IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 25 June
25-06-2007
by Jonathan Farrelly
Abbey staff advised to accept fingerprinting | Wildwave signs multi-million deal with Joost
The Irish Times reports that staff at the Abbey Theatre have been advised by the Labour Court to co-operate with a new biometric time-and-attendance system. Members of the Building and Allied Trades Union (BATU) have been refusing to use the procedure, claiming that it "would impinge on the fundamental rights of each worker using the system, as it may store their fingerprints". However, the Abbey said that copies of fingerprints are not stored, nor can they be retrieved from the system. The Labour Court has stated that it regards the introduction of the system as "normal ongoing change" and has recommended that BATU members comply with its use.
The Irish Independent says that private equity group General Atlantic is understood to be among the bidders vying for control of e-payments firm Alphyra. Balderton Capital, a private equity firm formerly known as Benchmark Capital Europe, put its 67 percent stake in Alphyra up for sale last month. As many as 20 potential suitors received a ten-page information memorandum from Balderton's advisers, Goldman Sachs and NCB, and sat through a one-hour presentation from management. It is understood that only between three and six bidders -- all of which are private equity firms -- have made it into the second round.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Yahoo has appointed David Karnstedt as head of North American advertising sales, as its long-time chief sales officer Wenda Harris Millard left for a top role at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Yahoo has given responsibility for both web search ads and graphical display advertising -- such as banner ads -- in North America to Karnstedt, who previously headed Yahoo's US search-ad sales. Yahoo executives said that the company needed to be more co-ordinated in selling advertisers both types of ads.
The paper also says that Apple's iTunes store was the third-largest overall music retailer in the US in the first quarter, leapfrogging Amazon.com and Target in units sold. According to market research firm NPD Group, iTunes had a 9.8 percent market share, behind Wal-Mart's 15.8 percent and Best Buy's 13.8 percent. Amazon had 6.7 percent and Target 6.6 percent of the market.
The Financial Times reports that the advantages of using offshore call centres are diminishing as wage costs rise, according to a new study. Wage increases of up to 15 percent a year in markets such as India are reducing the cost benefits of overseas centres, says Compass Management Consulting. The consulting firm, which examined 50 call centres, also said that poor service and language difficulties can lead to calls taking twice as long as in UK-based operations.
The paper also says that two Hollywood studios have finally reached a compromise in their battle with European cinemas over who should bear the cost of upgrading to digital projection equipment. Studios have been hoping to save an estimated USD1 billion a year by phasing out celluloid prints and switching to secure digital forms of distribution. Cinemas, however, had refused to bear the full upfront costs of installing new projectors, which can cost about USD75,000 each. The compromise, brokered by Arts Alliance Media (AAM), will see Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures International effectively share the cost with distributors through an undisclosed "virtual print fee".
The Sunday Business Post reveals that Ray Nolan, the entrepreneur behind the Web Reservations Ireland travel website who bought the crashed dotcom site Boo.com, received an approach from one of the founders of the fashion retail site to buy the site back. Nolan, who bought the website earlier this year, told a British newspaper last week: "Boo's a great name. We did have a call from one of the three [founders], I can't say which, who kept trying to buy it."
The same paper reports that the video game Law and Order: Double or Nothing was removed from British shelves last week after Denise Fergus, mother of murdered toddler James Bulger, complained to the games distributors that a scene in the game reproduced the infamous CCTV image from 1993 of her son being led away by two ten-year-olds, who later killed him. Global Software, distributor of the game, ordered shops in Britain to withdraw the product last Wednesday, but it still remains on sale in Irish shops.
The paper also states that specialist broadband provider Centrecom has signed a contract with professional services firm Deloitte to facilitate home-working by Deloitte's Irish employees. The contract is valued at EUR250,000 and under its terms, Centrecom will manage home broadband for over 100 Deloitte employees.
The paper also says that an Irish mobile TV company has signed a "multi-million" euro deal with "the next YouTube". Dublin-based Wildwave will begin broadcasting music videos on the online television portal Joost, under the Irish firm's Independent Asian Music TV (I-amtv) brand. "We expect that this will be worth several million over a number of years," said Stephen McCormack, chief executive of i-amtv and Wildwave. I-amtv will run both video-on-demand and continuous channel services on Joost.
The same paper also notes that companies need to be increasingly innovative in order to prosper in a competitive marketplace, according to business lobby group Chambers Ireland. The group is organising a seminar on Wednesday to help companies transform their business practices and apply more innovative techniques in their day-to-day work. The Extreme Business Makeover event will focus on innovation development and technology transfer.
The paper also says that e-learning company Thirdforce completed its fourth acquisition in four yours last week, and now has its sights set on growing its market share in the US. Thirdforce announced last Monday that its acquisition of US e-learning company MindLeaders had received shareholder approval.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times says that Philip Lynch's One51 Capital has spent EUR1.5 million on a 3 percent stake in Thirdforce, which values the company at about EUR47 million.
The Sunday Tribune reports that Smart Telecom plans to bid for the Government's National Broadband Scheme after it delists from the London stock exchange next week. Smart's new chairman and chief executive, John Riordan, said the National Broadband Scheme -- a government tender to bring high-speed internet connections to unserved rural and uneconomic areas -- was "high up the agenda" once the company was privatised.
The same paper says that the Rupert Murdoch-owned Times of London has reported that his News Corp media conglomerate would exchange social networking site MySpace for 25 percent of Yahoo. Although analysts have been criticising Yahoo's lack of direction in recent months, it is still worth an estimated USD37 million.
Finally, the Sunday Independent reports that Tesco's long-awaited entry into the Irish mobile market has been delayed. Late last year, the retail superpower inked a joint venture deal with O2 to create a mobile virtual network (MVNO), which would have allowed it to take a slice of the lucrative Irish mobile market. At the time, Tesco indicated that the service would launch this summer. However, late last week, Tesco sources admitted "It's been delayed a bit but we'll be going live at the end of the year."
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 