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Ex-AMD CEO Hector Ruiz steps down as Globalfoundries chairman amid insider trading scandal
We won't dive back into all the backstory that led to former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz's current troubles as the chairman of AMD spin-off Globalfoundries, but let's just say that when your name is in the same sentence as "insider trading scandal" and "hedge fund probe," you're probably in a pretty bad way. While this story is obviously still far from over, it looks like Ruiz has at least realized the gravity of his predicament, and announced today that he's taking a "voluntary leave of absence" before formally resigning from the company on January 4th, 2010. He'll be replaced immediately by former Broadcom CEO Alan "Lanny" Ross, who will serve as interim chairman until the company's board appoints a permanent chairman.
Ex-AMD chief Hector Ruiz caught up in insider-trading scandal
Hector Ruiz certainly led a checkered career as CEO of AMD, earning the highest CEO salary in the semiconductor industry as his company's stock dropped, its products dragged, and its fortunes sank, but the man didn't stop there -- it looks like he may also have been involved in a little illegal insider trading on the side. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ruiz is the heretofore unnamed AMD executive who illegally tipped off a hedge fund investor about the company's big spinoff of Globalfoundries, ultimately leading to criminal and civil charges against Galleon and six of its employees. Ol' Hec's currently in the clear, as he hasn't been charged with anything, but considering he's now the chairman of Globalfoundries, well, let's say things are about to get a little sticky. We'll let you know -- we've got a feeling Gizmondo's Stefan Eriksson is going to look like small potatoes when this is all over.
Netflix hints at Watch Instantly integration on 'already-popular device'
Microsoft's Xbox 360 may call itself the only console to stream Netflix, but all that could be changing -- and soon. As Netflix continues to pull in new subscribers (and cash flow) like it's no big deal, the company is apparently looking to spread its wings even further by integrating its wildly popular Watch Instantly feature into "a device already owned by a large number of consumers." Naturally, the most fitting candidates for that would be Sony's PlayStation 3 or Nintendo's Wii, though the company has yet to come forward with anything concrete. Just so know you, Netflix credits the Xbox 360's streaming integration as the main reason some 2.4 million customers have signed up since late 2008, so it's more than apparent that it loves the game console. Any bets for when this will go down, or are you just plugging your ears in order to avoid potential disappointment? [Via Joystiq]
Mickey Mouse + Magic Mouse = Mighty Steve
Is it better to have a lot of something good or a little of something great? If Apple CEO Steve Jobs is any indication, it's better to have both. In September, Alpha Steve had an estimated personal net worth of $5.1 billion, enough to end up the 43rd richest person in the U.S. according to Forbes' list of the 400 richest people in the states. This week he's up to at least $5.4 billion. If you think that's because of the tear on which Apple's stock has gone over the past few weeks, you're only a little over half right. According to filings by Apple (AAPL), Jobs owns 5.426 million shares of Apple stock. As of Tuesday night, Apple's stock had picked up 26.39 points since Forbes' counted the 400 "haves." Jobs shares had gained $146 million in value. Not bad. Disney (DIS) filings say Jobs owns 138 million shares of the happiest company on Earth. Those shares have not had nearly the run enjoyed by Apple shares over the last few weeks, gaining only 99 cents as of Tuesday night. Still, Jobs has so many of them that they've increased in value by $136 million. Not bad either. Apple's meteoric rise plus Disney's incremental rise equals $282 million more for Apple's CEO and Disney's largest private shareholder. It's better to have both. [via Fortune]
Nokia posts $834 million quarterly loss, smartphone share down to 35%
Nokia just posted a net loss of 559 million euro (834 million dollars) for the third quarter -- its first quarterly loss in a decade according to the AFP. The loss comes after a reported 20% drop in sales and 1.17 billion euros in write-downs, mostly for impairment charges on Nokia Siemens Networks. Nokia also said that its smartphone market share dropped to 35% versus 41% in the previous quarter. With fierce competition from Apple and RIM, and Palm just launching its Pre into Nokia's European stronghold, well, it's a good thing Nokia's branching out into untapped markets like single-core Atom-based netbooks. Read -- Smartphone slip Read -- First loss in a decade Read -- Nokia Q3 statement
THQ takeover talk causes stock bump
THQ's stock jumped up a solid 13 percent yesterday over whispers that the publisher is in a takeover company's line of sight. Optimism has recently surrounded the once fumbling publisher, as it pulled off a couple retail successes and has put on a good show with some surprisingly frank talk about its future. However, as much as investors believe a buyout is in the works, Reuters spoke with an analyst who isn't so sure. MKM Partners analyst Eric Handler says rumors of a THQ buyout crop up almost every quarter. He believes THQ still has too many licensed games and is just starting to build a solid foundation of owned intellectual property. Yeah, well ... we talked to an analyst, too. Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter tells us he doesn't believe a buyout is likely either. He concurs, "THQ is heavy on licensed content, and many licenses potentially terminate on change of control. I don't see their recent performance instilling a lot of confidence in their ability to manage a bigger library of content that would be presented in a media buyout." Hmmm, from where are investors getting this buyout notion then?
EA stock dropped slightly following earnings report, back up
EA's stock took a near seven percent dive yesterday, following the publishing giant's latest earnings report on Tuesday, GI.biz reports. As of writing this post, the stock stands at $20.55, jumping up a little over one percent since trading began today. We're no stock analysis site, but we're fairly certain that should The Sims 3 and EA Sports Active keep kicking butt at retail – and with EA's yearly fundraiser, Madden 10, on the horizon – EA stockholders will be A-OK.
Zelnick's Take-Two leadership blasted by investor blog
Wednesday 22 July 170-something lbs. I'm really sad, been putting on some weight and missing workouts.Food consumed today:Went total heifer and ate a tub of Cherry Garcia AND Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch. Too upset for anything else.Late morning. New York: my Take-Two office. Boo! Boo, I say. Meanie McMean-Means at Market Rap, an investors blog site, said not-nice things about me. I was fine with it until the games press -- which I read every day -- started picking up on it. I totally missed my 7AM, 9:10AM and 11:27AM crunch sets because I was so depressed. Anyway, this Perry H. Rod author guy says that I'm a liar and seems most upset about the stock drop after I brutally rebuffed EA's advances on MY company. He concludes, "If you're keeping score, in a two year period, Mr Zelnick managed to, on three occasions, make vital statements that were within a matter of weeks proven to be either fabricated or just incredibly incompetent (or worse)." Ouch, diary. This dude makes it sound like I'm as bald-faced a liar as Nintendo. It's not fair. I'll turn the company around once the economy picks up. I promise.[Via GamePolitics]
Palm Pre stock levels at Best Buy for entire US now leaked in full?
We'll be straight with you, we have no idea if the linked document (that builds on the original) is authentic or not. Then again, why would someone go to the trouble of faking a 31 page PDF file showing Palm Pre inventories for every Best Buy in the US and Puerto Rico -- the internet just can't be so sad. Anyway, given the positive reviews received, we expected demand to outstrip the meager inventories on-hand at launch. As we figure it, anything that might help you sort out the mess on Saturday will be appreciated. [Via Everything Pre, thanks John] Read -- PDF share 1 Read -- PDF share 2
Palm Pre stock levels for launch day at Best Buy leaked?
We don't want to incite panic in big box parking lots from coast to coast or anything (or do we?), but from the looks of things, Best Buy's Pre stock for launch day is meager at best -- and distribution is a little weird. A poster over on everythingpre's forums threw up a bunch of alleged inventory screen shots, suggesting that Florida and Texas stores are particularly well-off -- many stores are expected to get 18, 20 or more -- while Illinois stores appear to be getting hosed (a trip to the Hancock location downtown, for example, will result in success for just two people). The way we see it, this could be fake -- but it might just have to do with how close each store is to Best Buy's distro centers or a balancing act with proximity to Sprint locations in the area. Worst case scenario, we figure, you can just riot.Update: A tipster tells us these "On Order" numbers are actually the number of Pres each store's manager has requested, which doesn't necessarily correlate to the number they'll actually receive. Of course, that still doesn't explain why downtown Chicago's Best Buy would request just two -- there have to be some other constraints involved that we're not privy to -- but it's an interesting tidbit nonetheless.
Report: Activision execs sell off a bunch of stock
Two Activision executives have a lot less Activision this week, according to The Business Insider. Last week, CEO Bobby Kotick unloaded 1.5 million shares of Activision stock, worth around $17 million, and co-chairman Brian Kelly sold 3.6 million shares, or $42 million worth.According to TBI, Activision stock is up around 30% since the start of the year (strong Q1 sales and the announcement of more Guitar Hero things helped, no doubt), making it an opportune time for the executives to get money. Plus, a long weekend was coming up, and the two executives wanted to make sure they didn't have to stop at the ATM on their days off. [Via VG247; Image source: Forbes]
ATVI is a "conviction buy"
Well, The9 is going down in flames, but if you're looking to make some money in the stock market lately, you could do like BRK and buy some stock in Activision-Blizzard. Goldman Sachs has upgraded ATVI to "buy," and even marked them out as a "conviction buy" -- while the stock price is almost $11 right now (it jumped up about .75 on this news this morning), GS says it's headed to $14 eventually. "Conviction buy" just means that the wily traders at Goldman Sachs expect the stock to outperform in the future -- Activision is already saying it will do well, but GS thinks it'll do even better.Medievaldragon over at WorldofWar.net points out that there may still be trouble ahead: while Blizzard has gone with Netease for their service in China, they still have to make it past the Chinese government's approval process, and there may actually be service outages if things aren't approved quickly. But that won't affect Activision's business very much, and given that the company still has a bright future (even in a harsh economy), picking up a few shares is probably a relatively good investment.Please note: I am not a financial expert, and none of this should be taken as serious financial advice. You invest in the stock market and any other financial institution at your own risk. If you're getting stock tips from WoW Insider, it's probably better to keep your money in your pocket. AH tips, on the other hand...
NetEase to buy all new servers for Chinese WoW
Yes, as you may have noticed in the update on our post the other day, it's confirmed: NetEase will be taking over operating the World of Warcraft in China as of June -- their new homebase over there can be found at wow.163.com. And while we originally reported that The9 would be turning over their software, hardware, and staff to run the game, apparently that's not completely true. IDG News Service is reporting that NetEase will be setting up their own network of servers to run the game. That's a big undertaking -- it likely means that things will be bumpy for the first few days of the transition (though Blizzard is clearly confident that NetEase can handle it, having run a few other games in the market before). And it also means that some of the supercomputers we've reported on before that are owned by The9 will go to... well, we're not sure what.Not that there aren't plenty of things to use them for -- despite their stock dropping on news of the WoW license loss, The9 also runs a number of other games over there, including Guild Wars, Ragnarok Online, and a few more popular Eastern MMOs (not to mention that EA has a nice stake in them). And at the very least, there's got to be a market for supercomputers with other companies and educational institutions, right? It's unlikely that all that hardware will just sit dark.But more importantly, it'll be interesting to see how NetEase handles the transition -- we've had a few inventory and other issues here on the Western side of the world, but we've never had a major loss of character information (cue all of the Blizzard engineers knocking on wood). We're sure there are countless backups in place, but if something goes majorly wrong in the transition between hosts, it could be devastating for the WoW audience in China.
Nintendo shares drop following Wii sales slowdown
Nintendo shares on the Osaka Stock Exchange dropped 6.6% today, closing at 26,180 yen ($265) following the release of the March NPD sales data, which shows a 17% drop in Wii sales compared to March of last year. "The severe sales result in the U.S. prompted disappointment among investors," said Shigeo Kikuchi, an analyst at Takagi Securities. "Nintendo had been perceived as one of the winners." Never mind that the Wii outsold every other console in March, with the DS in second place -- it failed to beat a past version of itself, and thus is a loser now. The major difference between March 2008 and March 2009 in the US? Last year, Super Smash Bros. Brawl launched in March.%Gallery-26316%[Via Engadget]
CNBC: Apple beating recession
A panel on CNBC's Fast Money was recently remarking on AAPL's apparent invulnerability to the recession that's currently affecting the United States, noting that it's jumped 40% so far this year, outperforming the NASDAQ. J.P. Mark of Farmhouse Equity Research suggests that the excitement that persists among Apple's retail employees customers is a part of that performance.As for the stock's immediate future, the panel and Mr. Mark point to this summer's concurrent release of iPhone OS 3.0 and a likely new iPhone model as a powerful stimulus. Finally, Mr. Mark notes that it isn't often that an electronic gadget becomes more useful and valuable over time.I definitely agree with that. My iPhone is now almost two years old and it does much more than it did when I first opened its box. Also, if a new iPhone does appear this summer just as my current contract is expiring, I'll almost certainly buy it.
Japanese analysts love Capcom stock
IFIS (International Financial Information Service) recently pulled data for analysts and their predictions of Capcom stock in Japan, and the vast majority of them placed favor on the house that Mega Man built. In fact, out of the 20 firms listed, not a single one had a "sell" recommendation on Capcom stock, with the lowest rating out of the bunch being simply "neutral."What's even more interesting is the trend in analyst forecasts compared to reported figures. They've pretty much been on the money, with averages for predictions of operating income and earnings per share coming alarmingly close to actual figures. We're assuming these analysts haven't yet heard about Resident Evil 5's numbers, so expect hearts, unicorns and Capcom logos to populate every page of their diaries next week.
Rumor: Unsubsidized iPhone to be offered by AT&T
Looking to pick up an iPhone, but not interested in getting bogged down by any contracts with "the Man?" Your time may have come -- The Boy Genius apparently got their hands on some slides from an AT&T training session saying on March 26, AT&T will offer a "No-commit" for their existing customers on both iPhone models -- it'll be $599 for the 8GB and $699 for the 16GB.This isn't quite a deal anyone's planning to jump at, however, since the phones themselves are likely still locked to the AT&T network. Not to mention that you've got to already be an AT&T customer, and they're only selling one phone per line that you've already got. Which means these phones are... for Grandma, who doesn't want a contract and can't make it to the store herself? Businesses might be interested as well, we guess, but for most of us, it's still cheaper to just buy the phone and sign the AT&T contract (assuming that you actually want to use it as a phone).What it does likely say, however, is that AT&T is expecting an iPhone hardware upgrade, and wants to clear out as much of the stock they've got now as they can (to suckers who are willing to pay more). [via Engadget]
Analyst: Nintendo profits have peaked, stock set to decline
Though Nintendo is currently making money faster than a brothel in shore leave season, Deutsche Bank analyst Satoru Kikuchi has given the company's stock a "sell" rating, usually reserved for companies who are facing an economic decline. Kikuchi foresees a slow trailing off for Nintendo's stock value -- he predicts an 18 percent decline over the next year, and an additional 19 percent drop sometime in 2011. The analyst referenced declining DS and Wii sales in Japan as evidence for his claims, adding that Nintendo's dependence on its few ridiculously successful titles (we assume he's talking about Wii Fit and Wii Play) will ultimately bring it down unless it introduces additional power sellers. Don't fret, Mr. Kikuchi -- we're sure Nintendo's got a Wii Fit 2 or Wii Play Again hidden somewhere up its gilded sleeves.
Take-Two stock jumps up 10% following earnings report
Take-Two recently dished out deets concerning how much of the coveted moneyz the company made and how much of that was attributed to car theft. Following that, the company's stock started to get a spring in its step, rising 10% yesterday. With the company reporting a $50 million loss, seeing such a sharp climb is surprising, to say the least. Take-Two's next game, GTA: Chinatown Wars, is due for release on March 17.
Palm selling some stock to help with Pre, pay off Bono before he breaks kneecaps
Pre fever's in the air, yes, but beneath the elation and excitement of Palm's mega-launch, there's a cold, hard reality: bills are piling up. To that end, the company is looking to queue up a "secondary offering" of its stock to the tune of 18.5 million shares, which -- thanks to a nice bump in value since the Pre's announcement -- should rake in over $100 million in capital. Some $49 million of that would be used to repay part owner Elevation Partners, while the rest would be funneled directly into Pre launch activities and future product development. Palm wants to wait until market conditions are just right for the offering to take place, but it'd like to have the stock sale wrapped up by the 31st; look for a hands-on from us shortly thereafter.
