New issues: IBM bond goes retail
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IBM sold its first euro-denominated bond in almost five years on Wednesday, with a deal that reflected strong interest from retail investors in rare and highly rated corporate borrowers.
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IBM will offer a range of new services to help industrial firms respond to retail and government pressure to implement radio-frequency identification.
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IBM rolls out a new version of its database software aimed at users of Linux and Unix. Also: Toyota and Nissan join to standardize car electronics & hellip;. Nokia launches three new camera phones & hellip;. and more.
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The company's large investments in a new payment service are worrying Wall Street.
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Direct sales aren't working the same magic they once did for the PC maker. Can it now cash in at retail?
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Your credit card may be in significant danger at the gas pump, and not (just) from high fuel prices. According to a Gartner analyst, point-of-sale terminals are emerging as a substantial security problem.
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The impact of rising interest rates and bad weather on stores will be seen as Marks & Spencer outlines recent trade.
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Investor's Business Daily - The vaults of the blogosphere opened wide last month after IBM spent nearly $4 billion to acquire four software, primarily middleware-related companies. Bloggers and journalists jockeyed to interpret Big Blue's big-picture strategy.
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A move to curb sales fees at one of the largest fund providers may be good news for investors, but load funds still scream buyer beware.
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(InfoWorld) - The specter of moderate global IT growth continues to hang over vendors' financial news, which this week includes IBM's stock buyback, distributorÂ CDW's plan to go private, andÂ layoff news from Motorola. These moves are examples of how tech companies are dealing with global IT growth that most analysts say will be moderate -- somewhere in the 6 percent to 7 percent range. That's not a bad growth rate for a mature industry but nowhere near the double-digit growth rates that IT saw in the late 1990s. In this climate, organic sales alone are often not enough to achieve the kind of growth that inspires investors and instills confidence in volume buyers. The types of moves announced this week often provide temporary excitement but leave questions about long-term consequences. IBM announced Tuesday it completed part of its previously announced stock buyback program, purchasing 118.8 million shares for $105.18 per share. That equals about $12.5 billion. IBM shares closed the day of the announcement at $105.91, up by $0.73. One reason investors like this sort of news is that with fewer outstanding shares on the market, companies find it easier to report robust per share growth. The long-term question, though, is whether companies would be better off spending money on product development, equipment, acquisitions, or other investments. IBM is considered an R&D leader, so in this case, the stock purchase was not criticized. Another way of dealing with the pressure of having to show steady growth quarter after quarter is to simply get out of the public stock market altogether. CDW's announcement this week that it entered into a pact to be acquired by private-equity investment firm Madison Dearborn PartnersÂ for $7.3 billion is one such move. With the announcement, on Tuesday, CDW followed in the footsteps of similar moves to go private by companies, such as electronic payments companyÂ First DataÂ and customer information management software developerÂ Acxiom. The advantage of going private is that it's easier to focus on long-term strategy when company managers have to deal with a small cadre of investors. But new owners sometimes strip company assets and sell them off or enact drastic cost cutting measures. To assuage customers (and employees) John Edwardson, CDW chairman and CEO, said in a conference call Wednesday that he didn't expect layoffs and that CDW management would stick around. CDW shares jumped to $83.11 on the day of the announcement, up from $75.56 the day earlier. Cost cuts are another way of dealing with a tight market and falling profits. On Wednesday, Motorola said it will lay off 4,000 workers, expanding previous plans for layoffs. The company, which lost money last quarter, said the latest move would save $600 million annually. While investors often applaud cost control measures, staff reductions ultimately do nothing for the central issue facing tech companies: product development and marketing. Addressing this issue Wednesday in an investors meeting, CEO Ed Zander said the company willÂ increase profits by developing an array of multimedia mobile devices rather than rely on single blockbuster products like its Razr phones. Investors took a "show-me" stance. Company shares lost ground on the day of the announcements. Dell fared better after it announced, late Thursday, thatÂ it will cut its 78,800-strong workforce by 10 percent. Within 30 minutes of the announcement, made as part of its quarterly report, Dell shares jumped in after-hours trading by $1.63. Dell profits have slipped over the past year, and it is still embroiled in an accounting inquiry, but investors have applauded cost-cutting moves by Dell over the last few months, especially because they have been accompanied by complementary plans to break with tradition and start selling through retail.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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A hedge fund managed by Bear Stearns  Cos. Inc.  is scrambling to sell large amounts of  mortgage-backed bonds in a potentially troubling sign for the  broader mortgage-backed bond market, The Wall Street Journal  reported in its online edition.
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IBM &lt;IBM.N&gt; and Lehman Brothers &lt;LEH.N&gt; have agreed to pay nearly US$17 million for 7.7 percent of Kingdee International Software Group Ltd. &lt;0268.HK&gt;, aiming to establish an alliance under which Big Blue will help the Chinese software firm re-design its...
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Faced with lagging sales and a plummeting stock, the computer maker tries a new tack: retail stores
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Stronger financial institutions are purchasing weaker ones. Case in point: Bank of America has announced it will purchase Countrywide Financial.
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update IBM on Tuesday announced two new sets of radio frequency identification services, targeting companies in the industrial and manufacturing sectors, as well as midsize retail suppliers.
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IBM (NYSE: IBM) is rolling out a new version of WebSphere software, using radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and middleware targeting retail operations.
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IBM going Chrismas shopping The year may be coming to a close, but IBM keeps the acquisitions coming with this week's purchase of risk management specialist Consul.â¦