Posts Tagged ‘buy’
AT&T is buying T-Mobile for $39 billion
AT&T has announced a definitive agreement to buy Deutsche Telekom’s American T-Mobile subsidiary in a cash and stock deal worth about $39 billion, and giving the German carrier an 8 percent stake in AT&T…
T-Mobile and AT&T share similar GSM and UMTS/HSPA networks, and both are working to build new next generation networks using HSPA+ and LTE. However, obtaining the rights to radio spectrum and building out these networks is both expensive and complex.
AT&T’s chief executive Randall Stephenson said the deal “provides a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband…”
T-Mobile adds 33.7 million subscribers to AT&T’s network of of about 95.5 million, creating a total of about 130 million users, and becoming the largest American carrier. The deal will also expand Apple’s iPhone to three of what were the top four US carriers, as Apple has already brought it to Verizon earlier this year.
RTFA for the details. Fascinating – and expanded choices for anyone who owns or intends to own a GSM mobile device. In our market in northern New Mexico, we had held off on buying any iPhones or 3G iPads because of the requirement of dealing with AT&T. Their service is mediocre here at best. T-Mobile has been our personal choice for cellular service for years.
OK – aside from the new availability of hardware and increased network access across the country, what will this mean for consumers? In the opinion of many, we’re more likely to be screwed by higher prices, narrower opportunities for software and app developers.
One of the best analysts in the world on the dynamic mobile market is Om Malik. Here’s a link to his analysis as the story broke. Not especially optimistic.
Mom sold baby to buy car
A Florida woman was charged with trying to sell her infant son in order to pay for a new car…
The baby’s grandmother brokered the deal and initially demanded $75,000 but agreed to cut the price to $30,000 when told the prospective buyer could not get a bank loan, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said.
The mother of the eight-week-old boy, Stephanie Bigbee Fleming, 22, of Bradenton, Florida, was to receive $9,000 of the proceeds, the FDLE said.
“Fleming planned to purchase a new vehicle from the money received,” an FDLE spokeswoman said.
Fleming also needed money to pay court costs for an unrelated probation violation, the arrest documents said.
Fleming was arrested Tuesday. The grandmother, Patty Bigbee, 45, was arrested last week…
The baby remains in state custody.
The rest of the family should remain in state custody. For a long, long time.
Midterm elections skewed by anonymous money
Traditional anonymous political activist
Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies would certainly seem to the casual observer to be a political organization: Karl Rove, a political adviser to President George W. Bush, helped raise money for it; the group is run by a cadre of experienced political hands; it has spent millions of dollars on television commercials attacking Democrats in key Senate races across the country.
Yet the Republican operatives who created the group earlier this year set it up as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, so its primary purpose, by law, is not supposed to be political.
The rule of thumb, in fact, is that more than 50 percent of a 501(c)(4)’s activities cannot be political. But that has not stopped Crossroads and a raft of other nonprofit advocacy groups like it — mostly on the Republican side, so far — from becoming some of the biggest players in this year’s midterm elections, in part because of the anonymity they afford donors, prompting outcries from campaign finance watchdogs…
Neither the Internal Revenue Service, which has jurisdiction over nonprofits, nor the Federal Election Commission, which regulates the financing of federal races, appears likely to examine them closely…
This is arguably more important than ever after the Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case earlier this year that eased restrictions on corporate spending on campaigns…
“I can tell you from personal experience, the money’s flowing,” said Michael E. Toner, a former Republican F.E.C. commissioner, now in private practice at the firm Bryan Cave…
“The Supreme Court has completely lifted restrictions on corporate spending on elections,” said Taylor Lincoln, research director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, a watchdog group. “And 501(c) serves as a haven for these front groups to run electioneering ads and keep their donors completely secret…”
In fact, the I.R.S. is unlikely to know that some of these groups exist until well after the election because they are not required to seek the agency’s approval until they file their first tax forms — more than a year after they begin activity.
“These groups are popping up like mushrooms after a rain right now, and many of them will be out of business by late November,” Marcus Owens said. “Technically, they would have until January 2012 at the earliest to file anything with the I.R.S. It’s a farce.”
RTFA for more sleazy details. The Republicans have the current market cornered – partly because they’re on the outside, partly because the Obama side depends on lots of small donors who enter the hunt for votes more or less on the honesty side of the spectrum. Serious corporate money no longer has to worry about oversight, anyway.
The Republican Supreme Court has engineered that aspect of buying and selling political favors/votes to favor the wealthiest individuals and corporations for the foreseeable future.
U.S. agency says Google can be power marketer
I have to chuckle over how many supposedly knowledgeable pundits from the geek world think this is something unheard of. Remind me to ignore their stock tips.
Google won approval from U.S. energy regulators to act as a power marketer, which will make it easier for the Internet search giant to obtain renewable energy to run its huge data centers…
In its approval order, FERC pointed out that Google does not own or control any facilities that generate electricity to sell in the wholesale markets.
Google says the extent of its electric generation ownership is to provide power solely to the company’s facilities and for emergency backup power.
Other companies that consume a lot of electricity have been given similar power marketing authority by FERC to help control their energy costs.
The agency lists on its website about 1,500 companies that have subsidiaries with the same market-based rate authority, including Alcoa, the Safeway grocery store chain and Walmart.
There has to be at least a couple of paranoid vegan Google-panic geeks who will now fear being electrocuted if they use the Chrome browser.
Oracle shelling out $7 billion for Sun
Oracle Corp plans to buy Sun Microsystems Inc for more than $7 billion, after the high-end computer server and software maker’s talks with IBM fell apart.
In a surprise announcement on Monday, Oracle said it will pay $9.50 a share. Sun had previously turned down IBM’s offer to pay up to $9.40 a share, according to sources with knowledge of the matter…
Talks between Sun and Oracle began late on Thursday, according to a source with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The two companies have been partners with more than two decades. Oracle’s Fusion Middleware, its fastest-growing business, is built on Sun’s Java software. Sun’s Solaris operating system is also a main platform for Oracle’s database business…
Sun’s board had unanimously approved the deal, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
Let the market analysis begin…
Test-driving the Tata Nano – the world’s cheapest car
Click on the photo for the road test video
Daylife/Reuters Pictures
Taking the world’s cheapest car out for its first public test drive by a journalist makes for a surprisingly smooth ride. Thrifty transport is not meant to be this comfortable. Tata’s Nano purrs from zero to 40mph in eight seconds and its gearbox changes with ease. The brakes are solid, bringing the car to halt smartly.
True, its 623cc engine whines a little like a blender when pushed to its top speed of 65mph and the body leans like the Tower of Pisa when cornering at speed. But the wheels will give out before you can tip the car over, the Guardian was assured by Tata engineers.
Built for functional frugality, the Nano is a striking if not a beautiful car. Flashing through the dusty streets outside the Tata plant in Pune, southern India, the Nano’s distinctive look turns heads. Many people, especially those who are riding motorbikes, break into smiles and thrust thumbs into the air when its jellybean shape appears.
National Buy a Newspaper Day – WTF?
As the economy continues to deteriorate, one of the industries that is going to be most severely affected is the American newspaper industry.
The fact of the matter is that the biggest chains are deeply in debt. Major cities that have had at least two daily newspapers for more than a century, such as Chicago and Seattle, might soon find themselves with only one source of news. Other papers, such as those in Detroit are no longer providing daily home delivery. If things get really bad, some experts say that some small towns might not have any paper by 2010.
And that’s a shame. Unlike radio which has become dominated by opinion or TV news which only looks for the 30 second sound bite, the local newspaper digs deep every day to get you, the reader, the full story on what’s happening in your town.
The newspaper is heavily focused on local news. It keeps you informed about events in your town and keeps local government in-line.
So for one day, Monday, Feb. 2, 2009, please make it a point to pick up your local newspaper (reading it online doesn’t count).
We’ve had no shortage of discussion about the incompetence of American newspapers – especially when it comes to living on the Web, competing with what’s new on the Web. That graphic up top is from my own local newspaper. One of the oldest locally-owned papers in the country – and just as backwards as the rest.
They hired a few great folks to build a web presence. They succeeded well – award winners on an annual basis for what they produced. So, when times started to get tough – and the newspaper’s owners had borrowed millions to expand the print side of the NEW MEXICAN – they decided to cut expenses exactly like the big boys at the Tribune Group. They fired talent – including the original staff who had built the online edition to the best in the region.
I’m not going into lots of detail. I still have home delivery of the Sunday edition. I drop by the online site a couple times a week just to bust balls on a few local reactionaries. I’ve ended all other participation in their online projects.
As far as I can see, these hard times plus the general decline of print vs online news presents an opportunity. Journalism can be learned. Site development gets easier by the day. News gathering is the crux of the question; but, I’m certain our local, big and little newspapers will be making more talent available for that task. Looks like time to start a local online newspaper.
Palm gets in game – but doesn’t change it
Palm unveiled its long-awaited operating system and Pre device and has generated a lot of love among the tech set.
The OS — webOS — appears elegant, and the Pre looks like it could be a winning device. Sprint is also betting on Palm.
Add it up and Palm apparently hit a home run at the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday. The reviews, which are mostly based on the browser, are strong. Jon Rubinstein, chairman of Palm, clearly worked the press conference and wowed a lot of folks.
But reality looms. Om Malik notes that he is skeptical that Palm’s latest and greatest can save the company. Om says he appears to be the only one that’s skeptical. Om’s problem: He can’t reconcile Palm’s financials and market standing with the gadget lovers’ Pre-conquer-the-world riffs. I can’t either. Now it’s a party of two…
For sure, Palm’s effort looks much better than Windows Mobile (what doesn’t), but relative to RIM devices and Apple’s iPhone, Palm shot for par…In other words, Palm’s Pre with the webOS gives the company hope but it’s still a long shot. Palm may ding Android devices, but the average consumer–the one that will decide Palm’s fate–isn’t going to sweat developer nuances that we obsess about.
For starters, Palm is hitching its wagon to Sprint, which is outgunned by both Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Sprint isn’t going to land switchers.
The Pre comes in the first half and may save the day. But that’s not such a sure bet. The hurdle is this: Is the Pre good enough to lure folks away from RIM or Apple?
Possibly, but unlikely.
Palm certainly occupies a warm corner in my heart. The last several years before I retired, my life on the road was made smooth by a progression of Palm PDA’s. My last is still providing some use to a mad chess player.
If I was still on the road – looking for a portable device to make life easier – it would certainly be an iPhone.
Student charged with trying to sell vote on eBay
A college student claimed it was all a joke when he put his vote in this fall’s presidential election up for sale on the Web auction site eBay. But prosecutors didn’t see the humor.
University of Minnesota student Max P. Sanders, 19, was charged with a felony Thursday in Hennepin County District Court after allegedly asking for a minimum of $10 in exchange for voting for the bidder’s preferred candidate.
“Good luck!” Sanders wrote under the eBay handle zepdrummer612. “You’re (sic) country depends on You!”
The student told investigators he made the eBay posting, adding, “That was a joke. It’s no longer listed,” according to the complaint.
Having a sense of humor in Amerika has long been a criminal offense.
Buying votes has become more sophisticated over time. It’s proven more cost effective just to lie – and do a really thorough job of lying. That’s what TV commercials are for, after all.
Thanks, K B
Product(s) of the Day
Shopping, this morning, we actually bought one of these!
