IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 23 April
23-04-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
MySpace founders to depart | eBay profits decline
The Irish Times says that the cost of using a mobile phone abroad is to be significantly reduced under new EU regulations, as reported by ENN on Wednesday.
The paper also notes that drug manufacturer Hovione has launched an operation in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, as noted by ENN.
The Irish Examiner reports that AXA Insurance has launched an online interactive test that can earn successful users discounts on their insurance premiums of up to EUR50. The online video is being targeted at young drivers and includes tests on speeding, distractions, general awareness, motorway driving, aggressive driving, and driver fatigue. As users complete each section of the course online, they are issued credits and once they have six can apply for discounts. The video is online at http://axadrivertraining.com.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the founders of MySpace are leaving the social networking site. Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, whose contracts were not due to expire until October, are set to depart. Sources close to the situation said MySpace owner News Corp was completing a deal to name former Facebook chief operating officer Owen Van Natta as chief executive to succeed DeWolfe. He would report to Jon Miller, the former AOL chief executive who was recruited to join News Corp this month. Spokespeople for News Corp and MySpace declined to comment.
The paper also says that eBay's first-quarter profit fell 22 percent as the company struggled to turn around its core online-marketplace business. Profit came in at USD357.1 million, or USD0.28 a share, down from USD460 million, or USD0.34 a share, a year earlier. Revenue declined 8 percent from a year earlier to USD2.02 billion. One bright spot, however, was the company's online-payments unit, which includes PayPal and the Bill Me Later credit service. Revenue in this division grew 11 percent from a year earlier to USD643 million, as the number of registered users increased 22 percent.
The same paper reports that Apple has once again defied the recession by recording a 15 percent rise in quarterly profit. Revenue climbed 8.7 percent to USD8.16 billion for its fiscal second quarter, while profit grew to USD1.21 billion, or USD1.33 a share, from USD1.05 billion, or USD1.16 a share. Apple's iPhone business sold 3.8 million units in the quarter, more than double the sales of a year earlier, and 11 million iPod players were shipped. Its quarterly profit figure was also boosted by declining commodity prices for key product components such as aluminum, microprocessors and memory chips, analysts said.
The Financial Times reports that US telecommunications group AT&T posted solid first quarter results. Net income dropped to USD3.1 billion, or USD0.53 a share, from USD3.5 billion, or USD0.57 a share, in the year ago quarter, reflecting USD400 million in pension-related expenses. Revenues came in at USD30.6 billion, compared with USD30.7 billion a year ago. The solid results were thanks to continued strong mobile phone and IP television growth, although this was partly offset by weakness in traditional fixed-line consumer voice and business revenues.
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Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 