Democratic senators want BP to set aside $20 billion to pay for cleanup and other costs from the Gulf oil spill.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to send BP a letter on Monday proposing the account. That's two days before BP executives meet with President Barack Obama …
Yesterday, Dell Inc. (DELL) announced that it has completed the acquisition of storage-solution provider Compellent Technologies Inc. (CML), after receiving shareholders’ approval at a special shareholder meeting. As consideration, Dell had to pay $27.75 per share for each Compellent share in cash. Dell expects the acquisition to be accretive to pro forma earnings in fiscal 2012.
Data storage plays a crucial role in cloud computing, which helps users access remote computing power and data over the Internet. Founded in 2002, Compellent Technologies is a global provider of enterprise data storage systems, which facilitate the automation of data movement and management at the block or granular level.
The company developed its flagship Storage Center software and hardware solution aimed at mid-size enterprises, selling it through an all-channel network of independent solution providers and resellers.
Dell’s storage offerings drive efficiency and reduce costs by streamlining operations. Compellent’s storage products will complement Dell’s enterprise storage solution suite. With the purchase now over, Dell will integrate Compellent’s assets into its storage portfolio, strengthening its existing storage portfolio.
The new unit will facilitate automated data transfer and management, tiering and thin provisioning. The enhanced storage platform will attract new users. Moreover, Dell will also have access to Compellent’s existing customer base and channel partners.
Dell entered the storage market in 2008 with its purchase of EqualLogic. However, the company was out of luck with its much-hyped bid for 3PAR Inc., losing out to archrival Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ). 3PAR provides highly virtualized storage solutions with advanced data management features (dynamic tiering, thin provisioning, etc.) for cloud computing environments. We believe the prospective synergy from Compellent’s acquisition will be able to cover the 3PAR loss to some extent.
Before this acquisition, Dell used to rely on EMC Corp. (EMC) to provide it with storage solutions for its enterprise customers. Compellent, which is a direct competitor to EMC’s CLARiiON platform, effectively reduces Dell’s reliance on EMC in the mid-size enterprise market segment.
In July 2010, Dell acquired Ocarina Networks and Scalent Technology. The consecutive acquisitions were intended to beef up Dell’s enterprise solutions portfolio and were in line with its growth strategy for the enterprise business.
Apart from Dell’s acquisition spree, we remain encouraged by its decent fourth quarter numbers, with EPS and revenues moving up from the year-ago quarter. New products, a stronger services business, opportunities in the Electronic Medical Record sector, along with the introduction of Dell Streak were the achievements of the year.
However, a high debt level and increasing competition from Hewlett-Packard Company and Acer concern us.
Currently, Dell has a short-term Hold recommendation, as is indicated by the Zacks #3 Rank.
I could not figure out where you were coming from until I realized, hey, …
(This is not a legal transcript. Bloomberg LP cannot guarantee its accuracy.)
ANDREW MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER DIRECTOR, GOOGLE'S GLOBAL PUBLIC POLICY, TALKS ABOUT CHINA AT BLOOMBERG TV
APRIL 12, 2011
SPEAKERS: DEIRDRE BOLTON, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR
ERIK SCHATZKER, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR
ANDREW MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER DIRECTOR, GOOGLE'S GLOBAL PUBLIC POLICY
07:29
DEIRDRE BOLTON, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR: Our next guest knows a thing or two, actually firsthand, about the challenges that internet companies face in China.
Andrew McLaughlin is Google's former Director of Global Public Policy. He was at the search giant when it decided to enter China. And he is joining us this morning from Washington.
Andrew, we're so glad you could join us. Thanks so much. I know you didn't want Google to go to China. Were you more concerned with barrier-to- entry issues?
Were you more concerned with doing business once there or both?
ANDREW MCLAUGHLIN, FORMER DIRECTOR, GOOGLE'S GLOBAL PUBLIC POLICY: Well, actually the biggest reason I didn't think Google should go into China was what I thought China would do to Google.
In other words, the day-to-day moral degradation that you have to endure to do business as an information company actively engaged in censorship, I thought, would do something to Google that would be unpleasant internally.
My thought was it's a big world. There are a lot of people to serve. Why spend your engineering time and talent building products that are actively censored?
ERIK SCHATZKER, BLOOMBERG NEWS ANCHOR: Andrew, here's a question. You just said that you are concerned about what China would do to Google if Google entered China.
So what is China going to do to Facebook?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, we can't know exactly, of course. We don't know exactly what kind of a deal Facebook has cut, if any, with a partner in China.
But let's assume that Facebook has agreed that they're going to set up some kind of a social network in China.
There are two broad categories of things that Facebook's going to be required to do - or I should say, its joint venture in China, would be required to do in order to do business there.
One of those is censorship. The other is surveillance of its users. And those are two broad categories of requirements that all internet companies in China are required to do.
And they can be extremely troubling and in the case of some of the users of Facebook, you know, could lead them to be arrested, jailed, or worse.
BOLTON: Yes, this seems like the darker side, Andrew, of technology and how it can be used, as you mentioned, to put people in jail, who perhaps don't deserve to be there at all.
One curious thing, though, getting back to the business aspect. Do you think the Chinese government is going to see Facebook differently, if it is, in terms of developing this joint venture with Baidu?
Because you have to assume that China wants domestic companies, its own companies, to be successful. So does this partnership change something in Facebook's potential success?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, China has a history of a schizophrenic relationship to foreign technology companies. The Chinese government has a significant chunk of it that very much wants them to be in China.
They want access to the best technology. They want access to the most advanced products and features. On the other hand, China has an unbroken record of basically killing off foreign joint ventures in the internet space.
Amazon, eBay, Yahoo! - they've all gone into China through acquisitions and through joint ventures. And everyone of them has essentially flopped in the Chinese marketplace.
And the reason for that is a combination of, you know, mistakes on the part of the American companies, you could say, but also, kind of a package of techniques that the Chinese government uses to make business more difficult.
The flip side of their desire to have the most advanced technology is their desire for Chinese companies to be champions.
And the government's pursued an affirmative strategy of favoring and tilting the playing field toward its own companies.
BOLTON: So Andrew, I mean, do you think it's safe to say that China has, in the past, invited, let's say, Western internet companies to come in. They can see how the technology works.
And then, I mean, without being crude, sort of more or less encourage their own domestic companies to steal the ideas and launch competitors?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, I think, you know, a cynical way to say it would be that the Chinese want Western companies to show up, to bring their technologies into China, to help train Chinese engineers.
And then they want those companies to fail in the face of competition from domestic champions.
SCHATZKER: Andrew, do you see a security risk beyond the transfer of intellectual property?
Is it possible that through this joint venture, the Chinese company might do, we understand, through Wikileaks and other sources they've done before, which is try to tap into the sensitive user information or content in the form of e-mails of Facebook users?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, it depends very much - again, assuming that Facebook goes forward with some kind of a deal or joint venture, it depends very much on how they set it up.
One option would be for them just to try to expand Facebook directly into China. I think that would be extremely difficult for reasons of licensing, for a Facebook-owned social network that's part of the global Facebook network to be in China.
Another option would be for Facebook to do a joint venture where the new social network uses Facebook technology and expertise but is kind of an island independence from the rest of Facebook.
In that case, you would be a lot less nervous if you were a user in the United States. But the Chinese authorities would be spying on your behavior.
On the other hand, the value of Facebook, to some extent, is the network effect that you get from everybody being able to connect to everybody else in the world.
And that wouldn't be present in the case of that sort of island model.
SCHATZKER: Andrew, do we have any idea just what's at stake for Facebook here in terms of the financial opportunity?
When Google decided to forgo the Chinese market, we were told that it was only something in the order of $400 million a year which was kind of a rounding error for Google.
Is it really that big for China? Is it really that big, rather, for Facebook? And if you were Mark Zuckerberg, would you feel that inexorable tug towards China?
MCLAUGHLIN: Well, in the short-term is, no, it's not an important financial opportunity for Facebook. In the long term, thought, you know, a billion to potential users does seem like a pretty big market.
Online advertising in China is still at a much earlier stage of development than it is in the United States. So you can't be motivated by the short- term gains.
It's got to be a long-term play largely built on faith. If I were Mark Zuckerberg, I would wait it out.
I would say it's probably not worth it to be in China anytime soon, as I said before, because of what being in China does to Facebook, the company.
SCHATZKER: Great perspective, Andrew. Thanks so much. Andrew McLaughlin, Google's former Director of Global Public Policy and the former Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer.
07:36
***END OF TRANSCRIPT***
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Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jay-Z have pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The two rappers announced their joint donation Thursday, saying they hoped to inspire others, especially blacks, to give. "This is our community," Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, who is also president and CEO of the Def Jam record label, said. "When I turn on CNN, I see a lot of black people on the streets. I know it's other people too, but those projects have been hit hard." Meanwhile, BET announced it will host a telethon Sept. 9, featuring hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons , among others. The network is organizing the show with the National Urban League, American Red Cross, Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Essence Communication and others.
Meanwhile, entertainer Fats Domino , who had been feared missing apparently rode out the hurricane in his New Orleans home and was rescued by boat.
Also on Thursday, Celine Dion and business partners Concerts West/AEG Live and Dragone pledged a $1 million donation to the Red Cross as did Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage , who has a home in New Orleans.
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Jay-Z
Rappers among big donors to Red Cross relief efforts.(Main)Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jay-Z have pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.
The two rappers announced their joint donation Thursday, saying they hoped to inspire others, especially blacks, to give. "This is our community," Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, who is also president and CEO of the Def Jam record label, said. "When I turn on CNN, I see a lot of black people on the streets. I know it's other people too, but those projects have been hit hard." Meanwhile, BET announced it will host a telethon Sept. 9, featuring hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons , …
CABLE & Wireless Communications has won a multi-million poundcontract with the UK unit of America Online for a service that allowsfaster Internet access to clients of the world's top online service.
Under the three-year agreement, the 450,000 customers of AOL UKwill be able to dial into UK-based modems maintained by CWC anddirectly linked to AOL's computers in the US.
Roy Payne, head of corporate communications at CWC, said "Theagreement allows us to play the role of a hub." While not disclosingfinancial details of the contract, Mr Payne said "it will be worthtens of millions of pounds and depends on how much the servicegrows."
Ryan and Greg Unseth thought it was absurd that online shoppersin Colorado Springs would buy products from other cities and stateswhen they could buy the same products here.
But then again, maybe shoppers didn't know they could find thesame products here.
That's when the father-son duo decided to start listing locallymade products on the Internet, and their new business, Wizbee.com,was born.
"The Internet has done a lot of good things, but some of the badthings that have come with it is that people are shopping online andsending their money and tax base out of this community," said RyanUnseth, who helps run his father's painting business.
Wizbee lists local businesses with photos, maps, customer reviewsand coupons.
Now in its third year of operation, Wizbee has expanded itsservices to include web page development, text message campaigns,social media, mobile applications and search engine optimization forsmall businesses.
Their clients range in size from mid-size companies to the mom-and-pop businesses that don't know how to use social media to drivecustomers to their door.
Providing those services is driving business for Wizbee, too.
The company's four-year annual gross sales projections exceed $4million, Ryan said.
The Unseths stumbled into Internet marketing when traditionalforms of marketing, such as direct mail, stopped providing results.As the two began their research, they discovered searches forproducts often lead to eBay or Amazon where products are orderedfrom businesses outside of Colorado Springs, and there was no way toperform a localized search.
So the two got to work.
They created a directory of 25,000 businesses in El Paso Countyand listed them in 22 categories from arts and entertainment tohealth and pets.
Basic listings on the site are free, but premium listings thatinclude additional photos, a business description, Google maps andkey word searches cost $29 a month.
Using Wizbee provides better shopping results than using Googlealone because it provides more results, Ryan and Greg say. That'sbecause of the use of keywords, Wizbee marketing manager LindseyMenhusen said.
She has helped to optimize the company's search capabilities byusing keywords to allow search results to include related topics aswell as the specific results.
"We are trying to connect the local businesses with the consumerin ways that Google can't yet do," she said. "Maybe they will in thefuture, but right now they can't get down to the nitty gritty ofwhat these businesses offer."
An estimated 82 percent of Internet searches for local businessare followed by an in-store visit, and 60 percent of local searchesresult in a purchase, according to comScore, an internationaldigital research and marketing firm.
Greg Unseth said he went into Internet market kicking andscreaming, but he readily admits its benefits now. He said nearly 60percent of his customers find his painting services through theInternet.
Aside from the benefits to their bottom line, Greg and Ryan saythey find satisfaction from the idea that they're doing somethinggood for the greater community.
"Our hope is that Wizbee is tying local businesses with localconsumers," Greg said. "The dollar stops in this community."
