Acquisition announcements shook the high-tech market this week, with Sun Microsystems's planned buy of Storage Technology (StorageTek) leading activity that included buying companies eBay, Citrix Systems, McAfee and Lawson Software. The feeding frenzy is happening against a murky IT picture, in which industry consolidation is taken as a given.
This quarter's earnings season is winding down after giving technology investors something of a roller coaster ride. The last few days have brought some heartening news however, with networking industry bellwether Cisco Systems and PC market leader Dell reporting solid quarters.
Any Any hope that the start of the earnings season would bring a fresh wind to the tech sector evaporated quickly last week. The Nasdaq Composite Index, under pressure from the first quarter's dismal close, modest corporate buying plans, and concerns about oil prices and inflation, was knocked down yet again in the middle of the first wave of reports.
Former WorldCom Chief Executive Officer Bernard Ebbers Tuesday was found guilty on all charges of conspiracy and fraud levelled against him in connection with US$11 billion of accounting misstatements that led to the telecommunications giant's bankruptcy, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
News about the continuing U.S. telecommunications sector merger saga, and a budding takeover battle in the Chinese online arena grabbed the attention of investors this week.
Former WorldCom Chief Executive Officer Bernard Ebbers Monday took the stand in a packed New York courtroom to defend himself against charges of conspiracy and fraud in connection with US$11 billion of accounting misstatements that led to the bankruptcy of the telecommunications giant he built.
Qwest Communications International officials said Thursday that the company would renew its bid for MCI, after rival Verizon Communications succeeded in nailing down an agreement earlier in the week to acquire MCI in a deal valued at US$6.7 billion.
Carly Fiorina's ouster as chief executive officer and chairman of Hewlett-Packard and continued jockeying among suitors for MCI fueled trading in tech stocks this week.
The story of Carly Fiorina's rise and fall at Hewlett-Packard centers around the company's 2002 acquisition of Compaq Computer. Along the way, HP marked milestones including the introduction of Itanium systems; the spin-off of consulting and services company Agilent Technologies and the creation of a new HP services organization; and a new focus on the consumer market. Here are some notable moments during Fiorina's tenure:
Rumors of telecommunications company mergers and earnings reports from IT heavyweights gave investors in technology companies, who appear to remain cautious, a lot to chew over this week.
After a one-day respite Monday for the Martin Luther King national holiday, technology company earnings reports last week continued to roll out, roiling U.S. exchanges. While some bellwether companies such as IBM and Yahoo reported solid earnings, signs of weakness in certain sectors and muted forecasts for the year played on the uncertainty that investors have displayed so far this year, and kept downward pressure on key indexes including the Nasdaq Composite Index.
If there were any lingering doubts that we are in the post-PC era, several big stories this year should have cleared them up. The sale of IBM's PC business to China's Lenovo Group, and the death of Comdex, were powerful reminders that IT is in a transitional stage. When one of the hottest business stories of the year involves an IPO of a company whose technology helps people find information on the Net, it's certain that the network, to paraphrase the well-known dictum of Sun Microsystems, has become the computer.
If there were any lingering doubts that we are in the post-PC era, several big stories this year should have cleared them up.
Avoiding any mention of the accounting scandal that has rocked Computer Associates International (CA), interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kenneth Cron used his keynote speech at the opening of TechXNY Tuesday to place the company at the center of the trend toward on-demand computing.
Before what appeared to be a receptive audience, Sun Microsystems on Tuesday fired off a barrage of product promotions, upgrades and service announcements in an attempt to retake its traditional stronghold in the financial community in New York.