finance

The G-20 nations have the most power and the largest impact on the future of clean energy because together they account for 90 percent of the world's investment in clean energy. In addition, China leads the G-20 and the world in investment and almost every other category when it comes to clean-energy development, and it may do so for the next 10 years.

That's according to a report released today by The Pew Charitable Trusts, in conjunction with Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The report, called "Global clean power: A $2.3 trillion opportunity," offers predictions for … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--Rather than follow a well understood game plan, energy technology entrepreneurs need to think more like chess players on the fast-changing global stage.

A panel of clean-tech entrepreneurs and financiers here at the MIT Venture Capital conference yesterday discussed ways to navigate the regulatory and commercial landscape. Their strategies reflect how energy innovators and their financial backers have had to adjust over the past few years to have a shot at succeeding.

One persistent challenge for energy technology entrepreneurs is getting the money and permits to build either an initial production facility to make goods, such as solar … Read more

Solar company SunRun said today it has secured enough money to finance 1,900 residential solar electric installations, helping fuel its growth.

The San Francisco-based company said that US Bancorp has made tens of millions of dollars available to SunRun, representing the fourth time it has closed a round with the bank.

SunRun is one of a few companies offering homeowners the option to get third-party financing for solar rooftop photovoltaic panels. In this model, people pay a small upfront fee and a monthly payment for the installation and ongoing service, rather than pay the anywhere between $25,000 and $… Read more

Continued strong performance from its PayPal online commerce system led auction and retail giant eBay to surpass Wall Street's expectations once again in third-quarter earnings. Analysts had predicted $2.18 billion in revenue on earnings of 37 cents per share; eBay posted $2.25 billion on earnings of 40 cents per share. Net income was up 14 percent.

PayPal has been adding more than a million accounts per month, now with over 90 million active users worldwide. It's been eBay's strongest weapon for quite some time now, fueling better-than-expected performance in the company's past few quarterly reports. … Read more

The beleaguered Yahoo was able to squeeze out a profit thanks to the continued cutting of operating expenses under the auspices of CEO Carol Bartz, according to a third-quarter earnings report that the company posted after the market closed on Tuesday. With earnings of 29 cents per share, it was able to beat Wall Street analysts' (admittedly low) expectations once again.

The company posted revenues of $1.12 billion excluding traffic acquisition costs, down slightly from $1.13 billion in the third quarter of last year. Display advertising on Yahoo-owned sites was up 17 percent year-over-year. In this quarter, Yahoo … Read more

There may be no jet packs yet, but we are very much living in the future. Proof enough of that is PayPal's latest addition to its iPhone app, which brings with it the capability to snap a photo of a check and have it be deposited to your PayPal account free of charge.

Sure, this is something that customers of Chase and USAA have been able to do with each company's respective iPhone applications for months now, but this is PayPal. Why is that important? It means if you've connected your PayPal account to another bank that … Read more

Up until this morning, Android users in need of up-to-the minute finance information were best served by the Google Finance app. Now, Yahoo's aiming to offer another easily accessible option with its own popular Finance app, which finally made its way onto the mobile OS earlier today.

Yahoo Finance for Android appears to carry over many of the most useful features from the Web service, including real-time quotes and a customizable stock watch list. You also get access to Yahoo Finance portfolios, company stats and news, and Tech Ticker videos.

The app is currently available in the United States, … Read more

Facebook formally sliced up its stock in a 5-for-1 division on Friday, a move designed to keep the price of individual shares lower as demand for the privately owned Facebook on secondary markets has been driving it upward.

"The reason is that the stock has risen significantly since our last split, and this allows us to bring it into a similar price range as other private companies," Facebook spokesman Jonny Thaw told CNET. "It also allows us to give everyone larger stock unit grants without increasing dilution for shareholders."

It's the third time in Facebook'… Read more

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released a joint report Friday that detailed the cause of the "flash crash" on May 6 that triggered the Dow Jones Industrial Average to plummet almost 1,000 points in the course of a half hour. The culprit, the report found, was a single $4.1 billion trade carried out by a computer-based sell order.

"This report identifies what happened and reaffirms the importance of a number of the actions we have taken since that day. We now must consider what other investor-focused … Read more