Yahoo! Inc. announced last week that it would lay off 10% of its workforce (1,500-plus employees), after its third-quarter profits decreased by 64%. Yahoo! officials cite this deepening crisis to reduced marketing budgets as the downturn has affected its online advertising business drastically. All the revenue projections for the rest of the year are also lowered and no forecasts are made for the next year. Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang said that it was important for the company to eliminate jobs for Yahoo! to operate more efficiently. Yahoo! is also trying to combat with the declining business with lasting ways to make the company run smoothly, which includes consolidation of offices, sending more work overseas, and making adequate changes in the management structure, according to the CEO. The net income this quarter dropped to $54 million, or 4 cents a share, from $151 million, or 11 cents a share, recorded a year earlier.
Samsung Drops Idea to Buy SanDisk; Scraps $5.85 Billion Offer
Samsung, the second largest maker of semiconductors, withdrew its $26 per share ($5.85 billion) offer to buy California-based SanDisk Corp. after failure to make any ''meaningful progress over six months,'' according to the company. Additionally, SanDisk Corp.’s shares fell by 34% to $14.76 on the Nasdaq Stock Market in the past month after spurning the bid. The company had lousy third-quarter earnings of a quarter-billion dollars which cast an uncertainty about its future state and plans, according to Samsung officials. Analysts claim that SanDisk was in a better position to rebuff Samsung’s offer, after its surprise deal with Toshiba which allowed the US Company to slash its NAND flash memory production and also put it in a better capital position. ''Samsung had pursued SanDisk with an eye on the company's patents rather than manufacturing capacity,'' said Jeffrey Toder, a Seoul-based analyst for ABN Amro. Samsung is expected by many analysts to continue to look for potential acquisitions which will help in increasing its portfolio.
Comcast Casts New Internet Plans to Satisfy Customers’ Need for Speed
The cable and Internet service provider, Comcast, said that it will soon roll out its Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, or DOCSIS 3.0, which will increase Internet speeds to about 50 megabytes per second (Mbps). The company is also planning to set data caps for its customers. The two plans are termed as ''Extreme'' and ''Ultra'', according to the speeds they boast of, which are 50 Mbps and 22 Mbps respectively. Extreme tier model can be purchased for about $139.95 a month, while the Ultra tier editions can be priced at $62.95 a month. Along with these tiers, a business tier has been introduced which is the ''Premium'' tier, which is essentially a 22/5 up/down Internet connection for the price of $99.95. Comcast has announced that it will launch faster broadband Internet service speeds to more than 10 million homes and businesses within a few weeks.
