Posts Tagged ‘technology’

Google (GOOG) settles with FTC over Buzz

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Google, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) shares surged as much as .65 percent to $585.50 in morning trading Wednesday, after the internet giant announced it had settled privacy charges with the Federal Trade Commission over Google Buzz. Despite the news, volume for the company was a modest 727,237 after lunch Wednesday, compared to a daily average over 2.5 million.

Per the agreement reached, the Mountain View, California-based Google has agreed to establish a “comprehensive privacy program”, while not admitting to any wrong-doing. This settlement resolves allegations that last year’s launch of Google Buzz, a venture into social networking by the Web giant, initially shared more information than users reasonably expected. The privacy program established includes regular reports on its privacy practices prepared by an independent professional for the next 20 years.

On the Official Google blog, the company stated, “The launch of Google Buzz fell short of our usual standards for transparency and user control—letting our users and Google down. While we worked quickly to make improvements, regulators—including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission—unsurprisingly wanted more detail about what went wrong and how we could prevent it from happening again. Today, we’ve reached an agreement with the FTC to address their concerns. We’ll receive an independent review of our privacy procedures once every two years, and we’ll ask users to give us affirmative consent before we change how we share their personal information.”

The settlement, approved 5-0 by the commissioners, is subject to public comment and final approval.

Jon Leibowitz, the Democratic chairman of the FTC, commented, “When companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them. This is a tough settlement that ensures that Google will honor its commitments to consumers and build strong privacy protections into all of its operations.”

SPEC takes flight, T tilting, GT punctured

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Spectrum Control Inc. (Nasdaq: SPEC) shares rallied 39.9% to $19.60. Volume was an incredible 3.2 million, given its usual volume around 73,000. This, after API Technologies Corp. said it would pay $20 a share for the electronic-products maker.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) traded in 41.6 million shares, compared to an average of 27.9 million. Shares of T gained 1.8% to $29.38, as Sprint Nextel criticized T’s proposed takeover of rival T-Mobile USA.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) shares shed 5.6% to $14.58, on volume of 13.2 million – double its usual daily volume — after the tire maker said it is making a public offering of $435 million of mandatory convertible preferred stock.

ALU spikes, SIRI serious, OTIV off-track

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) shares added 7.7% to $5.75, on volume of 34 million shares, nosing out its average for the day, after the telecom-equipment stock was upgraded to buy from neutral by Goldman Sachs.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (Nasdaq: SIRI) beamed out to stock traders Monday, dealing in 25.6 million shares by noon ET, compared to a full-day average of 53.7 million. Share prices subsided, though, by 0.6% to $1.71.

On Track Innovations (Nasdaq: OTIV) faded in price 12.3% to $2.21 Monday noon, on volume of nearly 489,000 shares, already outdoing its all-day average of 376,797. Monday, the company announced operating profit of $2.8 million of 2010.

RURL in a whirl, VRGY in crosshairs, FUQI in a funk

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Rural/Metro Corporation (NASDAQ: RURL) shares leaped 36.3% to $17.11. More than four million shares changed hands in the first hour, overwhelming a full-day average around 91,000, after it announced it has entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of the Company by the private equity firm Warburg Pincus in an all-cash transaction.

Verigy Ltd. (Nasdaq: VRGY) was among the volume leaders in the early going Monday, trading in 9.1 million shares, compared to a full-day average of 1.2 million. Share prices were up 0.4% to $14.23, amid stories Advantest was to buy Verigy for $1.1 billion.

Fuqi International Inc. (Nasdaq: FUQI) shares fell 5.7% to $3.17. Share volume topped 883,000, trumping its average of 568,635. The Chinese jewelry company again delayed the filing of its restated 2009 results, citing an internal investigation of cash transfers.

TSON in orbit, CSCO buzzes, EBIX swoons

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

TranS1 Inc. (Nasdaq: TSON) shares gained 25.8% to $4.10. Volume was 8.2 million shares, up against a daily average of only 172,000, after the medical-device manufacturer said U.S. regulators had cleared its spinal implant system.

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) was a volume champion Thursday, with 51.3 million shares changing hands, still below its average of 71.5 million. Share prices for CSCO were down, however, by 1.3% to $17.36.

Ebix Inc. (Nasdaq: EBIX) suffered a price nosedive of 24.2% Thursday to $22.53, on volume of 14.1 million shares, towering over its average of 575,442. Monitoring system BUYINS.NET announced it was updating its coverage of EBIX.