IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 30 June
30-06-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Uni press slams Google's orphan deal | Facebook gets new CFO
The Irish Times reports that mobile handset makers have agreed to harmonise phone chargers in the EU, as reported by ENN on Monday.
The Irish Independent says that Setanta's founders and MCD boss Denis Desmond are expected to take full control of the sports firm's Irish business on Tuesday, after agreeing a buyout with original investors. The deal comes as secured debt holders, who are owed EUR220 million by Setanta, consider fresh "commercial terms" offered by the Irish team in a bid to prevent the lenders calling in their security. Once the new Irish venture is formally established, it is expected to immediately begin negotiations to get its carriage contract with BSkyB on a firm footing, after the UK broadcaster threatened to pull the plug on transmissions after a row over payments. The new Setanta Ireland firm will also be targeting substantial fresh investment.
The paper also reports that bookmaker Paddy Power may end up paying as much as EUR140 million to buy out the remaining shareholders in Australian firm Sportsbet. Under a complex earn-out arrangement, Paddy Power may have to pay the equivalent of up to seven times the Australian company's earnings over a three-year period to mop up the final 49 percent stake.
The paper also notes that more than a dozen ideas to 'green' the economy and set Ireland on course to becoming a world leader in innovation were unveiled by the state environment watchdog on Monday. The world's first biodegradable plastic, a device that would eliminate the need for testing chemicals on animals, and a computer made of wood are among 13 'smart economy' projects funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA says developing niche green projects is key to helping Ireland tap into the multi-billion-euro sector, which is currently worth EUR3.6 billion to the economy.
The Irish Examiner reports that Irish shoppers are flocking to British online clothes retailer Asos to take advantage of weak sterling to buy discounted designer clothes. Announcing its annual results, Asos said Ireland was one of its top five international markets and that it made a significant impact in helping international sales surge 303 percent to STG32 million in the year ended 31 March 2009. International sales now account for 19 percent of total sales, compared with 10 percent last year.
According to the Financial Times, the world's largest university press has called for immediate action by the US Congress to prevent Google gaining exclusive rights to exploit the 'orphan works' made available through its book search initiative. Tim Barton, president of the US arm of Oxford University Press, said students' tendency to overlook books they could not find online made the settlement Google struck last October with publishers that had accused it of copyright infringement "a remarkable and remarkably ambitious achievement". However, he said there was no "public good" in the settlement's proposal to grant Google a monopoly over "orphan" titles, whose copyright holders cannot be found. "If the parties to the settlement cannot themselves solve this major problem, then at a minimum Congress should pass orphan-works legislation that gives others the same rights as Google," Barton said.
The paper also says that social networking giant Facebook has announced a new chief financial officer -- a move that could take the fast-growing company one step closer to an initial public offering. David Ebersman, who held the CFO role at US biotech group Genentech, will start at Facebook in September. Facebook has been without a full-time CFO since April, when Gideon Yu abruptly left. At the time of his departure, Facebook said it would "be looking for someone with public company experience", hinting at a potential IPO.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has said Chief Executive Steve Jobs has returned to work after a nearly six-month medical leave, but the company provided no update on his health and did not say if his responsibilities would change. "He's currently at Apple a few days a week and working from home on the remaining days," said a company spokesman. "We're very glad to have him back."
The paper also notes that Microsoft has approached ad-agency holding companies to gauge their interest in buying Razorfish, a digital agency owned by the software giant, according to sources. The sources caution, however, that any discussions about such a deal are preliminary. Microsoft acquired Razorfish nearly two years ago as part of its USD6 billion purchase of aQuantive, a deal that represented a boost to its efforts to compete with Google in the online-advertising market.
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