In the papers 2 August

02-08-2006

by Sylvia Leatham

Online gaming gets unlikely boost | Intel responsible for chip glut, says analyst

The Irish Times reports that online gaming has received an unlikely boost in the wake of the arrest of David Carruthers, the sacked chief executive of BetonSports and a vocal supporter of the online gambling industry. "After the whole BetonSports issue our bandwidth has gone up," said Michael Tobin, chief executive of Continent 8 Technologies, a company that provides internet infrastructure for seven of the top 10 online poker operators. Tobin said he was seeing more demand from online gaming companies as the increased "attention to online gaming" attracted new players.

The paper also says that BCM Ireland Holdings has received tenders for over 98 percent of the high-yield bonds issued by Eircom under a buyback offer, according to Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown.

The same paper says that a director of corporate relations who was paid a salary of EUR160,000 by the now defunct Media Lab Europe project has lost a claim for unfair dismissal. In a determination on Tuesday, the Employment Appeals Tribunal said it did not have the jurisdiction to deal with the claim by Ronan Smith of Naas, County Kildare.

According to the Financial Times, chip giant Intel has almost single-handedly created the biggest semiconductor glut in the industry since it was hit by massive stockpiles two years ago, according to a leading research firm. iSuppli estimated that the value of surplus chip inventories in the second quarter was USD2 billion, higher than the USD1.6 billion recorded in the third quarter of 2004 -- the peak of the last inventory mountain. "However, with most of the excess inventory restricted to PC-related chips and mainly to a single supplier -- Intel Corp -- the surplus stockpiles are not a major concern for the global electronics industry," said Rosemary Farrell, an iSuppli analyst.

The paper also reports that EDS is to accelerate the shifting of its workforce to India and other low-cost centres. Michael Jordan, chief executive officer, said that EDS planned to increase its workforce in low-cost centres by 50 percent over the next "couple of years" to 45,000. The Texas IT services company's overall workforce is expected to fall over the same period, he added, implying cuts of more than 15,000 in the number of workers it employs in the developed world.

The Wall Street Journal reports that television owners are increasingly switching to flat-panel models, with liquid-crystal displays fast becoming the dominant platform for most consumers, according to a survey. Nearly 40 percent of TV-set owners surveyed by independent researcher NPD Group said they plan to buy a new TV set in the next year, with 15 percent leaning toward LCD and 12 percent toward plasma. The number of plasma and LCD TV sets sold has grown more than 500 percent in the past two years.

The same paper says that, after years of trying to buy Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless, Verizon Communications has now said it is unlikely to take over the 45 percent stake of its mobile partner in the next few years. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said in a conference call that he met last week with Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin, who indicated he and other Vodafone executives were "extremely pleased" with the partnership. Verizon made the announcement as it reported a 24 percent decline in second-quarter earnings after one-time costs for severance payments in the latest period, although it recorded strong growth in mobile services.