Business Tech

Week in review: Market whiplash

The rollercoaster stock market threatens to change the landscape for at least a couple of tech titans.

Case in point: Yahoo could have been sold for $33 per share to Microsoft in the spring; in midweek, it was trading at less than $12. No doubt, most tech companies are getting pummeled on Wall Street, but Yahoo's drop has to be particularly galling, given how much more Microsoft was willing to pay for the company just months ago.

Yahoo closed at $11.75 a share on Wednesday, down 7.1 percent, during regular trading. That gave the Internet search pioneer … Read more

AMD talks more about chipmaking exit strategy

Advanced Micro Devices talked more about options for reducing its participation in a new manufacturing venture during its third-quarter earnings call on Thursday. The chipmaker also offered more details on conversion to 45-nanometer processors.

Earlier this month, AMD announced that it was splitting into two companies: one for designing chips (AMD), the other for manufacturing them (The Foundry Company). The latter company will be owned approximately 56 percent by Advanced Technology Investment Co. (ATIC) and 44 percent by AMD.

During the conference call, AMD Chief Financial Officer Bob Rivet responded to a question from an analyst about an "exit … Read more

AMD reports smaller loss, better revenues

Advanced Micro Devices reported a much smaller loss for the third quarter and better-than-expected revenue.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based chipmaker reported third-quarter 2008 revenue of $1.776 billion, including process technology license revenue of $191 million.

Revenue increased 32 percent compared to the second quarter of 2008 and 14 percent compared to the third quarter of 2007.

A positive surprise is the net loss, which was significantly smaller than expected. The company reported a net loss of $67 million, or 11 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a third-quarter loss of 40 cents per share on $… Read more

IBM produces good news for weary tech sector

Updated 4 p.m. PDT with more details and CFO and analyst comments.

IBM, Google, and AMD posted positive earnings reports on Thursday, lifting their stock prices in after hours and providing hope that things won't be as bad for the tech sector as some feared.

IBM reported a 20 percent rise in third-quarter earnings on strong software and services sales, and said it expects to meet its 2008 outlook despite the economic downturn that has companies curbing spending.

At the same time, Google beat analyst expectations with third-quarter earnings per share of $4.92 on revenue of $4.… Read more

Microsoft mulls 'Instant On' for Windows

If you feel that Windows starts too slowly most days, Microsoft is considering an option that could help.

The company is surveying select users on whether an "instant on" feature, which would rush a usable desktop to your screen in just seconds, is something they'd like included with Windows.

"The concept is called 'Instant On.' Instant On takes your computer from being completely powered down or turned off to being usable for a few specific activities in a very short amount of time," according to excerpts from the survey posted by Engadget.

"The Instant … Read more

Ballmer: It's OK to wait for Windows 7

Some companies are planning to skip Windows Vista, and that's OK, according to Steve Ballmer. But Microsoft's CEO hopes that those companies come back for Windows 7.

Ballmer said that "if people want to wait they really can," ZDNet's Larry Dignan reports. "But I'd definitely deploy Vista," he said.

Speaking on Thursday at Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo conference in Orlando, Ballmer defended Vista and noted that "The adoption rate of Vista is faster than the adoption rate was of XP at two years in."

Ballmer did note that Vista has … Read more

Oracle dangles $13.6 million bonus over Ellison

As Oracle heads into 2009, CEO Larry Ellison has a $13.6 million carrot dangling in front of him.

That's the maximum bonus award the billionaire will be eligible for under the company's 2009 bonus plan, which was approved by shareholders during Oracle's annual meeting last week.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing:

Under the Bonus Plan, participants will be eligible to receive awards based upon the attainment, in fiscal 2009, and certification of, certain performance criteria established by the Compensation Committee. For fiscal 2009:

(a) Mr. Ellison, our Chief Executive Officer; Mr. (Jeff) Henley, … Read more

Red Hat: Economic crisis to boost open source

The global economic crisis would provide a boost for open-source software, Red Hat Chief Executive Jim Whitehurst claimed during a visit to Sydney this week.

Whitehurst, who stopped over down under as part of a tour of the Asia-Pacific region, said in an interview with ZDNet Australia that the crisis would cause companies to consolidate their technology infrastructure and reduce spending.

"So the bad news is, when things get tight, people stop investing as much in the future," he said. "I would expect to see a slowdown in spending for new functionality." However, the CEO said … Read more

Five reasons for more worry at Yahoo

No doubt, it's been a doozy of a year for Jerry Yang & co.

Yahoo could have been sold for $33 per share to Microsoft back in the spring; now it's trading at less than $12. Internet advertising may be in for a rough patch, along with the rest of the economy. And morale at the Internet pioneer, well, just isn't what it used to be.

With that in mind, we thought it would be helpful to create a handy list for Yahoo watchers to keep in mind as Yahoo struggles to right its ship in the … Read more