stock
Latest
SEC filing reveals 3mil Take Two shares unloaded
Hedge fund Glenview Capital Management have revealed in an SEC filing that it sold exactly 3 million shares of Take Two stock over the course of six transactions on December 21 at $19.25 each, amounting to $57.75 million. Glenview also disclosed that it held a 6.7% stake, or 4.88 million shares, of the controversial publisher. You might be quick to think something rather shifty is going on behind the scenes with such a large quantity of sales, but remember that GCM is a hedge fund with a fiduciary responsibility to its investors, and Take Two's stock has been on a steady rise since the FTC concluded its investigation of the Hot Coffee incident in June.[Via Seeking Alpha and Dubious Quality]
Financial Times: Forged Documents related to Jobs' options
Sources have informed The Financial Times of London that the forged documents at the center of the ongoing SEC investigation relate to illegal activities surrounding options given to Steven Jobs. According to the FT story, Jobs "was handed 7.5m stock options in 2001 without the required authorization from the company's board of directors." and that "Records that purported to show a full board meeting had taken place to approve Mr Jobs' remuneration, as required by Apple's procedures, were later falsified."If this is in fact the case, it certainly makes sense that Jobs would seek his own external legal counsel both to more closely protect his personal interests as well as put some distance between himself and the company as a whole. Update: The FT article makes no mention of wrong doing by Jobs himself, and as such this post has been updated.[via Cult of Mac]
Liberty Media exchanges shares of News Corp. for DirecTV
While DirecTV tends to garner a lot of negative attention, all the fuss apparently doesn't bother Liberty Media's CEO John Malone, as the firm has recently signed a deal to swap its 16.3-percent stake in News Corp. for "shares of DirecTV, three regional sports networks and $550 million in cash." Liberty, who already controls several other TV networks such as Starz, is hoping to jump back to the forefront of television by assuming News Corp.'s three seats on DirecTV's board of directors. Interestingly, Malone stated that the new investment would "create financial, operating, and strategic flexibility," which could eventually freshen up the previously stale merger talks between DirecTV and Echostar -- but considering Liberty Media still won't have a controlling stake in the company, we're not holding our collective breath.
Bullish on Apple?
Alyce Lomax, blogging over at the Motley Fool, discusses her take on Apple's stock performance. Over the last five years, Apple has boomed -- up 715%. Lomax believes that Apple has not yet peaked. She sees growth opportunities in the Intel line of Macs along with the strong performance of the iPod. So should you buy Apple? We here at TUAW haven't a clue. But Lomax's article is an interesting read for those of you following the stock market. As for us, we tend to go with the whole monkey and dartboard method.
Stock options investigation delays Apple SEC filing
Apple's ongoing investigation into its stock option grants has delayed its SEC 10-K filing. The filing, which was due yesterday, may be delayed for as much as a month. If you recall, Apple admitted that employee stock options may have been been backdated. Companies use backdating in order to lower the apparent value of the issued stocks. Although news reports suggest this isn't illegal, the backdating has to be accounted for and disclosed to investors and so forth. CEO Steve Jobs was reportedly aware of the backdating and Apple's investigation is ongoing.
Is Apple Doomed?
Apple doomed? That's what David Keppelmeyer thinks. Blogging at DanAquariam, Keppelmeyer suggests that a combination of financial underperformance, ongoing legal challenges and increased competition belies Apple's strong stock performance. Of course, we are talking about an article here that says Microsoft's Zune "is a huge blow to Apple" so you may want to carefully consider the source of this doom-and-gloom-prediction as you read through the article. Us? We're pretty bullish on Apple, but then again, you've got to consider our inclinations too.
Apple shares reach year's best
MarketWatch is reporting that Apple's shares reached a 52-week high of $87.95 today, apparently fueled by furious rumors of - you guessed it - an iPhone. I'm sure the report that Hon Hai received a manufacturing order from Apple for just such a device isn't doing anything to stop people from losing their investing sense either. If the iPhone is really going to happen, the word on the street hasn't changed from "the first half of next year" yet, unless you consider this latest momument to craptastic journalism from AppleInsider about a second iChat-based iPhone already in the works (seriously guys: try drawing the line somewhere - for once).As usual, you'll hear more as soon as we do.[via MacMinute]
Microsoft gets a stock boost from 360
Competitors be damned! With the launch of both the Wii and PS3 come and gone, things are still looking rosy for Microsoft. On the basis of Microsoft's strengthening position in the digital entertainment arena (read: 360 and Zune) Credit Suisse has decided to raise Microsoft's stock rating from "neutral" to "outperform." Credit Suisse believes that Microsoft stock could appreciate as much as 20%, all thanks to the Entertainment and Devices division, the group responsible for both the 360 and Zune. Sure, this is good news for Microsoft, but it has deeper implications as well. Credit Suisse's decision reflects an implicit belief that Microsoft's performance will increase despite the competition from PS3 and Wii. This doesn't necessarily mean that Credit Suisse believes Microsoft will dominate this generation of gaming, just that MS will be making money. Perhaps more to the point, it means that MS will be making more money than before. This holiday, it's a safe bet that plenty of 360s will be bought when shoppers can't get their hands on a PS3 or Wii, so the stock upgrade makes sense. The question is: how long will Microsoft's success last?[Via Joystiq]
TUAW Moneywatch: Apple Shares hit high
Macworld UK reports that Apple shares reached a new 52-week high. Between holiday iPod sales predictions and iPhone rumors, Apple stocks are performing strongly. Some analysts expect Apple to sell up to 15 million iPods during the Christmas sales season. That's (quickly doing math) a lot of iPods to shift out the door. Share prices were up $1.56 yesterday to $85.61. Apple's market capital stands at over $73 billion. Eagle-eye reader Steve points out that both Yahoo and Google say the APPL high is actually 86.40.
Surprise: EA is profitable
Reuters has a report on Electronic Arts' recent earnings statement, which showed a surprising profit of seven cents per share for the quarter. This is much better than the loss of 23 cents per share analysts expected, but still worse than the 16 cents per share profit the company showed a year ago. EA shares shot up 8 percent on the news, reversing a 12 percent fall over the last year. Not surprisingly, EA Sports was behind much of the good news -- Madden 07 sold 5 million copies, while NCAA Football 07 and Fifa 07 both sold 2 million copies in the quarter. But the results also reflected an unexpected rise in overall U.S. game sales, which tend to lag in the run up to major console launches. This year might be different for publishers, though. As EA president Larry Probst told Reuters, "the tough times are over."
Capcom hopes to repeat Phoenix Wright success with stock trading game
Capcom revealed they are working on a new adventure series in Kabu Trader Shun, which translates into Stock Trader Shun in English. This new series, which aims to repeat the success of Capcom's other adventure series in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney. The game will focus on a young up-and-coming trader named Shun.With his father being a prosperous trader who earned his riches in the market, Shun is plagued by memories of the sudden bankruptcy and disappearance of his father five years ago. Entering the market, he is helped by veteran trader Tooru and one Hanako, who has a family-owned trading company.Currently, there are no plans to bring this game to the US, however we hope that changes once Justice For All releases.
Ubisoft vows to beat EA
Ubisoft's epic scheme to take over the world -- or at least the gaming industry -- was revealed to the world when Reuters interviewed chief exec Laurent Detoc yesterday. Their dastardly plan? Become the world's numero uno game publisher.Yeah, as dastardly plans go, that one's pretty tame. But they're serious in their determination to avoid being snapped up by Electronic Arts. Gaming giant EA has been trying to take control of Ubisoft since late 2004. And what's Ubisoft's main weapon in their war? We are ... or more accurately, Wii. Ubi hopes to use their early support of the console and their strong launch lineup to fuel their upward mobility and continued independence. And while Ubisoft just keeps getting better and better, EA is struggling with their sports titles (and more) lately. While we're lately big fans of EA's efforts for the Wii, we may have to land on the side of Ubisoft in the event of a ground war. Let's pray it doesn't come to that. Can't we all just play along?[Via Joystiq]
Sony to get a marketing makeover
It's pretty obvious that Sony and its image in the public realm has depreciated over the past few months. They're ridiculed time and time again by many writers on the internet (Joystiq included), using old internet memes about giant enemy crabs and real time weapon switching. Behind the humor, there are some real concerns that they need to address:
