IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 25 July
25-07-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Nintendo posts surge in profit | Vodafone investors reject rebel shareholder's proposals
The Irish Times reports that a clear majority of Vodafone investors backed management on Tuesday in rejecting a rebel shareholder's call for the mobile phone operator to gear up and spin off its minority stake in Verizon Wireless. Based on initial proxy returns, the activist investor, Efficient Capital Structures (ECS), looked as though it had failed to attract the votes or abstentions of investors holding more than 10 percent of Vodafone's shares.
The paper also says that data storage company EMC has reported almost a 20 percent jump in profits for the second-quarter to the end of June, as noted by ENN on Tuesday.
The same paper reports that the iPhone and Apple's desktop computers may be vulnerable to hackers due to a flaw in their web browser. Read the full story on ENN.
The paper also says that the High Court has sanctioned the management buyout of IT services company Calyx. Read more on this story on ENN.
According to the Financial Times, Hynix Semiconductor, the world's fifth-largest chipmaker, has outlined plans to break into the top three by almost doubling sales to USD18 billion by 2010. The ambitious plan comes two days before Hynix is set to announce poor second-quarter results due to lower chip prices caused by a supply glut. "So far, we have focused on survival itself, but we will now switch into growth mode," said Hynix chief executive Kim Jong-kap. "We will achieve quality growth through aggressive investments."
The paper also reports that Japan's Toshiba, Fujitsu and NEC Electronics are in talks to jointly develop advanced 32-nanometre chips to better keep up with rivals, the three companies said. The companies aim to set up a joint venture to mass-produce chips used in flat-screen TVs and other high-power home electronics as early as 2010, with Toshiba expected to hold a leading non-majority share.
The same paper says that almost 150,000 Apple iPhones were activated in their first day-and-a-half on sale, according to AT&T, the largest US telecommunications group. The iPhone sales figures are the first official numbers since the iPhone was launched amid a marketing blitz on 29 June. AT&T, which negotiated an exclusive deal with Apple to launch the iPhone, said over 40 percent of the purchasers of the first 146,000 devices were new customers. Nevertheless, the first iPhone sales numbers disappointed some industry analysts, who have suggested that after the initial rush, demand for the device had slowed dramatically.
The Wall Street Journal says that Nintendo's net profit surged more than fourfold in the fiscal first quarter and the company raised its full-year profit forecast by 40 percent, as its popular Wii videogame console continues to outsell Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360. The Kyoto-based company said its net income jumped to JPY80.3 billion (USD668.82 million) in the April-June quarter from JPY15.6 billion a year earlier, as sales more than doubled.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 