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Qwest is reportedly in settlement talks with the SEC | Google inks big advertising deal with Lloyds TSB Insurance
Qwest Communications has started settlement talks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over the investigation into its accounting practices. Qwest disclosed earlier in the week that it had improperly accounted for over USD1.1 billion over several years. A settlement could ease the company's growing financial difficulties. Qwest is also under criminal investigation by the US Attorney's office.
Internet search engine Google has struck a seven-figure advertising pact with Lloyds TSB Insurance, according to Reuters. Lloyds is paying Google approximately STG1 million to boost sales of insurance products on its Web site in one of the single biggest on-line advertising deals in Europe recently. Google has bucked the downward trend in on-line advertising by allowing advertisers to sponsor key search terms. Lloyds is paying to have its name associated with over 1,000 insurance-related keywords.
Liberty Media has agreed to buy France Telecom's Dutch cable TV unit, Casema, for EUR750 million. Liberty has been seeking to expand as rivals, such as France Telecom, struggle to cut debt and others, such as NTL, have filed for bankruptcy protection. Casema marks the company's first European takeover since German regulators blocked Liberty Media's purchase of six Deutsche Telekom networks in February.
Comcast, the cable TV operator planning to buy AT&T's cable unit, has reported a second-quarter loss of USD209.6 million after the value of some investments declined. The net loss was USD0.22 a share, compared with net income of USD35.2 million, or USD0.04 a share, a year earlier. Sales rose 16 percent to USD2.71 billion from USD2.34 billion, the company said. Comcast boosted sales by signing up more customers for digital cable and high-speed Internet access amid a slowdown in basic-cable subscriber growth.
Debt-laden Deutsche Telekom is to cut more than EUR1 billion from its annual spending by reducing its marketing budget by one-third and slashing consultation costs, according to company interim chief executive Helmut Sihler. In a letter to employees, Sihler stressed that Deutsche Telekom faces "serious challenges." He added that management will examine the firm's domestic and foreign strategy without preconditions. Sihler has been given six months to start reducing the company's debts and to find a long-term successor.
Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa will reportedly bid for the assets of Global Crossing on 02 August, even though its former bidding partner, Singapore Technologies Telemedia, has not committed to joining in the bid. Hutchison and STT made a USD750 million bid for Global Crossing in May, a bid that was withdrawn when it ran into opposition from the company's creditors. STT spokeswoman Melinda Tan said, regarding a possible bid, "No determination has been made so far. We are keeping our options open."
SAS Ireland, a business intelligence software and services provider, says that the Office of the Revenue Commissioners is to extend its investment in its core tax modelling suite of applications, which were built using SAS technology. The applications are used by Revenue's Statistics Branch to model and assess the implications of proposed budget options and to present various scenarios to the Department of Finance and the government.
A US Presidential advisor is encouraging top computer security professionals and hackers to try to break computer programs, but cautioned that they might need protection from the legal wrath of software makers. Richard Clarke, President Bush's computer security advisor, told attendees at a Black Hat conference that most security holes in software are not found by the software manufacturer. "Some of us, here in this room, have an obligation to find the vulnerabilities," Clarke said. He added that the Black Hats should be responsible about reporting the programming mistakes, saying they should contact the software maker first and then go to the government if the software maker does not respond in a timely fashion.
On-line purchasers at auction site eBay claim to have lost more than USD250,000 in one of the largest cases of alleged fraud on the site. Chris Kim, who sold under the name Calvinsauctions on eBay, is being investigated by the Southern California High Technology Task Force, a consortium of law-enforcement agencies that received over 120 complaints about Kim. EBay users said they paid for but did not receive expensive computer equipment from Kim. George T. Fawrup, a supervising agent with the High Technology Task Force, said he has received reports of fraud totalling more than USD250,000.
Separately, eBay said it has reached a tentative agreement to sell its Butterfields off-line auction house to London-based Bonhams Auctioneers. Executives of eBay declined to say how much Bonhams will pay for Butterfields, a West Coast auctioneer specialising in fine art, furniture and collectibles. According to people familiar with the deal, Bonham is expected to pay a "fraction" of the USD260 million eBay agreed to pay in stock several years ago to purchase Butterfields.
A Thai computer expert who invented an anti-mosquito software package has upgraded it to repel cockroaches and rats, according to Ananova. The software, which works best within a two-metre radius of the computer, generates soundwaves that are repellent to pests, emitting them through the computer's speakers. The original program, Anti-Mal 2.0, had more than 50,000 downloads within three days of being released, and the new version has been downloaded more than 20,000 times already. Program author Saranyou Punyaratanabunbhu said "It took me about a month to study the behaviour of rats and cockroaches and another week to develop the program."
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