IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 4 April
04-04-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Dell, Motorola plan more job cuts | Microsoft/Yahoo meeting fails to make progress
The Irish Times reports that Eircom and television broadcasters TV3 and Setanta Sports are believed to have formed a consortium to bid for the three commercial digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplex licences that are being offered by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. It is understood the consortium has decided to bid for all three licences. Each DTT multiplex will be capable of carrying up to eight digital channels and the operators will be able to charge households a fee for receiving the stations via a set-top box.
The paper also notes that Cork company MediaSatellite Ireland, which also traded as MediaSat, has been put into liquidation. The firm provided a broadband service via satellite. Daniel Fitzpatrick, director, said the decision was taken to wind up the business after a potential investment from an Italian company failed to materialise due to the liquidity problems in the financial markets.
The same paper says that social networking site MySpace is set to launch an online music service. Read the full story on ENN.
The paper also reports that David O'Meara, head of software firm Havok, has warned that it isn't enough for Ireland to simply focus on corporate tax rates in relation to overseas investment and jobs. "There's not enough talk about personal taxes in terms of attracting world-class talent to Ireland," O'Meara told attendees at the IMI national conference. He said personal taxes in other countries, including the US, often made them more attractive destinations for talented executives.
The Irish Examiner says that the rate of spam rose sharply last month, although the rate of virus attacks declined. Read the full story on ENN.
According to the Financial Times, Michael Dell said on Thursday that Dell plans to cut more jobs than the 8,800 previously announced as part of a plan to restore sales and profit at the struggling computer maker. During a meeting with Wall Street analysts, Michael Dell said the firm had already cut 5,500 jobs as part of a reorganisation that was announced last year. "We will go past the 8,800 target previously discussed," said Dell. He declined to provide a new target but said Dell planned to cut at least 1,000 more jobs in the current quarter as it tried to clamp down on costs.
The paper also says that BT Group, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse are all considering offers for the UK arm of Tiscali, the Italian telecoms firm that was effectively put up for sale this week. The company appointed JP Morgan and Banca IMI as financial advisers after the board allowed Mario Rosso, new chief executive, to find ways of "maximising the strategic value" of Tiscali. The three largest British broadband providers are all interested in looking at Tiscali's books for the UK assets.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft and Yahoo senior executives met this week to discuss Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo, but they failed to resolve any of their differences, according to sources. The meeting was the second between top executives from the two companies in recent weeks. The Microsoft executives showed no willingness to raise their cash-and-stock offer, and the Yahoo camp continued to refuse to enter formal negotiations without a sweetened bid, the sources said.
The paper also reports that Motorola is to cut an additional 2,600 jobs, bringing to about 10,000 the number the company has eliminated since the beginning of 2007. Motorola said it expects to take a first-quarter pretax charge of USD104 million resulting from severance costs related to the latest job cuts. The layoffs are the first wave of a planned USD500 million cost-reduction for this year.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 