Business

The hedge funds that earlier this week called for online broker TD Ameritrade to find a merger partner renewed their call for the strategic move, saying the company is ignoring a "massive value creation opportunity." TD Ameritrade had responded to an earlier call to seek a merger partner by saying i...

Mobile phone technology maker Qualcomm plans to ask the White House to step into a trade and patent dispute with rival Broadcom, hoping the Bush administration will overturn a trade ruling that could ban new models of third-general mobile phones containing the company's technology from being sold in...

Since the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002, board members have become increasingly aware of potential liabilities to board service. Though much of this worry is unfounded, some things still should be watched closely. As a board member, you should be aware of at least some basic indications that the...

Sony, maker of the embattled PlayStation 3 video game console, said Thursday it plans to lay off employees of its U.S.-based game unit. The job cuts, according to Sony, are part of a corporation-wide restructuring effort. In April, Sony announced that it would cut up to 160 jobs from its European fa...

Monster Worldwide, the parent company of leading online job recruiter Monster.com, shook up its management team Wednesday, and in the process has shed a little stock value. Shares lost about a dollar over most of the Thursday, rebounding a little from a low of $44.40. The news that seemed to spark ...

The Holy Grail of mobile personal electronics is having all functions on one slim device: voice calls, photography, music, mobile Internet access, personal organizer, calendar, and maybe a few little PC applications on the side. However, most multifunction devices released so far fall short in some ...

Theme-based cities are cropping up at a phenomenal rate in the Middle East, with some one thousand projects currently underway. Developing brand and name identities for them has, in many cases, become a nightmare. Except for a very few, they tend to occupy just a few acres -- or even a single large ...

Two hedge funds are pushing TD Ameritrade Holding to pursue a merger with a rival firm, the online brokerage announced Tuesday. As an attachment to its regulatory filing, TD Ameritrade included a May 29 letter from hedge funds Jana Partners and S.A.C. Capital Advisors, which own an aggregate of abou...

eBay will move to ban international sales of ivory-based products from its auction platform, the company said, citing a recent report showing that the vast majority of such items contain illegally obtained ivory. Scoring public relations points by following the call of a leading international animal...

Digital music startup Lala.com has launched an iPod-compatible online music service that allows users to play songs online for free, the company announced Tuesday. In the future, it will reportedly allow users to download individual tracks without digital rights management protection directly to the...

Openwave Systems, a top provider of software solutions used in the communications industry, has rejected an offer to be bought out and taken private, bucking a recent trend that has seen scores of companies swallowed up by private equity firms. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company's board voted to...

Search engine Ask.com unveiled a major overhaul Tuesday that includes a new user interface and a wider variety of content, including video, returned in regular search results. The revamp is the latest in a series of moves undertaken by Ask as it bids to remain a player in the search space dominated ...

Flextronics International is set to buy rival electronics manufacturer Solectron for $3.6 billion in cash and stock in a move to cut costs and expand its product line. The smaller Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron will become a subsidiary of Flextronics in a merger that will create a single contract ...

Google has struck a deal with Hearst-Argyle Television to have local news content from the company's local TV affiliates made available on YouTube, with the TV stations sharing in the revenue generated when video clips are viewed online. The deal covers five Hearst-Argyle stations in Sacramento, Cal...

Palm, the handheld device maker that has been searching for a way to rejuvenate its business in the face of competition from the BlackBerry and other smartphones, will sell an ownership stake to a private equity firm, raising $325 million that it will turn over to shareholders. Elevation Partners --...