Business

The European Commission will open an in-depth investigation into Google's proposed purchase of interactive ad giant DoubleClick, dashing the search company's hopes for a swift end to the ongoing regulatory review. The commission now has until April 2, 2008, to render a final ruling on the proposed $...

In an attempt to focus its "strategic direction" on providing Internet infrastructure services, VeriSign is divesting itself of a number of companies it acquired over the years. The divestiture plan, announced at the company's 2007 Analyst Day in New York, is part of a plan to return to basics after...

XM and Sirius on Tuesday took two key steps closer to having their merger finalized as shareholders from both companies gave their blessing to the deal, which is still awaiting regulatory approval. Sirius shareholders voted at a special meeting to amend the company's certificate of incorporation to ...

Information systems and outsourcing giant EDS will buy a controlling interest in Saber Holdings, a firm that provides software and services to government agencies across the country. The company will pay $420 million in cash for the 93 percent stake in Portland, Ore.-based Saber, with the software f...

Microsoft on Monday announced its intention to buy France-based mobile music services provider Musiwave in a move that could dramatically boost the software giant's presence in the cell phone music space. Redmond reached a deal with Musiwave parent company Openwave Systems that gives it the exclusiv...

Former U.S. vice present and Nobel Peace Prize-winning environmental activist Al Gore has linked up with a Silicon Valley venture capital firm with similar street cred in the investment community. Generation Investment Management, which Gore cofounded, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have a...

Google's search technology may infringe on a patent that was awarded in 1997, a year before the Internet giant's founding, according to a lawsuit filed last week. Northeastern University and Jarg, a Massachusetts startup, which brought the action, say that Kenneth Baclawski, a Northeastern professor...

Shares of E*Trade plummeted more than 50 percent Monday after the online stock brokerage firm backed down from previously announced profit targets, said it would be forced to take more write-downs due to its exposure to the subprime mortgage industry and disclosed it was being investigated by the Se...

Cable TV companies are swarming like angry bees over the Federal Communications Commission's desire to tighten its regulatory grip to spark competition and programming diversity. According to published reports, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin will try to enforce a 1984 rule that would force the cable comp...

The world of commercial radio is getting ever more homogenized, as media giants are running thousands of stations in hundreds of markets with remarkably similar formats and playlists. On the other hand, specialized radio services have begun offering increasingly particular formats and programming op...

In the summer of 1999, I was researching potential software partners for a Web hosting company. I originally thought it would take only a few days to identify the leading vendors in areas ranging from ERP to CRM and e-commerce, but after weeks of research I had barely scratched the surface. While it...

More than two years after the filing of the first complaint, Take-Two Interactive Software announced Friday the proposed settlement of all U.S. consumer class action lawsuits over the "Hot Coffee" modification that could be used to enable sexual content in its "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" video g...

Sprint and Clearwire have torn up the letter of intent that joined the two companies in their efforts to build high-speed wireless Internet networks -- known as "WiMax" networks -- across the nation. The pair inked the letter this summer, but according to Sprint, "The two companies could not resolve...

Providence Equity Partners might back away from its $1.2 billion deal to buy Clear Channel Communications' 56 television stations, an agreement announced in April that was supposed to close soon. Confirmation of Providence's sudden case of cold feet came Thursday in a report filed by Clear Channel w...

There's little doubt that Google and the other members of the Open Handset Alliance made one of the biggest technology marketing splashes in recent memory on Monday with their introduction of Android. What kind of lasting impact the platform will have on the cellular industry, however, is less certa...