IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 21 January
21-01-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Sullivan to remain as Eircom chairman | Hynix has record quarter
The Irish Times reports that Irish Business Systems has been bought by Xerox for EUR21 million. Read more on this story on ENN.
The paper also says that Singapore Technologies Telemedia has asked Ned Sullivan to remain on as chairman of Eircom following the telco's takeover. Sullivan will chair a board of about six people, including two representatives of the employee share ownership trust (Esot) and two STT members. Board members are expected to be named on Thursday. Meanwhile, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has placed Eircom on credit watch with “negative implications” and warned of a possible breach of covenants in the next 12 months on its EUR4 billion debt.
The Irish Independent says that rare material from the National Library's archives is now viewable by the public thanks to a partnership with Microsoft Ireland and Martello Media, as noted by ENN on Wednesday.
The paper also says that Muzu.tv has made it onto a list of the Top 100 media innovators in the world and is overall winner in the digital publisher category. The Irish company beat off thousands of rivals to be named on this year's AlwaysOn list of the Top 100 private media companies who've been most innovative.
The same paper reports that the latest Carat Pulse research has found that 27 percent of 1,000 consumers surveyed "always" skip TV ads, while another 39 percent skip them "most of the time" and 26 percent skip them "some of the time". Ten percent said they "always" skipped radio ads. However, the survey found that more than half of consumers proactively search for brands online, and 5 percent to 10 percent follow brands on Twitter.
According to the Financial Times, chip giant Hynix Semiconductor has posted its largest quarterly profit in three years. The South Korean group said it swung to a net profit of SKW652 billion (USD573 million) in the fourth quarter from a SKW1,690 billion loss a year ago. The company said it expects to benefit from increasing demand for PCs, which use the D-Ram chips that Hynix makes.
The paper also says that a surge in online Christmas shopping helped eBay beat analysts’ expectations, as fourth-quarter revenues rose 16 percent to USD2.37 billion. Net income came in at USD1.36 billion for the quarter. E-payment unit PayPal reported a record USD796 million in revenue for the quarter, up 28 percent from the year-ago period.
The Wall Street Journal says that YouTube is to begin testing a new online video service for movie rentals. YouTube will begin testing the service with five movies from the Sundance Film Festival. It plans to later expand its rental selection to a range of health, education and fitness categories, a company spokesman said. YouTube is hoping that the new payment option -- which allows a content supplier to set the price per rental -- will draw more professional content to its site. Consumers must pay through Google Checkout. Google and the content supplier will split the revenue, with the partner getting the majority, a YouTube spokesman said.
The paper also notes that the New York Times has unveiled a plan to charge readers for unlimited access to its online edition. Under the plan, to be launched in early 2011, people who read more than a certain number of articles in a month will be prompted to pay a flat monthly or annual fee for additional access. Print subscribers will have full access to the site.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 