Business

When most people are asked about software giants, they usually think of Microsoft. But I recently discovered that there is a company that is regarded as one of the largest international, independent software companies in the world. That company is called Cincom and has 40 offices on six continents.

California's attorney general is investigating Hewlett-Packard. The probe comes in the wake of HP's reported surveillance of board members that led to the company's decision not to renominate George A. Keyworth II to his seat on the board. HP said it discovered that he leaked confidential informatio...

HP is seeking to remove a member of its board of directors after an internal investigation showed he was responsible for leaking confidential board-level discussions to the media. The company said it will not renominate George A. Keyworth II to his seat on the board. HP reportedly put some board mem...

Intel is expected to announce up to 10,000 job cuts as soon as Tuesday, as it moves to adopt a more streamlined and profitable business structure. The company has made no secret of its intention to implement a major restructuring plan as it moves to restore its slipping profit margins. Intel's goal ...

With rumors swirling that it will be acquired as the PC industry continues to consolidate, Gateway said Friday it had rejected an unsolicited bid to buy its retail operations for US$450 million. Gateway said its board of directors had determined the offer was "not in the best interest of shareholder...

France-based telecom giant Alcatel said Friday it had reached an agreement to acquire the Universal Mobile Telecommunications wireless access business unit of Nortel in a deal valued at about US$320 million. The deal is aimed at boosting Alcatel's profile in the wireless broadband space, and represe...

Sarbanes-Oxley has really sharpened the businessperson's awareness of the fiduciary responsibilities of corporate board service. In fact, it seems that nowadays, even the press has become more attentive to what's going on in the corporate boardroom. The recent battles over directorship seats at H.J....

China has announced it will adopt a digital TV broadcast standard that will combine two systems developed by the Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiaotong University. The decision, made by the Standardization Administration of China following a review of the short list of submitted proposals, will b...

Microsoft appears to be in line to get more time to comply with all the provisions of its antitrust settlement with the federal government, with terms of the deal now stretching until 2012. The U.S. Department of Justice and Microsoft have jointly filed with the court overseeing the settlement for a...

Verizon Communications became the second major telecom company in a week to back off a plan to replace a phased-out government fee with a surcharge of its own, after customers complained and regulators questioned its legality. Verizon had sought to charge customers of its high-speed DSL Internet ser...

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been named to the board of directors of Apple Computer, a move some say could portend future cooperation between the two tech giants and spell bad news for common rival Microsoft. Schmidt was elected the eighth director during a meeting of existing board members at Apple ...

A week or so after Hurricane Katrina roared out of the Gulf of Mexico and devastated huge portions of the coast, it became clear to officials at the Louisiana Department of Economic Development that they would have to rethink their long-term game plans. "The mission of the LDED is to expand existing...

Firing a potentially powerful salvo in the online music war, Universal Music Group said it would make its entire catalog of music available for free download using an ad-supported approach that could pose one of the most significant threats yet to the dominance of Apple's iTunes Music Store. Univers...

Corel on Monday announced it would acquire InterVideo in an all-cash transaction worth $196 million. InterVideo develops multimedia DVD software that lets users record, edit, author, distribute and play digital multimedia content on PCs and other devices. InterVideo's 2005 majority interest acquisit...

eBay said Monday it had signed a multiyear pact with Google to have the search giant deliver ads, including click-to-call functionality, for its auction and e-commerce sites outside the United States. The contract calls for Google to do at international sites what Yahoo earlier this year won the rig...