Corporate & legal

Forrester Research reduces IT-spending forecast

Growth in information technology spending next year is expected to reach 1.6 percent in the United States, a substantial drop from previous forecasts.

Forrester Research's current 2009 estimate, released on Tuesday, is down from its previous forecast of 6.1 percent growth, which was issued prior to the steep drop in IT spending at the close of the third quarter.

In September, Forrester took the unusual step to update its forecast outside of its usual quarterly schedule, noting that 2009 IT-spending growth would fall to 6.1 percent from previous forecasts of 10 percent growth.

"Our U.… Read more

AeA and ITAA to merge

Mimicking a larger technology industry consolidation trend, the American Electronics Association and Information Technology Association of America trade groups announced on Tuesday plans to merge lobbying efforts.

The AeA-ITAA deal, aiming to create a stronger industry advocacy voice in Washington, D.C. and provide a greater breadth of technology sector-specific programs, is expected to close by the end of the year. The combined group, to be known as the Technology Association of America, is expected to have approximately 2,000 member companies.

Sony to lay off 8,000 full-timers, 8,000 others

Updated at 7:41 a.m. PT to include reductions in temporary and contract workers.

Sony plans to lay off 8,000 workers in its electronics business worldwide as part of a broader plan to trim expenses and tighten its focus in a difficult financial climate, the company said Tuesday.

The Japanese electronics and media giant, which currently has a full-time global workforce of 160,000, joins a long list of tech companies that have cut jobs and scaled back production.

The company will also eliminate a number of contract workers and temporary employees, which would total an additional 8,… Read more

TI, Broadcom add to warnings chorus

In another bad sign for the consumer electronics market, chipmaker Texas Instruments warned that its current quarter sales and earnings will come in far below earlier estimates.

The company said it now expects revenue of $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion, as compared with prior expectations of $2.83 billion to $3.07 billion. Per-share earnings are now seen between 10 cents and 16 cents, as compared with an earlier range of 30 cents to 36 cents.

TI did not provide further details in its press release, but said it would hold a conference call to discuss its finances. … Read more

Sun's largest investor lands two board seats

Update at 9:27 a.m. PST, with comments from a shareholder activist research firm. Correction, 9:35 a.m. PST: This story initially had the incorrect day the agreement was announced. It is Monday. Update at 1:33 p.m. PST, with closing stock price and excerpt from Southeastern podcast about its board seats.

Sun Microsystems and its largest investor announced an agreement on Monday that entitles the investor to nominate two directors to Sun's board, marking the latest action it has taken to right the struggling company.

Southeastern Asset Management, which holds a 22 percent stake in … Read more

British ISPs filtering Wikipedia

Internet service providers in the U.K. have begun filtering access to Wikipedia after the site was added to the Internet Watch Foundation's blacklist.

The following notice appeared on Wikipedia on Saturday when many UK users attempted to edit content:

Wikipedia has been added to a Internet Watch Foundation UK website blacklist, and your Internet service provider has decided to block part of your access. Unfortunately, this also makes it impossible for us to differentiate between different users, and block those abusing the site without blocking other innocent people as well.

According to discussions on the Wikipedia administrators noticeboard, … Read more

EDS Chief Executive Rittenmeyer to retire

Friday brought more details of Hewlett-Packard's merger with computer services giant Electronic Data Systems.

EDS Chief Executive Ronald Rittenmeyer will retire effective December 31, HP said in a statement. Taking his place will be 46-year-old Joe Eazor, a current EDS senior vice president, who will report to Ann Livermore, head of HP's business technology unit. EDS will be folded into that group, HP noted.

HP announced plans in May to acquire EDS for $13.9 billion, and completed its acquisition in August. At the time, the word was that EDS would operate a new business unit, which would … Read more

Motorola's credit reduced to junk status

Motorola's long-term corporate credit rating was lowered to junk status by Standard & Poor's on Friday as the company continues to suffer from declining mobile handset sales.

The company's rating fell two levels, making it just one notch below investment grade, according to S&P. Moody's Investors Service said earlier this week that it may downgrade Motorola's debt to a level that is just two levels above non-investment grade.

These rating services are downgrading Motorola's credit and debt because the company's mobile handset business has been in serious trouble for more than two years. … Read more

Google gives itself leeway for N.C. data center

Updated 12:20 p.m. PST with new comment from Google and the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

As a result of uncertain plans for data center expansion, Google has turned down a $4.7 million economic development grant from North Carolina that would have funded computer facility plans in Lenoir, N.C.

"The company's ramp-up forecasts for its Lenoir project always have been sensitive to a variety of factors that are difficult to accurately predict. Recent volatile economic conditions make business planning even more difficult," Google said in a letter to North Caroline Commerce Secretary James … Read more

Facebook delays plan to let employees sell stock

Facebook employees hoping to cash out some stock options received an unpleasant early Christmas present this week, courtesy of the economic downturn.

In August, Facebook began considering ways to let current employees unload a portion of their shares that had vested by this fall.

But on Thursday, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg notified employees that the plan was on hold. "I'm writing this note to let you know some bad news," he wrote, according to an excerpt posted on Valleywag.com. "Despite a lot of work, we have not been able to finalize a plan for … Read more