Business

Halliburton announced today that it has reached a settlement in the investigation by the SEC involving Halliburton's 1998 and 1999 disclosure of and accounting for the recognition of revenue from unapproved claims on long-term construction projects. "We are pleased to bring closure to this matter," ...

Pfizer today announced it has filed a barrage of lawsuits aimed at shutting down online sales of generic, counterfeit or fake versions of Viagra, its copyrighted erectile dysfunction medication. The New York-based drugmaker filed the suits against dozens of what it called "illegitimate online pharma...

The Indian government has made various proposals recently to tax foreign firms sending outsourcing work to India and firms that import and resell shrinkwrap software in India. Proposals range from setting a simple 4 percent tax on the value of outsourcing contracts to a more complex system of taxing...

Media giant Viacom and Internet sports content and e-commerce provider SportsLine.com announced today that they have signed an agreement for SportsLine.com to merge with a subsidiary of Viacom. Under the deal, holders of common stock of SportsLine.com will be entitled to US$1.75 per share in cash up...

Hoping to keep its edge in software in part by producing a torrent of technological innovations, Microsoft is planning to push hard to secure more patents in the coming year. Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates told analysts at the company's annual meeting yesterday that Microsoft plans...

DaimlerChrysler has substantially increased its second quarter operating profit from $0.8 billion to $2.5 billion. The Chrysler Group, Commercial Vehicles and Services divisions significantly improved their earnings, though the operating profits of the Mercedes car group and the other activities seg...

IBM today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cyanea, a provider of software that monitors and manages the performance of Web-based business applications. Cyanea is a privately held company based in Oakland, California. Financial terms were not disclosed. Upon closing, Cyanea's ope...

German engineering conglomerate Siemens today posted strong earnings growth for the quarter ended June 30, with net income up 29 percent over the same period last year, profit from operations up 21 percent and orders up 5 percent. At the same time, the company also said it now expects to exceed its ...

Crude oil prices soared Wednesday, reaching their highest levels in 20 years after another violent day in Iraq and more bad news from Russia's Yukos renewed fears about supplies to the U.S. and other countries being impacted by terrorism. During the trading day, prices for crude futures actually set...

The price of crude oil hit a record high of 43 dollars per barrel Wednesday in the NYMEX futures' market. Trading prices dropped again to 42.85 dollars but remained above previous record of 42.45 dollars per barrel, set on June 2. Wednesday's top price, asked for oil to be delivered in September, wa...

BMC Software today announced financial results for its fiscal 2005 first quarter ended June 30, 2004. BMC Software's net earnings excluding special items for the first quarter of fiscal 2005 were $32.1 million, or $0.14 per diluted common share, which compares to $0.03 a year ago and the company's r...

Two recent "failures" of offshoring projects have been publicized as if offshoring does not work. The most highlighted instance is Dell's return of some support activities to the U.S. The second is Conseco insurance company's 2001-2002 foray into owning its call center in India. These two instances ...

Boston Scientific today announced financial results showing net sales roared up 71 percent to $1.46 billion in the second quarter over the same time last year, and net income skyrocketed by 200 percent, to $377 million. "We experienced impressive growth across all our businesses and regions, and we ...

Investors who want to own a piece of Google likely will have to dig deep into their pockets considering the share-price range of US$108 to $135 the company set today for its upcoming initial public offering. At the expected prices and with some 24.6 million shares up for grabs, the offering would be...

Microsoft became the latest company to be hurt by high expectations as the software goliath posted an 81 percent increase in net profit and a15 percent sales growth, but fell short of forecast targets and took it on the chin on Wall Street as a result. In a report rife with recurring themes from thi...