Corporate and legal

Best Buy bails out of European venture in $775M deal

Best Buy is selling its 50 percent joint venture stake back to mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse for 500 million pounds ($775 million).

It's a massive loss for Best Buy, which bought 50 percent of Carphone Warehouse's retail operations for $2.1 billion in 2008, during the time where the global financial crisis was about to kick the European market firmly where it hurts.

In a statement on Tuesday, Best Buy said it has entered a definitive agreement to sell its half of the business in conjunction with Carphone Warehouse back to the company. The total figure includes … Read more

Yahoo's bid for Dailymotion reportedly axed by French pol

Yahoo's bid to take a controlling stake in French video-sharing site Dailymotion has reportedly been killed by the French government.

Dailymotion, which is owned by France-Telecom, was in talks to sell a 75 percent stake to Yahoo, according to a report last month by The Wall Street Journal. The deal was expected to give Yahoo a much-needed boost in the overseas video-sharing space, which is mainly dominated by services like Google's YouTube.

While Marissa Mayer purchased a recommendations startup late last year to fortify Yahoo's presence on mobile, Dailymotion would be her first big acquisition since she … Read more

Yahoo continues to recast itself and debuts two new ad features

As Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer continues to work to reformulate the company as a modern mobile-forward search engine with new products and features, she's also thinking about earning revenue the good old-fashioned way -- advertising.

The company launched two new ad features on Monday. One is a new way of introducing ads called Yahoo Stream Ads, and the other is a redesigned Yahoo Billboard.

"As we continue to build products and features that inspire and entertain our users, we're committed to delivering engaging and effective advertising opportunities," Mayer wrote in a blog post Monday. "Over … Read more

Jack Dorsey says Twitter 'not even thinking' IPO -- report

Although there has been much speculation in recent months that Twitter is ramping up for an initial public offering, company co-founder Jack Dorsey has suggested that nothing is imminent.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Dorsey reportedly said that Twitter "is not even thinking" about an IPO at the moment.

"A lot of people think of this as a goal you have to get to but it's a milestone," Dorsey told Bloomberg during an interview in New York. "If you think about it as a goal you're rushing towards it and then stop, and … Read more

Opera suit: Former employee spilled secrets to Mozilla

Opera Software has sued former employee Trond Werner Hansen, alleging that he gave trade secrets to rival browser maker Mozilla.

The Norwegian company seeks damages of 20 million kroner, or $3.4 million, according to a report by newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv, which uncovered the suit and wrote about it Monday.

"Opera is of the opinion that the former employee has acted contrary to his contractual and other legal obligations towards Opera. Among other things, we claim that he is in breach of the duty of loyalty and his contractual and statutory confidentiality obligations," said Ole E. Tokvam, a … Read more

Nest software update aims for more comfort, lower bills

With all of the 10 hottest years on record having come since 1998, it's hard to deny that things are getting hotter. And as the temperature rises, so too does society's power usage.

With that in mind, Nest, the maker of the Learning Thermostat, has just issued its latest software update aimed at increasing people's comfort, while at the same time reducing their energy bills.

Last week, the company unveiled Nest Energy Services, a set of initiatives available to customers of certain utility companies that has a similar goal. But the new software update works for anyone … Read more

Huawei CEO: Next boss won't come from my family

Telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies won't be a family-run business for long.

In a letter sent to employees on Sunday and obtained by Reuters, Huawei CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei said that no one in his family will succeed him because he doesn't believe any relatives have all of the personal qualities necessary to effectively lead the company.

"Huawei's successor should not only have vision, character and ambition, like what we've said before, but also a good global perspective and the acumen to drive the business," Ren wrote, according to Reuters. "My family … Read more

Sprint gets OK from SoftBank to explore rival Dish offer

Sprint Nextel has received approval from SoftBank to continue talking to Dish Network about its rival takeover offer, the carrier said Monday.

Sprint has already agreed upon a deal in which it would merge with SoftBank, a wireless carrier based in Japan. But Dish last week launched a sweetened $25.5 billion bid for Sprint.

The carrier said Monday that it had gotten a waiver from SoftBank to clarify and obtain additional information on the Dish proposal. Sprint is now able to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with Dish, although it is not able to provide Dish with non-public information. … Read more

Square Register update could help quick-serve restaurants

Quick-serve restaurants could start benefiting from Square's mobile payments service thanks to an update to its Square Register service.

According to Square, the update is aimed at helping restaurant managers better serve customers -- and process orders more quickly and efficiently -- with a set of tools created just for them. Square said that the new features allow for quickly customizing orders with order modifiers, even as a line keeps moving. And the service helps with more accurate recording or orders, as well as easier communication between servers and the kitchen, the San Francisco startup said.

Among the new … Read more

At Shapeways facility, order emerges from 3D-printed chaos

NEW YORK -- Looking at the diagram in front of me, which shows a pile of random things jumbled together, I can't help but think that I'm looking at the aftermath of something like a hurricane or a flood.

Actually, however, this is optimized organization of the highest order. It's a chart showing the dozens of item that will emerge in a little while from the 3D printer I'm standing next to.

Here at the Shapeways production facility in Queens, nine high-end 3D printers chug along continuously, churning out hundreds, or even thousands, of individual products … Read more