Small Business

BofA chairman says he supports CEO “100 percent” (Reuters)

Holliday made the comment at a conference in Abu Dhahi when asked about how much board support Moynihan has after a steep decline in the bank’s stock price. He declined to comment on whether the bank planned to sell more assets.

Asked about the state of the U.S. economy, Holliday said it was hard to judge but that “there have been some encouraging signs in the last few months.”

Moynihan, CEO sine January 2010, is under pressure to build capital to absorb mortgage-related losses and meet new international standards. He has been saddled with losses tied to the 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial under his predecessor, Ken Lewis.

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Monday, January 16th, 2012 Small Business No Comments

Alcoa falls in 4Q, sees better 2012

Alcoa kicked off earnings season Monday by reporting a fourth quarter loss on lower prices. The aluminum producer forecast improving business conditions in 2012.

The company lost $191 million, or 18 cents per diluted share, on sales of $6 billion, vs. earnings of $258 million, or 24 cents per diluted share, and sales of $5.65 billion in the year-ago quarter. Aluminum shipments rose 8 percent during the quarter but were offset by a 5 percent drop in prices.

The loss reflected expenses related to a plan to idle 12 percent of its smelting capacity that Alcoa announced last week. Excluding those charges and other one-time items, the company lost 3 cents per share, in line with forecasts Wall Street analysts had slashed in recent weeks.

For the full year, profits more than doubled to $611 million, or 55 cents per diluted share, on sales of $24.95 billion, vs.

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Tags: 2012, Better 2012

Monday, January 9th, 2012 Small Business No Comments

Google buys 2 more startups: Apture, Katango

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has acquired two more startups to help the Internet search leader upgrade some of its services.

The latest catches announced Thursday are Katango, which helps people manage their online social networks, and Apture, which makes tools that conduct searches about the topics within a Web page.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Katango is a natural fit for Google’s Plus service, a 4-month-old social network that allows users to sort their friendships into different subsets that the company calls “Circles.”

Google believes Katango will make it easier for Plus’ more than 40 million users to organize their circles, based on a post by company executive Bradley Horowitz.

“Are you ready for some magic in your Circles?” Horowitz wrote about the Katango acquisition on his Google Plus account. “

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Tags: Katango

Sunday, January 1st, 2012 Small Business No Comments

Tampa firm to buy data center in ex-Macy’s building

An affiliate of Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT, a private real estate investment trust, has agreed to buy the interest in a 338,000-square-foot leased data center at 180 Peachtree, according to documents filed Nov. 18 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Carter Validus is run by John Carter, vice chairman of Atlanta-based Carter & Associates, a commercial real estate firm.

Carter/Validus Operating Partnership has agreed to pay Peachtree Carnegie roughly $94.8 million, plus closing costs, for the data center and the parking deck, the documents said. Carter/Validus recently bought a data center near Dallas.

Peachtree Carnegie owns the top five floors of the building.

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Tags: Center, Data Center

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 Small Business No Comments

MF Global UK administrators mulls interim payments (Reuters)

“Final distributions to clients will not be made until all client risk positions have been liquidated or transferred and all claims against have been validated. However, we are likely to make interim distributions along the way,” KPMG said on Friday.

The pledge of early repayment offered some comfort to MF Global clients who have become increasingly frustrated with KPMG since MF Global collapsed on October31.

Commodities traders in Europe and the United States have complained that different exchanges and clearing houses charged with unraveling client positions have taken different approaches, with some closing positions while others have sought to transfer open positions to other brokers.

Still unclear is the whereabouts of about 600 million of customer funds unaccounted for since MF Global’s Chapter 11 filing, and whether MF Global might have improperly mixed customer funds with its own.

These matters are among those being investigated by federal prosecutors, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

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Tags: Interim, Uk Administrators

Saturday, November 19th, 2011 Small Business No Comments

Citing a lack of support, Onorato yanks proposed UPMC bond

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato withdrew legislation today that had it passed would have allowed UPMC to borrow up to $335 million through the county financing authority.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Onorato said today that Mr. Onorato pulled the bond legislation in response to inadequate support for the measure on county council.

Council’s economic development and housing committee had recommended approving the borrowing, but council President Jim Burn last week sent the proposal back to that committee for further study.

The matter had been scheduled for discussion before the committee this afternoon.

UPMC, the region’s largest medical care provider, has come under fire from members of council and from many community leaders over its refusal to bargain on a new contract with Highmark, the region’s largest health insurer.

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Tags: Upmc, Upmc Bond

Sunday, November 6th, 2011 Small Business No Comments