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| Mitsubishi Motors' long-time president to step aside: sources Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 08:00 PM PST  By Maki Shiraki TOKYO (Reuters) - Mitsubishi Motors Corp will appoint Managing Director Tetsuro Aikawa to replace Osamu Masuko as president, while Masuko, who has led the automaker for the past nine years, will become chairman after stepping aside, sources close to the matter said on Friday. Chairman Takashi Nishioka will resign, they said. Mitsubishi Motors this month raised more than $2 billion mainly to buy back preferred shares issued to sister companies in the Mitsubishi group, which funded the automaker's bailout after a failed capital alliance with then-DaimlerChrysler and a debilitating recall cover-up scandal. Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement that no decision had been made regarding any changes at the top. Full Story | Top |
| Australian agency allows sand dump near Barrier Reef for coal port Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 07:24 PM PST Australia's Great Barrier Reef watchdog gave the green light on Friday for millions of cubic meters of dredged mud to be dumped near the fragile reef to create the world's biggest coal port and possibly unlock $28 billion in coal projects. The dumping permit approval clears the way for a major expansion of the port of Abbot Point for Indian firms Adani Enterprises and GVK Power and Infrastructure and Australian billionaire miner Gina Rinehart. Together they have $16 billion worth of coal projects in the untapped, inland Galilee Basin. Full Story | Top |
| Experts predict Lenovo's U.S. buys will pass regulatory muster Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 06:52 PM PST  By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials are likely to allow China's Lenovo Group to buy IBM's low-end server business and Google Inc's Motorola Mobility handset business if it agrees to concessions aimed at protecting U.S. national security, experts said. Computer maker Lenovo has advantages over other Chinese companies that should help it overcome the mutual suspicion between the United States and China over industrial spying and cybersecurity, such as its track record of successful U.S. acquisitions in the past. Lenovo said on Wednesday it would acquire Motorola Mobility, along with some 2,000 patents, for $2.91 billion. The deals will be reviewed by the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, to ensure they do not threaten national security. Full Story | Top |
| Microsoft board close to naming Nadella as new CEO: source Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 06:44 PM PST  By Nadia Damouni and Bill Rigby NEW YORK/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is likely to appoint its cloud-computing head, Satya Nadella, as its next chief executive, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as the board concludes a five-month search for a tech-savvy heavy-hitter to lead the world's largest software company. As part of the move, co-founder Bill Gates may step aside as chairman and be replaced by lead independent director John Thompson, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because the process is private. Rising star Nadella, a native of Hyderabad, India - where Microsoft has its largest non-U.S. research center - was promoted to run the company's fast-expanding cloud, or internet-based, computing initiatives in July last year as part of current CEO Steve Ballmer's radical re-organization of the company. The appointment of the 22-year Microsoft veteran would make him the most powerful Indian-born tech executive in the world and put him alongside PepsiCo Inc's chief, Indra Nooyi, as the leader of a well-known, large-cap U.S. corporation. Full Story | Top |
| Lawsuit alleges Northrop defrauded U.S. over anti-missile contract Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 06:00 PM PST A lawsuit by a former Northrop Grumman employee alleges that the defense contractor defrauded the U.S. government over a contract to provide commercial airliners with a missile defense system. The suit, which was originally filed in 2009 by Leo Danilides, was unsealed in federal district court in Chicago on Thursday. The U.S. Justice Department said in a separate filing it was not joining in the action. Northrop spokesman Randy Belote said the company typically did not comment on litigation matters. Full Story | Top |
| Zynga seals $527 million mobile game deal, axes jobs in revival drive Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:51 PM PST  By Malathi Nayak and Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Zynga Inc will shed 15 percent of its workforce to slash costs and buy mobile game developer NaturalMotion for $527 million to refresh a stalled games pipeline, moves that sent its stock soaring 20 percent in after-hours trading. Chief Executive Officer Don Mattrick, hired last year, is taking aggressive action to revive a company that developed "Farmville" and once dominated gaming on Facebook Inc's social network, but is now struggling to adapt to the rise of mobile gaming. Zynga's largest acquisition to date, NaturalMotion is a 12-year-old studio that has created games like "Clumsy Ninja" for Apple Inc mobile devices. NaturalMotion is known for its Euphoria game engine, whose simulation technology has helped create powerful visuals in games like "Grand Theft Auto V". Full Story | Top |
| Missouri professor sues Square, claims credit for business concepts Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:49 PM PST A professor in St. Louis who says he helped come up with the idea that became payments-company Square has filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging fraud and patent infringement and seeking unspecified damages. Robert E. Morley, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, filed suit in federal court in St. Louis on Thursday against Square and its co-founders Jack Dorsey and James McKelvey. "The business now known as Square was not created solely by Jack Dorsey and James McKelvey," said the complaint. "It was Professor Robert Morley - and Dr. Morley alone - who invented the Square card reader, and Dr. Morley co-invented the corresponding magnetic stripe," the complaint continued. Full Story | Top |
| Japan inflation quickens to over five-year high, output gains Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:44 PM PST  By Leika Kihara and Stanley White TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer inflation rose at the fastest pace in more than five years in December and the job market improved, encouraging signs for the Bank of Japan as it seeks to vanquish deflation with aggressive money printing. "The core consumer price index was stronger than expected, and durable goods prices seem to be rebounding. Consumer prices will likely continue its moderate growth," said Junko Nishioka, chief economist at RBS Securities. "I think the BOJ is unlikely to adopt additional easing because there is no reason to justify it given the positive macro-economic environment." Core consumer prices (CPI), which excludes fresh food but include energy costs, rose 1.3 percent in December from a year ago, data showed on Friday, just above a median market forecast for a 1.2 percent gain. Full Story | Top |
| Princess Cruises ship returns early for fog, ill passengers aboard Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:43 PM PST A Princess Cruises ship, owned by Carnival Corp, will be met by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team that will investigate an outbreak of a virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea when it rolls into the port of Houston on Friday, a day early after the trip was cut short by fog, the company said. The Caribbean Princess, with about 3,100 passengers and 1,150 crew members will be sanitized before its next scheduled departure on February 1, the company said. "Approximately three passengers have current active symptoms of norovirus, and over the course of the cruise 165 passengers reported ill to the medical center," it said in a statement. The outbreak comes after a Royal Caribbean cruise ship this week cut short its Caribbean cruise after more than 600 people became sick with a gastrointestinal illness. Full Story | Top |
| New York private equity manager, firm charged with $9 million theft Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:38 PM PST  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Thursday it has charged a New York private equity manager and his firm with stealing more than $9 million from fund investors. The government has frozen the assets of Lawrence E. Penn III and his firm, Camelot Acquisitions Secondary Opportunity Management, another individual and three entities that may be related to the theft, according to an SEC release. The SEC alleges that Penn used about $9.3 million from the fund to pay fake fees to Ssecurion, a company controlled by his longtime acquaintance, San Francisco-based Altura S. Ewers, who would then kick the money back to companies and accounts controlled by Penn. Penn used the funds to rent luxury office space and pay commissions to third parties to secure investments from pension funds, according to the release. "Penn held himself out as an ultra-sophisticated and well-connected investor in the private equity world," Andrew M. Calamari, the director of the SEC's New York Regional Office said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Facebook shares surge as mobile ads click Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:20 PM PST  Facebook Inc's shares rose as much as 17 percent to a life-high after the company's resounding revenue growth underscored CEO Mark Zuckerberg's success in selling ad space on the social network's mobile app. At least 32 brokerages raised their price targets on Facebook's shares, which touched a high of $62.50 in midday trading on Thursday. If the gains hold to close, this would be the largest single-day rise in Facebook's stock since July 2013. Facebook's fourth-quarter revenue rose to $2.585 billion from $1.585 billion in the year-ago period, beating analysts' average expectation of $2.33 billion. Full Story | Top |
| Wall Street rallies on Facebook and GDP; Amazon sinks late Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:17 PM PST  By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 scored its biggest gain in more than a month on Thursday as Facebook led a tech rally and data showed the U.S. economy was on solid footing in the fourth quarter. The day's rebound pushed the S&P 500 back into positive territory for the week, but the index was still down 2.9 percent for the month. Facebook Inc shares jumped 14.1 percent to end at $61.08, hitting a lifetime high of $62.50 during the session and supporting both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Google Inc shares jumped 2.6 percent to $1,135.39, a day after Lenovo Group said it would buy the Internet search giant's Motorola handset division for $2.91 billion. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's Yanukovich goes on sick leave in midst of political crisis Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:14 PM PST  By Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich went on sick leave on Thursday after a bruising session of parliament, leaving a political vacuum in a country threatened with bankruptcy and destabilized by anti-government protests. The 63-year-old president appears increasingly isolated in a crisis born of a tug-of-war between the West and Ukraine's former Soviet overlord Russia. Shortly after his office announced he had developed a high temperature and acute respiratory ailment, Yanukovich defended his record in handling the crisis and accused the opposition, which is demanding his resignation, of provoking the unrest. Several members of Yanukovich's own party voted against the bill, even after he visited parliament himself to rally support, and some of his powerful industrialist backers are showing signs of impatience with the two-month-old crisis. Full Story | Top |
| White House releases plan to make Arctic shipping safer Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:06 PM PST By Timothy Gardner and Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As Arctic ice melts away, opening the way for greater oil development and mining, the White House outlined a plan on Thursday to promote safety and security in the region by building ports, improving forecasts of sea ice, and developing shipping rules. With warmer temperatures leaving Arctic sea passages open for longer periods of the year, billions of barrels of oil could be tapped beyond what is already being produced in the region. The White House plan was released on the same day that Royal Dutch Shell canceled drilling this year off Alaska, after a series of costly mishaps in the harsh conditions, as part of efforts to cut spending. The U.S. Defense Department will lead an interagency effort to forecast icy conditions by launching a satellite and improving analytic methods to forecast icy conditions. Full Story | Top |
| Toyota tells U.S. agency seat issue could lead to recall Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 05:02 PM PST  By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has alerted U.S. safety officials that seat material in several vehicles, including its top-selling Camry sedan, fails to meet fire retardation standards and could result in a recall. Toyota said on Thursday it had stopped selling eight recent-model vehicles equipped with seat heaters in North America following an advisory about fire risk from South Korean safety officials. Toyota said the number of affected vehicles at its U.S. dealers totaled about 36,000, or about 13 percent of dealer inventory, but that does not include vehicles in transit to dealers or those already sold to consumers. In the United States alone, the number of affected vehicles could top 111,000, according to research firm Kelley Blue Book. Full Story | Top |
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