At the very least, give the folks at OpenTable, the San Francisco-based developer of an electronic reservation booking system, an A for chutzpah, as they launch an initial public offering in the midst of a consumer-spending meltdown (Risk duly noted below.)
The company registered today to raise an estimated Read the rest of this entry »
The board of directors at CV Therapeutics decided to extend by a year the shareholders rights plan they have in place to fend off hostile takeovers. The plan, otherwise known as a poison pill, was set to expire Read the rest of this entry »
Ditech Networks, the Fremont telecom equipment provider that Wall Street values about 40 percent below the amount of cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet, was asked to consider an offer to buy the company for about $32.8 million, or $1.25 a share, 28 percent higher than the stock’s closing price the day before Read the rest of this entry »
Now that earnings season is in full swing, we’re seeing some Silicon Valley companies post some whopping losses. To a degree, that’s to be expected when the economy sours.
But there’s more going on here. Companies are announcing big write-offs that are resulting in big-time losses. And while they might try to tell you these write-offs are no big deal, they’re wrong. They’re a very big deal.
A day before Geron announced to the world last week that it had won approval from U.S. regulators to begin the first human test of embryonic stem cells by treating people who have spinal cord injuries, a member of its board told the company he was resigning.
John Walker, a member of the company’s Read the rest of this entry »
Bookham, the San Jose optical component firm that yesterday announced an agreement to merge with its Fremont riva, Avanex, reported to the SEC today that the compensation committee of its board of directors last week approved the payment of performance-based bonuses to five of its top executives despite the fact that the performance goals on which they were based were not met.
The performance period in question was the six month period ended Dec. 27. For the executives to receive a bonus under the plan, the company was to achieve Read the rest of this entry »
In case you were wondering how to obtain a copy of your birth certificate in New Mexico, then you could refer to a new article posted at wikihow.com, which would be the Web sites 50,000th such article, and the occasion for a celebratory press release from the Menlo Park venture begun four years ago by Jack Herrick with the Read the rest of this entry »
I shouldn’t be surprised that the transition to digital television has become an absolute disaster. No matter how many public service announcements I’ve been forced to watch over the past year, it apparently wasn’t enough to get the 6.5 million folks who aren’t prepared off their barcaloungers and get ready for the change.
So now, amid a global financial meltdown, the biggest political issue facing our new president and the Congress is preventing millions of television screens from going dark, or fuzzy, of whatever. Brilliant. Here’s some advice: During these dark times, don’t take away the people’s bread and circuses.
The latest twist in this train wreck came today when the U.S. House failed to approve a delay in this transition until June 12. Now, if you read this story carefully, I’m not convinced this was quite the setback that it appears to be. The vote was brought to the House in such a way that it needed two-thirds approval. While it failed, it did get 258-168 voting in favor. A minority of Republicans apparently believe they can score some political points on this, but just how this works in their favor, I’m not exactly clear.
Intel will be the first Silicon Valley company among the vanguard of public companies in the United States that will ask shareholders this year to express their approval or disapproval of the way the company compensates its top executives.
The announcement came via Read the rest of this entry »
Two local optical components rivals — Bookham of San Jose and Avanex of Fremont — announced today they have reached an agreement to merge into a single company, name yet to be determined, and subject to the approval of their respective shareholders.
Avanex shareholders will receive about Read the rest of this entry »
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