Business Tech

Google to close Motorola Mobility deal by Wednesday

Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility will finally close by Wednesday.

Motorola Mobility announced in a Form-8K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission that now that the Bureau of the Ministry of the Commerce of China has cleared Google's acquisition, the companies will finalize the transaction "within two business days."

China announced on Saturday that it had approved the acquisition, making it the last major regulator to give the deal the green light. Both the U.S. Justice Department and European Union regulators approved the acquisition in February.

Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility in August for $12.5 billion, more

Another day, another board ex-Yahoo CEO Thompson leaves

Former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has left another board of directors seat.

Splunk, a provider of real-time operational intelligence software, announced today that Thompson has resigned from his post as director on the company's board. Splunk chairman and CEO Godfrey Sullivan thanked Thompson for his "contributions to the company."

Thompson's Splunk resignation, which was effective May 18, came the same day F5 Networks announced that Thompson had also left its board.

Although neither company said why Thompson was leaving, it likely was due to the recent revelation that Thompson's resume incorrectly indicated that he had earned computer more

Sequoia partner Michael Moritz stepping back due to illness

Michael Moritz, the Welsh-born American who helped turn Sequoia Capital into one of tech's juggernaut venture capital companies, is "stepping back" from day-to-day operations because of a medical condition.

Moritz will become Sequoia's chairman and will continue to take on new companies, Andrew Kovacs, a Sequoia spokesman told CNET today. Moritz said in an e-mail he sent early in the day to friends and colleagues that he feels "fitter than ever."

But Moritz, 57, also said in the note that he has been diagnosed with a rare medical condition that he described as "incurable." He said the disease more

Facebook stock opens with a thud; down to $33

So, it looks like investors are not too happy with Facebook this morning.

The company's shares have plummeted in early trading, hitting a low of $33. As of this writing, the company's shares have climbed to $33.16, representing a 13 percent decline compared to its opening price of $38.23. The poor performance puts Facebook much lower than its $38 initial offering price. The humongous social network made its attention-grabbing stock market debut Friday.

The writing appeared to be on the wall this morning when Facebook started trading below $38 in pre-market trading. Ahead of that, Facebook's shares were hovering around $36 in pre-market.more

Facebook shares drop below IPO price in pre-market

Facebook's shares are trading lower on their second day on Nasdaq.

In pre-market trading this morning, the company's shares dropped 4.37 percent to $36.56, leaving them below their initial $38 offering price and their first-day close of $38.23.

Facebook's shares rose to a high of $45 on Monday before flirting with falling below their initial price. It was believed that the stock was buoyed by underwriters to ensure it didn't slip below $38.

Aside from Facebook finally going public, the big story on Friday was Nasdaq delaying its opening due to a technical glitch. more

EU competition chief: We'll settle with Google over antitrust

The European Union's competition commissioner says he's open to settling his antitrust investigation into Google's search practices.

Joaquin Almunia held a news briefing today, saying that his office would be willing to come to a "quick resolution on the competition issues" that Google is facing, so competition can be restored across the continent.

"Google has repeatedly expressed to me its willingness to discuss any concerns that the Commission might have without having to engage in adversarial proceedings," Almunia said. "This is why today I'm giving Google an opportunity to offer remedies to address concerns that we more

Microsoft opines: Vista was 'cheesy'; drops Aero

Microsoft published a "brief" history of the Windows interface in a blog post today that offered some flashes of candor about Vista and Windows 95 and argued that the tablet as we know it today is one device too many. Redmond also said it was dropping Aero Glass.

First and foremost, Microsoft said it has "moved beyond" Aero Glass on the Windows 8 desktop, in Friday's Building Windows 8 post.

"We spent a lot of energy carefully considering how substantially to update the appearance of the desktop in Windows 8...Our primary goal was to bring visual harmony to more

Oracle-Google: Another juror falls as impasse looms (again)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Rather than 12 Angry Men, proceedings in Oracle v. Google are starting to play out more like And Then There Were None.

That's because the jury lost another member on Friday morning, bringing the total count to five men and five women. The trial originally started with 12 people in April: five men and seven women.

The juror that was dismissed on Friday complained the day before that she had come down with a cold. Although she was originally instructed to try to show up at the U.S. District Court of Northern California on Friday more

Facebook IPO more fizz than pop

week in review The world's largest social-networking company finally went public -- but the event lacked the punch many had expected from the third-largest IPO in history.

After a 30-minute delay in the stock's anticipated opening, shares took observers on a bit of a rollercoaster ride, shooting up to $43.20 from their $38 opening and then dropping back down to a break-even price.

The company raised $16 billion on the sale of 421.2 million shares in the offering, putting it at a valuation of $104.1 billion.

Facebook's IPO maneuver (roundup)

Facebook raises $16 billion more

Nasdaq hitch mars Facebook's big day

Updated at 2:33 p.m. PT

In the end, all of Facebook's major shareholders and insiders who cashed out today got their big payday. It just took a little bit longer for the company to celebrate than initially anticipated.

Facebook this morning was expected to go public at about 8 a.m. PT. However, the shares didn't start trading until approximately 8:30 a.m. PT, causing some to wonder what might have caused the hiccup. During that period, Bloomberg reported that it had received an e-mailed statement from Nasdaq, saying only that it was "experiencing a delay."more