economic

Tech Stocks — Even Those With Strong Results — Tank Hard With the Market Today

Kara Swisher in News on August 8, 2011 at 4:41 pm PT

Could the bad stock market mean worse for tech stocks? Yes, indeedy.

Worldwide IT Spending Growth Speeds Up, Gartner Says

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on January 6, 2011 at 7:48 am PT

Good news, right? Yes, but it’s complicated by the weakness of the U.S. dollar.

If Speed Matters, Why Is American Broadband So Slow?

Arik Hesseldahl in Enterprise on December 15, 2010 at 12:57 pm PT

The Communications Workers of America have completed their latest survey of broadband connections in the U.S., and if the point wasn’t already well-established, then they’re here to remind you: Broadband connections in America are slow, and service availability is lousy or non-existent in many areas.

Superpoke! Facebook Chooses N.C. for $450M Data Center

John Paczkowski in News on November 11, 2010 at 10:50 am PT

Add Facebook to the list of tech titans building data centers in North Carolina. The social networking phenom today said it plans to build a $450 million data center in Rutherford County, N.C.–about 65 miles west of Charlotte.

Ad Dollars Shrink at the New York Times, Again

Peter Kafka in Media on October 19, 2010 at 5:48 am PT

Three months ago, the New York Times seemed to have halted its advertising skid after a very long slide. Perhaps it has started up again. Ad revenue dropped one percent during Q3: Digital revenue jumped 14.6 percent, but that wasn’t enough to counter a 5.8 percent drop in print ads. Things don’t look great for Q4, either. Cue the Paywall!

Liveblogging Microsoft’s Financial Analyst Meeting (Afternoon Session): Hey, Steve Ballmer is All In!

Kara Swisher in News on July 29, 2010 at 1:15 pm PT

BoomTown is in Redmond, Wash. today to attend Microsoft’s annual Financial Analyst Meeeting, where top execs from the software giant have been taking the stage to talk about All Things Microsoft. I liveblogged this morning’s sessions here, and now the afternoon confab, which opened with CEO Steve Ballmer, who seemed was confidently strutting around after delivering record results last week for the fourth quarter. But can we turn around its lackluster stock?

United Might Break Guitars and the Funky Wedding Video Has Buzz, But Will It All Have a Susan Boyle Ending?

Kara Swisher in News on August 6, 2009 at 8:30 am PT

Oh, who doesn’t just love, love, love the two latest viral videos to hit the Web–“United Breaks Guitars” and the joyful wedding dance of Minnesotans Jill and Kevin? Combined, they have more than 20 million views on YouTube. While that’s all well and good, like a lot of these kinds of viral phenoms, neither is likely to make much money and become more than watercooler wonders.

eBay Plans Options Water Safety Course

John Paczkowski in News on March 11, 2009 at 12:00 pm PT

Apparently, fear of a deepening recession alone isn’t enough to maintain tech worker loyalty these days–mounting job losses be damned. This week, Google repriced millions of employee stock options that had gone underwater as the company’s share price declined. Now eBay hopes to do the same. The reason: employee retention.

And to Think They Used to Trade at $741…

John Paczkowski in News on March 9, 2009 at 11:41 am PT

If Google shares drop any further, the company may have to reprice its employees’ underwater stock options a second time. Google shares slipped below $300 on Friday and remain there today, trading at $292 as I write. That’s less than half their 52-week high of $602.45.

Here Come Tech Earnings–Or, This Quarter, Maybe Not So Much

Kara Swisher in News on January 20, 2009 at 8:30 am PT

Over the next two weeks, tech companies will be reporting their fourth-quarter earnings and the expectations are pretty much what you might imagine: Bad to very bad to very, very bad. That’s bad, of course, because tech has been one of the bright spots in the U.S. economy, with strong returns quarter after quarter for a long time now. It begins today with IBM, followed by Apple, eBay, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.