IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 29 April
29-04-2008
by Sylvia Leatham
Yahoo to outsource instant messenger | Verizon increases first quarter profit
The Irish Times reports that Rob Topfer, the financier who orchestrated the takeover of Eircom by Babcock and Brown Capital, received a remuneration package worth EUR7.34 million last year. Topfer, global head of corporate and structured finance for the bank, is a non-executive director of Eircom and one of the most powerful figures on its board.
The paper also says that PC giant Dell made a EUR27.1 million profit last year on the sale of a former factory in Bray, Wicklow, according to accounts recently filed by an Irish subsidiary. The building was sold on 18 January 2007 after Dell relocated its activities to its site at Cherrywood in south Dublin. The windfall helped Dell Direct almost quadruple its after-tax profit for the year to the end of 2 February 2007.
The same paper reports that Eircom has agreed before the Commercial Court to consider information from experts relating to the operation of filtering or blocking systems intended to deter the illegal downloading of music. While Eircom was prepared to agree to its own experts getting advice about such filtering systems, its counsel Paul Coughlan said there was an issue as to whether such filtering systems may damage Eircom's own. Michael McDowell, on behalf of four record companies who are suing Eircom over illegal downloading, said if Eircom took a filtering system on board, it would address a lot of the companies' complaints.
The Irish Independent reports that the number of Bank of Ireland customers affected by the theft of four laptops has almost trebled, as noted by ENN on Monday.
According to the Financial Times, Yahoo is to outsource part of its instant messaging service as the internet company, under threat from a Microsoft takeover, focuses on its core businesses. The handling of Yahoo Messenger is being taken over by Jajah, a Silicon Valley VoIP specialist. Yahoo's instant messaging service has 93 million users worldwide, according to research firm comScore.
The paper also says that larger-than-expected gains in mobile subscribers helped Verizon Communications, the second-largest US telecoms group, report a 9.8 percent increase in first quarter net profits to USD1.64 billion, or USD0.57 a share, from USD1.5 billion, or USD0.51, a year earlier. Sales rose 5.5 percent to USD23.8 billion. Excluding special items including merger costs, adjusted profit rose to USD0.61 a share from USD0.54 a year earlier.
The Wall Street Journal notes that Warner Bros is launching two websites aimed at capturing new ad revenue and a younger generation of viewers. Time Warner's Warner Bros Television Group said TheWB.com will replay full episodes of shows such as 'Friends' and 'Smallville', along with made-for-online shows. The site is set to launch in a test format next month. A second site, KidsWB.com, is aimed at children and debuts next Monday. Warner Bros said both sites will be supported by ad revenue.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 