to $19.10.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He’s also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

The credit crunch’s latest victim: HLTH-WebMD deal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Share This

Filed under: International markets, Deals, Competitive strategy, General Motors (GM)

At this point it isn’t clear that GM (NYSE: GM) can get the money to merge with Chrysler. The plan would be to cut 50,000 people. That’s a lot of severance. Closing plants and combining product lines cannot be done for free.

Chrysler has figured all of this out and has begun to focus on a partnership with Renault and Nissan, both of which are run by former auto whiz kid Carlos Ghosn. He has been trying to purchase into the US market for several years without success. Now, he may have his chance.

If Ghosn can set up a deal where he takes a modest equity stake in Chrysler he might expand his reach into American for a small investment. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Chrysler would have a better chance of keeping much of its operations intact in an alliance with Nissan and Renault than in a merger with GM.”

The deal wouldn’t really make any sense and may simply be a way to push GM into a merger. While putting Chrysler into a marketing and product development pact with both a Japanese and European car manufacturer, the savings would be modest. Since Chrysler’s problems are huge cash losses and falling sales in North American it is hard to see how anything short of an outright merger with large cost cuts does the company any good.

But, there’s sense of panic in Detroit which leads to grasping of straws. Panic clouds the mind. Chrysler could do a bad deal because it sees the options as superior than no deal at all.

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

Chrysler may turn to Renault originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Share This