IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 1 December
01-12-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Johnston Press charges for web content | Nokia sues Asian LCD makers
The Irish Independent reports that a website has been launched to raise awareness of the dangers of meningitis. Michel Ayoub decided to set up the website, www.rubyayoub.com, when his daughter Ruby died from the disease after she was misdiagnosed with swine flu at a GP surgery in south Dublin. Ayoub said he set up the website in order to help parents recognise the symptoms of meningitis so that they are not totally reliant on doctors.
The paper also says that Johnston Press, which owns more than 300 local newspapers in Britain, has begun charging for some of its online content. The publisher has put paywalls around the websites of six of its titles. It is the first regional publisher to charge for online news. Readers of the Northumberland Gazette, the Whitby Gazette and the Southern Reporter will now pay STG5 for a three-month online subscription. Three other papers will post summaries online and tell readers to buy the paper for the full story. The move is part of a three-month trial to see if users are willing to pay for online content.
The Irish Examiner notes that Ryanair has admitted that the Visa Electron card is not available in Ireland. Holders of this card can book flights on the Ryanair website without having to pay a EUR10 charge for each leg of their journey. However, it has now emerged that from January, Visa Electron holders will be subject to the credit card charge, while those in possession of the MasterCard Prepaid card will not.
According to the Wall Street Journal, handset giant Nokia is suing a number of LCD manufacturers in Asia, alleging they colluded to fix prices on displays. In a complaint filed in California, Nokia names Samsung Electronics, LG Display, Sharp, Hitachi Displays and Chunghwa Picture Tubes as defendants, among others. Nokia alleges that the "illegal conspiracy raised the price of LCDs above the price that would have prevailed in a competitive market". Nokia said it purchased LCDs from the companies and then incorporated them into its handsets.
The paper also says that global chip sales increased 5.1 percent in October from the previous month, the eighth month of gains in a row. According to the Semiconductor Industry Association, the USD21.7 billion in total sales was down 3.5 percent from last year, but is by far the smallest decline of 2009. "As semiconductor sales are increasingly driven by the performance of the overall global economy, our sales are reflecting the improved economic conditions in our world markets," said SIA president George Scalise.
The Financial Times reports that European stockmarkets risk missing out on dozens of new technology IPOs next year because private-equity backers believe they can get a better return from US investors. That's according to Jonathan Meeks, London-based managing director of private equity firm TA Associates, who was speaking at a technology investment conference in London. Meeks said he expected to see three to four companies in his portfolio going public in 2010 with "north of a billion dollar valuations", but said most of those companies were likely to list in the US rather than Europe if his firm is to secure the best possible valuation.
The same paper notes that France Telecom has lost its court appeal against a European Commission order to repay about EUR1 billion in state aid to the French government. The European Commission's competition department ruled in 2004 that tax concessions enjoyed by the telecoms group a decade ago amounted to state aid and infringed EU rules. France Telecom and the French authorities had tried to annul the commission's original ruling through an appeal to the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. However, on Monday, that court upheld the commission's decision, saying officials had been right to find that the telecoms group received state aid from 1994 to 2002.
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