Buffett secretly bought up a $10bn stake in IBM November 14, 2011 THE SAGE of Omaha has staked his biggest ever bet on the technology sector after amassing at 5.5 per cent stake in IBM worth $10.7bn (£6.71bn). Warren Buffett, one of the most respected and revered investors in the US, has historically shunned the sector on the grounds he does not understand it. However, he said yesterday [...]
THEY DID THINGS DIFFERENTLY, BACK THEN April 25, 2012 The magnetic drum | 1932 Not the most practical device, the magnetic drum (like the IBM 650, above) featured a revolving cylinder. Individual words could only be recalled when the drum was in the right part of its cycle. It held around 10KB. The selectron tube | 1946 It may look like a torture device, [...]
THEY DID THINGS DIFFERENTLY, BACK THEN April 25, 2012 The magnetic drum | 1932 Not the most practical device, the magnetic drum (like the IBM 650, above) featured a revolving cylinder. Individual words could only be recalled when the drum was in the right part of its cycle. It held around 10KB. The selectron tube | 1946 It may look like a torture device, [...]
Female CEO for IBM as Palmisano steps down October 25, 2011 IBM’s long-serving chief executive Sam Palmisano will step down at the end of the year, the tech giant said as it unveiled a beefed up buyback programme. Palmisano, credited with helping transform the once PC-focused company into a services company during a near-decade-long run starting in 2002, will stay on as chairman. Global sales head [...]
Lacklustre US results drag on Wall Street April 18, 2012 US stocks slipped yesterday, a day after Wall Street’s best gains in a month, as uninspiring earnings from tech bellwethers IBM and Intel gave investors a reason to take profits. Chesapeake Energy dropped 5.5 per cent to $18.06 and was the most actively traded stock on the New York Stock Exchange after a Reuters report [...]
WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 27, 2012 LDC The private equity house has announced that Keith Holdt has been appointed as investor director in its value enhancement group. He joins from Swiss Post Solutions, where he was head of global business development and sales. Holdt previously spent eight years with IBM. Lloyds Banking Group Andrew Bester has been appointed chief executive, wholesale [...]
IBM lifts full year forecast as profits rise October 17, 2011 IBM, the computer services giant, reported a rise in third quarter profits and raised its full year guidance yesterday, helped by steady corporate spending and continued growth in emerging markets. IBM said its full year operating earnings would be at least $13.35 (£8.47) per share, up 10 cents from its previous forecast of $13.25 per [...]
US MARKET DATA POINTS TO A SUMMER OF CHALLENGES July 16, 2012 TODAY we’ll hear more from Ben Bernanke, as the chairman of the US Federal Reserve delivers his semi-annual monetary policy report to the Senate Banking Committee. He’ll follow this up tomorrow by addressing the House Financial Services Committee. He is likely to remind policymakers that fiscal issues must be addressed, and that they cannot rely [...]
CGI swoops in with £1.7bn bid for UK’s Logica May 31, 2012 LOGICA shares soared by 69 per cent yesterday after CGI Group Holdings offered to pay £1.7bn in cash to buy the computer services company. CGI, a Canadian IT company, said the 105p per share offer represented a 59.8 per cent premium to Logica’s closing share price on Wednesday. The deal has garnered unanimous support from Logica’s directors and [...]
Roche looks to alternatives after bid snub April 22, 2012 SWISS drugmaker Roche is looking for alternatives after it dropped a $6.8bn (£4.22bn) hostile offer for genetic specialist Illumina, a German newspaper reported yesterday. Roche is talking to the research centres of three large universities about buying their gene sequencing technology, Der Sonntag newspaper reported, without citing its sources. Roche walked away from its bid [...]