financial

Nokia said this morning that it will sell its head office in Espoo, Finland, to software consultancy firm Exilion for 170 million euros ($222 million).

The struggling phone maker said in a statement that it will lease back the head office at a lower price, but Nokia did not disclose any additional figures.

The move comes as the phone maker, which has suffered over the past year with poor quarterly financial results, continues to struggle in a market dominated by companies such as Apple and Samsung.

Nokia's chief financial officer, Timo Ihamuotila, said that the deal is in line … Read more

Zynga, the embattled social-gaming company, has watched its shares fall as investors get the first chance to react to a modified contract the company signed with Facebook.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, the amended agreement between the companies no longer requires Zynga to display Facebook ads on its site, use Facebook Credits, or develop titles only for the social network's platform. In exchange, Zynga won't be allowed to promote its games inside other titles it has developed that people are playing on the social network.

The news was apparently bad news for … Read more

Credit card companies that blocked WikiLeaks a couple of years ago didn't do anything wrong, the European Union's European Commission said today.

Last year, donation collection gateway DataCell complained to the commission that it was unfair for MasterCard Europe, Visa Europe, and American Express to have blocked donations to WikiLeaks. DataCell provided payment gateway services to WikiLeaks, accepting donations for the controversial organization. It was able to facilitate those transactions by operating its datacenter in Iceland -- away from legal prying eyes.

In its complaint, which it filed in July 2011, DataCell said that the credit card companies … Read more

Apple has been told to pay an additional $28.5 million in back taxes to the Australian government, a report out of the country says.

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting today that the Australia Tax Office actually hit Apple with the charge in April. According to the news outlet, Apple's Australian division generated $4.9 billion in revenue last year but paid only $94.7 million in taxes.

Apple's tax strategy has come under intense scrutiny over the last year as news of the company's shockingly low tax liability has been made public. During its last … Read more

Panasonic will reportedly layoff more employees in an attempt to turn its business around.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published today, Panasonic finance boss Hideaki Kawai said that his company will shed 10,000 more jobs by the end of March. During its last fiscal year, Panasonic axed 36,000 jobs. The layoffs are designed to bring the company's many ailing divisions back to health, according to Reuters.

That might not be so easy. According to Reuters, Kawai said that 20 percent of Panasonic's 88 business units are actually losing money. Half of all of its units … Read more

Carl Icahn's interest in Netflix hasn't stopped him from making strategic investments elsewhere.

Just yesterday, a host of Icahn organizations, including Icahn Partners and Icahn Master, bought up about 500,000 shares in Take-Two Interactive to increase his ownership to 9.57 percent. Icahn, who previously owned about 8.7 percent of Take-Two, has invested an aggregate total of $79.9 million in the company.

Icahn has been, at times, a thorn in Take-Two's side. In 2010, he had a spat with Take-Two's board of directors and eventually had three members ousted. In their place, Icahn … Read more

Sharp is looking distinctly less keen these days. Not only are its losses "huge," the company warned investors that there is "material doubt" that it may be able to continue as a "going concern." These are never good words to hear from a major company.

The ailing Japanese consumer-electronics manufacturer saw sales drop 16 percent year-over-year to 1.1 trillion yen ($13.7 billion) in the six months ended September 30. The company's net loss widened to 387.6 billion yen, dwarfing last year's six-month loss of 39.8 billion yen.

"… Read more

Last updated at 2 p.m. PT

Apple's stock has entered territory it hasn't been in for quite some time.

The stock finished at $595.32, down $8.68, or 1.44 percent today. At one point earlier in the day Apple's shares fell as low as $587.70.

Apple's stock hasn't closed a day below the $600 mark since July. For a brief period on Friday, Apple's shares dropped to $591 before closing the day at $604.

Might today's decline be attributable to Apple's announcement Monday of the departure of two senior executives … Read more

Facebook investors finally have something to celebrate.

The social network's shares have soared in early trading today, jumping 23 percent to nearly $24. Facebook closed the day yesterday at $19.50.

For a stock that has slid and slid since IPO day in May, the jump marks the biggest single-day gain yet for Facebook.

Investors are responding favorably to Facebook's better-than-expected third-quarter earnings report that came out yesterday. The company revealed that its adjusted earnings per share hit 12 cents during the period that ended September 30, beating analyst estimates by a penny. Facebook's revenue rose 32 … Read more