IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 20 February
20-02-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Payzone seeks new equity | MySpace in talks with record labels
The Irish Times reports that Google has given the clearest indication yet that it believes its Irish tax affairs are in order. In a filing with US regulatory authorities, the company said it has "not accrued any penalties related to our uncertain tax positions as we believe that it is more likely than not that there not be any assessment of penalties". The note attached to Google's consolidated financial statements for 2007 said that its 2002 to 2007 tax years "remain subject to examination by the appropriate governmental agencies for Irish tax purposes". The document also reveals that Google is appealing an audit by the US tax authorities of its 2003 and 2004 tax years.
The Irish Independent says that e-payments firm Payzone, whose two top executives are fighting to hold on to their positions, is understood to be raising about STG25 million in fresh equity ahead of the lifting of a month-long suspension of its stock. Sources said the group is in talks to issue new shares to an unnamed French company.
The Financial Times reports that Vodafone and Orange are to begin sharing their mobile phone masts in the UK this year, in a drive to cut costs and improve the quality of their network. The two operators will share existing 2G and 3G mast sites, with one site housing the equipment of both companies where previously two would have been used. They expect to see 15 percent fewer sites -- 3,000 in total -- in the first two years. Vodafone and Orange agreed a similar deal in Spain recently.
The paper also says that social networking site MySpace is gearing up to partner with major record companies to create an ad-supported service that would allow consumers to listen to music for free on their computers. The company has held discussions with Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music and EMI, according to sources. While some executives characterised the conversations as preliminary, others said they were well advanced. MySpace declined to comment, as did the music companies.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Nintendo is set to announce that Wii Fit, a product that gets users to exercise, will launch in the US on 19 May. The console, already on sale in Japan, comes with a weight-and-motion sensing device called the Wii Balance Board. In another move, Nintendo will launch a new online service in the US on 12 May called WiiWare, which will allow game publishers to distribute new titles over the internet directly to users instead of on discs.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 