stocks

Select Flickr photos to sell via Getty license

Flickr on Tuesday entered a partnership with Getty Images to offer its users a way to potentially make money off their photography.

The Yahoo-owned photo-hosting community will be a new resource for Getty, which can now contact Flickr members directly through the site and ask them if they want to share one or more of their images for use in a special Flickr-branded Getty collection.

Flickr members interested in getting their images featured in the special Getty gallery will have to simply wait to be contacted. Otherwise, Getty and Flickr are encouraging aspiring photographers to post their content on the … Read more

Jobs, Apple directors face new backdating suit

Current and former members of Apple, including CEO Steve Jobs and several directors, have been sued again over their role in the company's stock options-backdating affair.

The latest case, filed in federal court in San Jose last Friday, was put on record Monday. Martin Vogel and Kenneth Mahoney, the plaintiffs, are charging several executives and directors of Apple with securities fraud for failing to disclose the company's practice of backdating certain stock option grants in the early part of this decade.

Apple has admitted that the company backdated certain option grants, including two awarded to Jobs, in order … Read more

Google CFO could be millionaire in months

It looks like Patrick Pichette, Google's new chief financial officer, will be rewarded for his new job with up to $2.125 million after the first year if he earns his full bonus.

According to his employment offer letter, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Pichette will receive a salary of $450,000 and an annual bonus up to one and half times that amount.

Pichette also gets a signing bonus of $500,000 and another cash bonus of $500,000 after 6 months at the search and advertising giant--though he must pay a prorated amount back if … Read more

Google Finance gets real-time NYSE ticker updates

If you've had bold ambitions of becoming a day trader, Google Finance is now one step closer to getting you there.

Tuesday morning the New York Stock Exchange partnered with Google and CNBC to provide real-time stock quotes that will show up on Google's finance site.

This means that whatever symbols you're looking at on Google Finance will be updated without delay, and the changes can be seen both on the page and at the top of the tab it's open in on your browser. You can also get it in widget form, either in iGoogle … Read more

Brocade hopes to turn page with $160 million payment

Correction: The dollar figure in the headline has been changed to accurately reflect the story.

From a public relations perspective, this hasn't been an auspicious year for Brocade Communications.

In January, the company's former CEO got hit with a long jail sentence for criminal misconduct. Now it's going to cost a cool $160 million for Brocade Communications to settle a federal securities class action lawsuit tied to the company's stock option backdating practices.

In a press release issued Monday afternoon, the company said it had recorded a pretax expense of $160 million related to the settlement … Read more

SEC charges current, former Broadcom execs

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two current and two former key executives of chipmaker Broadcom with backdating stock options.

The SEC announced Wednesday it had filed a federal complaint against Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Henry Samueli and general counsel David Dull, as well as former Chief Executive Officer Henry Nicholas and former Chief Financial Officer William Ruehle. The chipmaker later announced that Samueli and Dull had taken leaves of absence from their positions until the matter is resolved.

Samueli, who co-founded the company, also resigned as chairman of the board. The board appointed director John Major to … Read more

The market's irrational expectations of open source

I've commented on Oliver Alexy's research on open source's effects on stock prices before, but was gratified to see it featured in today's Wall Street Journal.

It turns out, as per Mr. Alexy's research, that open source can have a salubrious effect on one's stock price, but only if done right:

Companies saw their stock price rise if they met one crucial condition: explaining how they expected their open strategy to bring in short-term revenue. Companies that clearly communicated a short-term revenue model saw an average stock-price increase of 1.6 percent. Companies that … Read more

SEC suit recommended against Google director

Ann Mather, a Google board member, could well find herself on the receiving end of a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit regarding stock option transactions made while she was chief financial officer at Pixar Animation Studios.

"On April 23, 2008, Ann was advised by the staff of the Los Angeles office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it intends to recommend that the SEC initiate a civil proceeding against her, alleging violation of federal securities laws related to certain stock option transactions involving her former employer, Pixar Animation Studios," Google said in a regulatory filing Monday. … Read more

Apple hit with another backdating lawsuit

Apple faces a new lawsuit filed by shareholders angry over its stock option backdating practices.

Several shareholder suits have already been filed, but the latest one comes from the Boston Retirement Board, according to Andrews Publications over at Findlaw. This group claims to have "confidential information" regarding Apple's stock option backdating obtained through an inquiry via the Santa Clara County Superior Court, according to the article. However, it says it can't publish that information until a judge rules on how to treat the sensitive documents.

Apple acknowledged in late 2006 after an internal investigation that certain … Read more