Author: Harvey Dyer

Biotech stock market news
Analysis, BioTech, business, Finance

BioTech Stock News in Video : Valeant (NYSE:VRX) vs Allergan (NYSE:AGN) Takeover Battle, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) + Covidien (NYSE:COV) $45 Billion Deal in Video + GMO Experiments

A source familiar with the matter said on Saturday, Medical-device maker Medtronic Inc and rival Covidien, are in advanced talks to combine in a deal valued at $45 billion to $50 billion. The person said, asking not to be named because the matter is not public, the deal, which would allow Medtronic to be domiciled in Ireland where Covidien is based and thus take advantage of lower tax rates, could come as soon as Monday. Minneapolis-based Medtronic, which makes cardiovascular and orthopedic devices, has a market value of about $61 billion.

An executive vice-president of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc will leave the company, even as the Canadian drugmaker fends off criticism about management turnover from its takeover target Allergan Inc . Valeant confirmed late on Friday after inquiries by Reuters, Executive vice-president and company group chairman Ryan Weldon will leave. Like Chief Executive Mike Pearson, Weldon previously worked for management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Valeant said Weldon’s departure was planned, and takes effect after it completes a $1.4 billion sale of several injectable treatments to Nestle SA.

Before residents in southern Oregon overwhelmingly voted to ban genetically modified crops last month, farmers negotiated for months with a biotech company that grows engineered sugar beets near their fields. Their goal was to set up a system to peacefully coexist, an online mapping database of fields to help growers minimize cross-pollination between engineered and non-engineered crops. But the effort between farmers and Swiss company Syngenta failed, leading to the ban. Last October, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber directed the state’s Department of Agriculture to undertake something far more ambitious than that failed mapping effort — map GMO field locations across the entire state and establish buffer zones and exclusion areas for GE crops.

Continue reading “BioTech Stock News in Video : Valeant (NYSE:VRX) vs Allergan (NYSE:AGN) Takeover Battle, Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) + Covidien (NYSE:COV) $45 Billion Deal in Video + GMO Experiments”

Harvey Dyer
Finance, Internet

5 Stocks to Watch Next Week : Intel, Priceline, Intel, Finisar, Univision

Our selection of Technology stocks to watch for next week with Intel, Priceline, Intel, Finisar and, Univision.

WSJ’s Emma Moody outlines three stocks to watch on Friday, June 13: Priceline, Intel and Finisar.

Univision, the biggest Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S., is in early talks with several media companies about a possible sale. The big question is just how high that price tag will ultimately go. WSJ’s Shalini Ramachandran joins Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Photo: AP

The European Union’s second-highest court on Thursday upheld a record €1.06 billion ($1.43 billion) fine against Intel Corp. for abusing its dominant position in the microprocessor market, marking the latest in a long line of victories for EU antitrust authorities at the European courts.



Continue reading “5 Stocks to Watch Next Week : Intel, Priceline, Intel, Finisar, Univision”

Harvey Dyer
business, Finance, Internet, Mobile, Software

BlackBerry’s Mega Deal (NASDAQ:BBRY) , New Product for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple in Trouble in Europe (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday it has signed a agreement with EnStream LP, a mobile payments joint venture owned by Canada’s three large wireless carriers, to provide a secure platform for transactions between banks and consumers. Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry has been trying to reinvent itself under new Chief Executive Officer John Chen as its phones have lost ground to Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Galaxy devices.

The company’s QNX software already is a mainstay in the automobile industry, powering electronic and other systems in a wide range of cars.



Amazon’s newly announced music streaming service is yet another attempt by the company to move beyond e-commerce and infuse itself into the daily lives of Americans with an increasing number of offerings, including grocery delivery and streaming TV. The announcement comes just days ahead of the expected unveiling of the company’s first smartphone.

Starting Thursday, Amazon.com Inc. will offer more than a million tracks for ad-free streaming and download to Kindle Fire tablets as well as to computers and the Amazon Music app for Apple and Android devices.



The European Commission will launch a formal investigation on Wednesday into Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland, Irish state broadcaster RTE reported, without naming its source. The EU’s competition authority said last year that it was looking into corporate tax arrangements in several member states and had requested information from Ireland.



Continue reading “BlackBerry’s Mega Deal (NASDAQ:BBRY) , New Product for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple in Trouble in Europe (NASDAQ:AAPL)”

Harvey Dyer
Analysis, Finance, Internet, Mobile

(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook Stock News : Impact of Messenger For IOS and Mobile Ads Network

(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook has updated its Messenger app for iOS devices, giving users the ability to record and send 15-second video messages. Version 6.0 of the app also adds a feature called “Big Likes” — when you really like something, press and hold to send an even bigger “thumbs up” sign. The new version of Messenger comes after Facebook’s odd, accidental rollout of messaging app Slingshot earlier this week. That app, which was quickly pulled from Apple’s App Store, also had the ability to send short video messages to friends.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has announced it will track browsing activity to better serve ads on the site. The company will also give users more control over said ads. Facebook says it’s bringing more data into its interest-based ad targeting — specifically data from non-Facebook websites and mobile apps.

So even if your profile doesn’t say anything about your love of (say) soccer during the World Cup 2014, and even if you haven’t Liked any soccer-related Pages on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), the social network can still see that you’ve visited soccer-related websites and target ads accordingly. In a blog post, the company describes this as “a type of interest-based advertising” that’s already practiced by many other Internet companies in Silicon Valley.

Facebook will now use personal information gathered from your activities elsewhere on the Web to more precisely target advertisements on the social network. Given Facebook’s extensive reach around the globe, the development has alarmed privacy advocates who are asking federal regulators review the matter. Democratic Media vowed to press Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez today on the agency’s failure to raise objections to Facebook’s new data-grabbing plan.

Continue reading “(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook Stock News : Impact of Messenger For IOS and Mobile Ads Network”

Harvey Dyer
Finance, Internet

Twitter stock (NYSE:TWTR) to Benefit from Soccer World Cup Fever

This year’s World Cup will play out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and messaging apps like WhatsApp just as it progresses in stadiums from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. Nearly 40 percent of Facebook’s 1.28 billion users are football fans. On Tuesday, the world’s biggest online social network is adding new features to help fans follow the World Cup — the world’s most widely viewed sporting event — which takes place in Brazil from June 12th to July 13th.

Largely ignored during much of last year’s 30 percent rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the stocks leading the U.S. market this year rank among its usually sleepiest components. The best sector in 2014 is utilities, including Consolidated Edison. They’re up 14.5 percent on a total return basis this year, compared with 6.4 percent for the S&P 500 as a whole.

The Soccer World Cup in Brazil will be the most tweeted global event ever, according to a report from Twitter (NYSE:TWTR). Brazil’s Twitter director Guilherme Ribenboim said the volume of messages sent during the month-long competition starting on June 12 will dwarf the 150 million tweets sent about the 2012 London Olympic Games. “We have been showing them how they should use the Twitter platform, how to use hashtags, how to engage with their fans.”

Twitter is also bringing back the “hashflags” it introduced in the 2010 World Cup. Users who tweet three-letter country codes for participating nations — such as BRA for Brazil or ESP for Spain — will see the country’s flag appear in their tweet. Twitter says it will then tally the mentions in its “World Cup of tweets.”

Continue reading “Twitter stock (NYSE:TWTR) to Benefit from Soccer World Cup Fever”

Harvey Dyer
Analysis, Finance, Mobile

(NASDAQ:EBAY) EBay’s PayPal CEO joins Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) To Lead Messaging Products (Video)

eBay said on Monday David Marcus, who has led eBay Inc’s fast-growing payments unit PayPal, will step down from the e-commerce company on June 27 to run Facebook messaging products. EBay shares fell about 2 percent in trading after hours. Marcus has led PayPal, which has 148 million active users, for the past two years during which the payments unit has moved more aggressively into stores and mobile devices.

Facebook has nabbed PayPal’s president in the clearest indication yet that the social media company will soon be venturing into online payments. the company announced in a press release on Monday David Marcus will lead Facebook’s messaging products. Marcus confirmed the move with a post to Facebook, which said “While I was in the middle of my thought process about what was next for me, Mark Zuckerberg and I got together.”

Following the acquisition of Whatsapp, Facebook is now looking for a strong strategy to actively monetize NASDAQ:FB leadership in the live messaging business. David Marcus should lead the way within the Facebook organization.

Facebook has appointed PayPal CEO David Marcus to head to its Messenger service. Not surprisingly, that’s got the tech industry abuzz over how the company will finally start making money from its Messenger app. One way is to start a money transfer service that puts Facebook head-to-head with Marcus’s last employer. Another is to create stickers. Cute digital icons are all the rage in Asia, and they could become bigger on Facebook‘s Messenger service if the right infrastructure is put in place by it and other services like Instagram

Continue reading “(NASDAQ:EBAY) EBay’s PayPal CEO joins Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) To Lead Messaging Products (Video)”

Harvey Dyer