Business

Just a month after saying it had no intention of opening a chain of retail stores, Microsoft has announced plans to do just that. The software giant announced Thursday that it has hired Wal-Mart veteran David Porter to lead the retail effort. Porter will report directly to Kevin Turner, Microsoft's ...

It just goes to show how perplexing the gathering cloud marketplace is that the punditry are hesitant to meaningfully analyze this important development. But Amazon -- with a history of bold and long-term bets -- and IBM -- with a history of making markets whether it's right about the future or not ...

Struggling Sirius XM Radio stock shot up nearly 30 percent to 7 cents per share in mid-day trading Thursday on rumors that a bidding war was about to ensue between rival satellite television players EchoStar and Liberty Media. EchoStar owns the Dish Network and Liberty Media owns a controlling inter...

Small businesses have been reluctant to spend precious resources on a marketing medium that traditionally has not delivered -- at least to them -- on its promise. That medium is search engine marketing. However, they will find it worthwhile to take another look at this particular tactic. A lot of lo...

Shares of Sirius XM Radio plummeted by nearly 50 percent in mid-day trading Wednesday on rumors that the troubled Internet radio company is preparing to file for bankruptcy. Sirius is best known for offering subscribers commercial-free music, sports, news and talk radio programming, including Major ...

For a long time, small businesses were reluctant to embrace the latest in search engine marketing and other online advertising tactics. The SEM industry was unable to deliver to this group of typically local-interest, cost-conscious companies what they wanted the most: a means to assess how their in...

In a bold move, chip giant Intel announced Tuesday that it will invest $7 billion in its U.S. manufacturing facilities even as the semiconductor industry and the overall economy continue to spiral downward. Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini made the announcement in a speech before the Economy Cl...

Green's got the blues. "Dark Days for Green Energy," declared a headline in the Feb. 4 issue of The New York Times. "Because of the credit crisis and the broader economic downturn ... installation of wind and solar power is plummeting," reported the Times. Green energy's melancholia extends to cousi...

You know Amazon's Kindle has arrived as a consumer electronics product -- and pop culture talking-point -- when Stephen King makes the electronic book reader a major character in one of his forthcoming works. King was on stage at New York's Morgan Library on Monday when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos turned ...

Microsoft launched a beta version of a new celebrity gossip site Thursday called "Wonderwall.com." The new site is loaded with pictures of celebrities that visitors can click on to read news stories, features and commentary about the stars. For example, Wonderwall.com on Thursday displayed a zany ...

No matter where one turns on the Internet these days, it's virtually impossible to avoid being bombarded by advertising in one form or another. Banner ads. Video ads. Display ads. Search engine marketing. Ads on MySpace. Ads on Facebook. The only area of the Web left untouched by advertising may be ...

Search engine powerhouse Google has decided to sell its decaying 5 percent equity stake in struggling Internet portal AOL just two years after investing $1 billion in the company. AOL parent Time Warner disclosed Google's decision on Wednesday -- the same day Time Warner announced fourth-quarter fin...

Shares of Ticketmaster Entertainment and Live Nation surged more than 15 percent in early trading Wednesday on press reports that the two companies could merge as soon as this week in a blockbuster deal that would change the landscape in concert and sports ticketing. Ticketmaster is one of the world...

In yet another sign of the worsening global recession, Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic said Wednesday that it will lay off 15,000 employees, or 5 percent of its workforce, by March. Half of the job cuts will be made in Japan. Panasonic is the second large Japanese consumer electronics ...

Mobile phone manufacturer Motorola reported yet another disastrous quarter of financial results Tuesday that sent the struggling company's stock plummeting 11 percent to $4.03 per share in mid-day trading. Motorola reported a $3.6 billion loss, down from $100 million in earnings during the fourth qu...