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| Starbucks CEO Schultz resigns from Square Inc's board Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 06:23 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Privately-owned mobile payments company Square Inc said Starbucks Corp Chief Executive Howard Schultz had resigned from the board 15 months after joining one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups. Square, founded in 2009 by Twitter Inc co-creator Jack Dorsey, said it named David Viniar as a replacement. Viniar was most recently the chief financial officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. "Howard's guidance has helped Square grow as a company and as a business. Schultz joined Square's board in August last year by investing $25 million in a deal to use its technology to process debit and credit card payments at the coffee chain's stores. Full Story | Top |
| Israel pushes plans for 3,500 settler homes after prisoners freed Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:05 PM PDT  By Mohammed Abu Ganeyeh BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered officials on Wednesday to press ahead with plans to build 3,500 more homes for Jewish settlers, hours after Israel freed 26 Palestinian prisoners as part of U.S.-brokered peace efforts. Netanyahu's step was seen as a way to placate hardliners who criticized him as the inmates, convicted of killing Israelis, basked in a heroes' welcome from hundreds of relatives and well-wishers in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel's Interior Ministry announced earlier in the day that the 1,500 units would be built in Ramat Shlomo, a settlement in an area of the occupied West Bank that Israel considers part of Jerusalem. Those plans were first announced in 2010, clouding a visit to Israel at the time by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who condemned the project, which was subsequently shelved. Full Story | Top |
| Britain pledges public access to tax evasion-busting database Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:04 PM PDT  By William James LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to announce on Thursday that he will make public a new database of company ownership details designed to expose international money laundering and tax evasion schemes. The plan advances Cameron's efforts to push money laundering and tax evasion to the top of the global agenda, and follows up on a debate at a summit of eight of the world's wealthiest states (G8) in June. The "beneficial ownership register" goes beyond the current registration of corporations and shareholders by untangling deliberately opaque ownership structures to help tax authorities track down those who are using low-tax regimes overseas to illegally reduce their tax bills. Full Story | Top |
| Twitter roadshow: less exuberance, more 'nuts and bolts' Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 05:00 PM PDT  By Olivia Oran and Nicola Leske NEW YORK (Reuters) - During the roadshow leading up to Facebook Inc's initial public offering a year-and-a-half ago, New York's institutional investors were greeted by snaking queues, beefed up police presence, and a media feeding frenzy. By those standards, Silicon Valley put forward a much more low-key contender on Wednesday, when Twitter Inc hosted a luncheon for about 600 prospective investors at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. Some reporters waited to try to catch Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo, but he did not draw the kind of media circus that mobbed Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg last year. While Facebook's CEO had shown up in a hooded sweatshirt and sneakers, Twitter's executives were clad in dark suits as they pitched investors over plates of pesto chicken salad and raspberry tart. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook smashes analyst targets but executive comments spook Street Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 04:53 PM PDT  By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc posted strong growth in its mobile advertising business on Wednesday but rattled investors after saying that it did not plan to boost the frequency of ads shown to users. In July, Facebook said it was showing one ad per 20 stories in the newsfeed, but Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman told analysts Wednesday that the current ratio, although slightly higher than 5 percent, would not increase much more going forward. Ebersman's comments, combined with remarks suggesting that young teenage users in the U.S. were beginning to use Facebook less frequently, soured the mood abruptly on an afternoon when the company topped Wall Street's targets with a whopping 60 percent increase in revenue, driven by its accelerating mobile business. But Greenfield said he believed investors were over-reacting, noting that increasing advertising prices, rather than the volume of ads, is more important for growth in Facebook's topline. Full Story | Top |
| NSA intercepts Google, Yahoo traffic overseas: report Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 04:45 PM PDT  By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The National Security Agency has tapped directly into communications links used by Google and Yahoo to move huge amounts of email and other user information among overseas data centers, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday. The report, based on secret NSA documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden, appears to show the agency has used weak restrictions on its overseas activities to exploit major U.S. companies' data to a far greater extent than realized. Previously reported programs included those that allowed easy searches of Google's, Yahoo's and other Internet giants' material based on court orders. "We are outraged at the lengths to which the government seems to have gone to intercept data from our private fiber networks, and it underscores the need for urgent reform," said Google chief legal officer David Drummond. Full Story | Top |
| Expedia quarterly profit beats; shares soar Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 04:08 PM PDT Online travel agency Expedia Inc reported a third-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates and said business referrals from review site TripAdvisor Inc. have improved, sending its shares up 18 percent in extended trading. Online travel agencies such as Expedia and Priceline.com depend heavily on leads from TripAdvisor. Changes made to this system during the summer were blamed in part by Expedia for a dismal second quarter. I think Expedia showed that it has stabilized or even improved on some of the issues that affected them in the second quarter," Macquarie Research analyst Tom White said. Full Story | Top |
| Glitch lists New York bakery, limo service as Obamacare advisors Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 03:13 PM PDT  By Victoria Cavaliere NEW YORK (Reuters) - Telephones have been ringing off the hook at a Brooklyn cupcake bakery, an Indian restaurant and other New York City establishments, but the calls are not all helping business. Because of a glitch on a New York state health website, at least a half dozen businesses were wrongly listed as counselors who can help people select health insurance under the new federal Affordable Care Act. "Who would have figured that cupcakes would be confused with health insurance?" said Gus Rodriguez of Brooklyn Cupcake, which has gotten more than two dozen calls a day from people who want help in choosing a health-care plan. New York state's Health Plan Marketplace website listing the numbers to call was unveiled October 1, said Bill Schwarz, spokesman for the New York State Health Department. Full Story | Top |
| Sprint promises higher data speeds than rivals Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 03:06 PM PDT  promised to gradually offer wireless data speeds far in excess of those offered by bigger rivals like Verizon, as it hopes to use recently acquired wireless airwaves to regain market share. At its research labs on the outskirts of San Francisco, Sprint on Wednesday outlined plans to expand Spark, a service it is now building with speeds of 50-60 megabits per second, which is being rolled out initially in five cities: Los Angeles, Tampa, Miami, Chicago and New York. After losing subscribers for years, No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider Sprint is looking to distinguish itself from rivals AT&T Inc "Their spectrum holdings give them a unique advantage." But he cautioned a lot of Sprint's plans seemed theoretical for the moment and the industry has to see the technology in action to understand the impact on the consumer. Full Story | Top |
| Snowden's former provider launches open effort for secure email Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 01:35 PM PDT By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The founder of the Lavabit encrypted email service, which shut down rather than allow potentially unlimited government interception, said he will release his programming code to the public in an effort to improve communication security. Ladar Levison, who shuttered his startup Lavabit after a U.S. court forced him to turn over the company's cryptographic keys to federal agents, said he would work with former rivals and newcomers on an open email system designed to protect ordinary users' privacy from law enforcement, as well as insider corruption and hacking. Lavabit and civil-liberties groups have asked an appeals court to reverse the decision favoring the federal agents, who are believed to have been seeking information about former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, a Lavabit user. Levison told Reuters that he was so concerned about mass surveillance that he did not want to wait until the appeals court ruling. Full Story | Top |
| Tech startups bring jobs to low-tax Ireland Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 12:32 PM PDT By Paul Sandle and Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Small tech firms are set to create up to 2,000 jobs in Ireland, following the lead of web giants like Google and Facebook, the country's investment agency said on Wednesday as nine firms announced hundreds of new positions. The companies said they were basing their regional headquarters in Ireland because of the quality of the workforce rather than its low tax rate, which has led to criticism of the country from the U.S. Senate. Nine firms in software development, online security and digital media announced a total of 330 jobs at a reception hosted by Prime Minister Enda Kenny. "We are probably going to build up to about 2,000 jobs over a period of two to three years," said Barry O'Dowd, who manages a team of 12 people based in cities around the United States and Europe to attract start-ups to Ireland for the country's investment agency, the IDA. Full Story | Top |
| India's Infosys to pay $34 million in U.S. visa case Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:16 AM PDT  agreed on Wednesday to pay $34 million to end a U.S. investigation related to the widespread practice by Indian firms of flying workers to client sites in the United States on temporary visas. The settlement, which the U.S. Justice Department said was the largest in a case of alleged civil fraud over visas, was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Infosys, India's second-largest IT services exporter, agreed in the settlement that it committed civil violations of U.S. employment law, but it was not required to admit and did not admit widespread further wrongdoing. "Infosys denies and disputes any claims of systemic visa fraud, misuse of visas for competitive advantage or immigration abuse. Full Story | Top |
| Twitter hit with $124 million lawsuit over private stock sale Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 11:15 AM PDT  By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Twitter Inc was sued for $124 million on Wednesday by two companies claiming the social media darling fraudulently had them organize a private sale of its shares to stoke investor interest for an initial public offering then canceled it. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Precedo Capital Group Inc and Continental Advisors SA accused Twitter of using the aborted sale as a way to give the money-losing company a $10 billion market valuation and higher IPO price. "Twitter never intended to complete the offering on behalf of Twitter stockholders, in the private market, thereby causing substantial damages to the plaintiffs in the loss of commissions, fees and expenses, as well as through their business reputation," the lawsuit said. Jim Prosser, a spokesman for Twitter, in a statement said the company had never had a relationship with Precedo or Continental Advisors. Full Story | Top |
| Intel looking to exit TV project, in talks with Verizon Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 10:20 AM PDT  Chipmaker Intel Corp is having second thoughts about getting into the television business and is in talks with Verizon Communications Inc to take over its Internet TV initiative, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. While discussions are in the advanced stages, it was still unclear if Verizon plans to take full control of Intel's media unit or if Intel would maintain a stake in the unit, the report said. Representatives from Intel and Verizon both declined to comment. Full Story | Top |
| French online start-up Criteo shares pop in market debut Wednesday, Oct 30, 2013 10:09 AM PDT By Leila Abboud and Jennifer Saba NEW YORK/PARIS (Reuters) - Shares in French online advertising firm Criteo rose more than 30 percent in its stock market debut on Nasdaq on Wednesday, showing investor appetite for technology start-ups and delivering a payday to its venture capital backers. Shares in the company, which uses tracking technology to target ads at consumers surfing the web, opened at $31 and were at $41.40 by 1625 GMT, giving the eight-year old start-up a market capitalization of roughly $2.3 billion. The sale of 8.08 million shares raised $250 million for the Paris-based company that will be used to fuel its international expansion and growth. The success of Criteo's share sale is a sign of investor interest in technology listings against the backdrop of a broader rally of the S&P 500 information technology index and just weeks before the much-anticipated market debut of social network Twitter. Full Story | Top |
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