Dendreon Sells $20M in Stock, Microsoft Teams Up with Scripps, Monster Buys BitWine, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... Red Sox), dealflow has been fairly strong. The Northwest saw plenty of action in mobile, biotech, health care, and seed-stage tech funds in the past week. —Redmond, WA-based MobUI, a mobile software developer, acquired Bellevue, WA-based Action Engine, as Ryan reported. MobUI also raised new funding, led by GlobalNET Mobile Solutions, a South American wireless application service provider, but no financial terms were disclosed. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and San Diego-based Scripps Health teamed up with Bay Area firms Affymetrix and Navigenics ...

Wall Street reacts to Microsoft's earnings
The Microsoft Blog — Microsoft's stock is roughly flat this morning on a day that the Dow is down about 4 percent. Below are some selections from analysts' research reports out this morning. Largely, they applaud Microsoft's move to trim its forecast for the year and cut costs from its budget, while expressing some alarm over the weaker than expected showing in the company's core Client (Windows) group. Sarah Friar of Goldman Sachs cut her target price to $30 from $34: Two paradigm shifts in desktop computing are converging on Microsoft's cash-cow businesses – Windows and Office. Timing holds the key to valuation – A "rapid technology ...

MarketOutsider Tells Investors Who’s Up, Who’s Down in the Media
Xconomy — ... , Jeff Bezos’s appearance on Oprah, and her endorsement of Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader. I’m guessing Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will be up today and tomorrow, as its professional developers conference is going on in Los Angeles, and the company is set to announce its own cloud computing product… ...

Microsoft, Akamai Partner on “Smooth HD” Video; Alternative to Brightcove
Xconomy — ... In their announcement, Akamai and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) say that media companies that publish high-definition video on the web—but arrange for the video quality to gracefully degrade depending on the user’s connection speed, rather than subjecting users to repeated buffering waits—will benefit from longer viewing times, greater brand awareness, and higher advertising revenues. ...

Collaborative software maker Open-Xchange closes $9M round
VC Ratings — Tarrytown, N.Y.-based open source e-mail and collaboration software developer Open-Xchange Inc. has closed a second round of venture funding worth $9 million, led by eCapital Entrepreneurial Partners AG of Munster, Germany. First-time investor BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and repeat investor BayTech Venture Capital, both of Munich, also joined in the new round. Though based in the Hudson Valley, Open-Xchange maintains research, development and operations offices in Germany. The company previously raised an $8.8 million Series A round from BayTech and Business Angels in 2006, and landed ...

Microsoft launches new service to help startups -- using Microsoft software
VC Ratings — ... Microsoft Corp. [MSFT] has launched a new program called BizSpark, which will provide all sorts of development tools free of charge for three years to qualifying startups and, as TechCrunch notes, "lock these guys in after three years when fees start to be charged." ...

Mobile Web conferencing startup PhoneTopp makes debut, seeks first round
VC Ratings — Now that Apple Inc.'s [AAPL] iPhone is the best-selling mobile device on the market, smartphone application developers are getting ready for prime time. One such company, mobile Web conferencing PhoneTopp, is preparing to make its debut at the Under the Radar conference, in advance of an anticipated Series A round of funding. Founding CEO Tom Barsi, late of network security provider ConSentry Networks, walked me through a demonstration of PhoneTopp's service. Built atop leading videoconferencing services such as Cisco Systems Inc.'s [CSCO] WebEx, Microsoft Corp.'s ...

Microsoft stock at 10-year low
The Microsoft Blog — Microsoft stock hit a 10-year low this morning after an analyst at Jefferies Group cut her forecasts for the company, citing "downward pressure on PC unit sales." The analyst -- Katherine Egbert -- reduced her fiscal year 2009 revenue forecast to $64.4 billion and her forecast for earnings per share to $2.03. Microsoft expects revenue to be between $64.9 billion and $66.4 billion for the year and earnings per share to be between $2 and $2.10. The stock ...

Turn That Frown Upside Down; Market Closes Up 553 Points
Wired: Epicenter — The stock market behaved a lot like a bipolar teenager on Thursday. Shortly after the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged to 7,965.42, the market picked up and rallied to close at 8,835.25 -- which means there was a 911 point trading range today. (Conspiracy theorists could have a heyday with that one.) Among the most volatile tech stocks: Apple shares fell as low as $86.44, but closed at $96.44; and IBM dipped down to $75.40, but rallied to $84.21 at close. And Microsoft and Intel were easily among the most actively traded stocks. On an average day, about 95 million shares ...

Social network aggregator Power.com launches globally, takes $8M
VC Ratings — As the buzz grows for Facebook Inc.'s Connect initiative to reach further outside its walled garden, a new venture-backed startup is endeavoring to reach inside social networks and gather information into one place. That'd be Rio de Janeiro-based Power.com, whose system permits users to gain visibility into their friends' pages on various social networks, allowing cross-platform messaging and other utilities that span across Facebook, Hi5, LinkedIn, Microsoft Corp.'s [MSFT] MSN, News Corp.'s [NWS] MySpace Inc. and Google Inc.'s [GOOG] Orkut. Draper Fisher Jurvetson has ...

Clearwire Closes WiMax Merger, Entellium Goes on Sale, Microsoft May Yet Buy Yahoo Search, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... Gregory T. Huang wrote: Despite the Thanksgiving holiday, it was a fairly busy week for deals in the Northwest. Some big companies reared their heads (or at least were reported to) in software, wireless, and biotech, and other deals are in the works, so stay tuned. —The Times of London reported that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is looking to acquire Yahoo’s (NASDAQ: YHOO) search business for $20 billion. The veracity of the report has been seriously disputed, but it raises some interesting questions about the near-term ...

Microsoft Hires Head of Online Services from Yahoo
Xconomy — ... Gregory T. Huang wrote: Redmond, WA-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced it has appointed Qi Lu as president of its online services group, which encompasses all of the company’s online search, advertising, information, and communications services. Lu was most recently Yahoo’s executive vice president of engineering for search and advertising technology. Before spending 10 years at Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), Lu, 47, held positions at IBM, Carnegie Mellon University, and Fudan University in China. He starts at Microsoft on ...

Microsoft and EMC Get Secure, PATH Puts $3M Into Bird Flu, Amazon Closes Book on Abe, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... research programs at its annual holiday gala, as Luke Timmerman reported. More than half the money, $1.2 million, will be used to expand immunotherapy clinical trials in the late stages of disease. —Seattle-based nonprofit PATH is investing $3 million in a vaccine candidate against pandemic flu, as Luke reported. The vaccine, which is intended to mimic “bird flu,” is being developed by Gaithersburg, MD-based Lentigen. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Hopkinton, MA-based storage giant EMC (NYSE: [[ticker: EMC]]) expanded their ...

N-trig lands $24M
VC Ratings — N-trig Ltd., an Israeli developer of touch-screen technology for PCs and laptops, has raised $24 million from Microsoft Corp. [MSFT], Aurum Ventures, Challenger Ltd., Canaan Partners and Evergreen Venture Partners. The startup's technology is deployed on certain models of Hewlett-Packard Co. [HPQ] and Dell Inc. [DELL] computers, it said. Microsoft reportedly contributed the largest portion of the funding and is working with N-trig to develop its technology to work with the latest version of the software giant's operating system. "With the introduction of ...

Microsoft Wins Over Verizon, DTS Buys Neural Audio, ZymoGenetics Scores with Bristol-Myers, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... mobile, and cleantech. —Luke reported Seattle-based ZymoGenetics (NASDAQ: ZGEN) has hit a “home run” with a global partnership with the drug giant Bristol-Myers Squibb, worth up to $1.1 billion, to co-develop an experimental treatment for hepatitis C. The deal gives ZymoGenetics an immediate infusion of $85 million in cash and another $20 million in licensing fees this year, plus potential milestone payments. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) took part in a $24 million funding round for the user-interface company ...

Microsoft Helps Stream Inauguration Video
Xconomy — ... Gregory T. Huang wrote: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced today that its Silverlight software will be used to stream live video of the official swearing-in ceremony on the Presidential Inaugural Committee website on Tuesday, January 20. The media-player software was developed in collaboration with Las Vegas, NV-based iStreamPlanet. ...

Microsoft Streams Obama Inauguration, Smartsheet Lands Cash, eBay Buys Positronic, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... Gregory T. Huang wrote: After a gangbusters start to the year, the deal flow in the Northwest has slowed down. Most of the activity was in software last week. —Not the usual sort of deal, but Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said its Silverlight software is being used to stream live video of today’s presidential inauguration on the organizers’ official website. Microsoft developed the media-player software together with Las Vegas, NV-based iStreamPlanet. —The Washington Technology Center, ...

Microsoft Cuts 5,000 Jobs, Almost 6 Percent of Workforce
Xconomy — ... Microsoft’s long-rumored job cuts are now official: 5,000 employees will be losing their jobs. The Redmond, WA-based software giant (NASDAQ: MSFT) said today in its quarterly earnings report that it is eliminating those positions over the next 18 months, which amounts to almost six percent of its workforce of 90,000 employees. ...

Wall Street analysts react to Microsoft's cutbacks
The Microsoft Blog — For weeks, Wall Street analysts had pushed Microsoft to cut employees. So what are they saying now that Microsoft has done just that? A series of research reports issued Friday largely echo the sentiments ...

Microsoft overpaid severance, wants money back
VC Ratings — It sounds like an early April Fool's joke, but it's no prank: Some of the 1,400 employees Microsoft Corp. [Nasdaq: MSFT] laid off in January are being asked to return some of their severance pay. "This letter is to inform you that an inadvertent administrative error occurred that resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft," reads a correspondence to some former employees dated Feb. 18. "We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you." Inconvenience is one way of putting it. Adding insult ...

Analysts sour even more on outlook for PC sales
The Microsoft Blog — Before setting out on a tour of Asia, where the vast majority of PCs are made, Morgan Stanley analysts expected PC revenue to drop 10 percent this year. Upon their return, the analysts slashed their forecasts. They now expect a staggering 24 percent drop in revenue, as lower cost netbooks make up an increasing percentage of PC sales. They expect unit sales to drop 11 percent. Read the Associated Press article on the changed forecast here ...

Survey Ranks San Diego No. 1 in Remote Working
Xconomy — ... by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) says San Diego is the best midsize city in the United States for remote working. The nationwide survey commissioned by the Redmond, WA, software giant found that U.S. employers generally support remote-working programs, although just 39.4 percent have a policy that details how their employees can work from home. Microsoft says interest in remote working has been spurred by higher energy costs and the current economic crisis. ...

Report: IBM in Talks to Buy Sun Microsystems for $6.5B
Xconomy — ... The combination of the two companies—which the WSJ story stressed may not happen—makes sense on at least a couple of fronts. Both companies are leaders in the development of open-source software, and, as the Journal story notes, the firms provide servers and other technologies for large businesses that aren’t dependent on Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows software or Intel’s computer chips. Sources told the WSJ that IBM could pay $6.5 billion in cash to scoop up Sun. ...

Microsoft Closes Book on Encarta
Xconomy — ... Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced today it is shutting down MSN Encarta, its online encyclopedia, as of October 31, 2009. The news was first reported by ...

Seattle Layoff Update: Exide, Expedia, Impinj, Sun Trim Staff; MSN Encarta, Trusera to Close
Xconomy — ... in February. —Seattle-based Impinj, the maker of novel radio frequency identification technologies, laid off 23 workers (or about 18 percent of its staff of 130) two weeks ago. Xconomy profiled the company’s strategy in February. —Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA), the software and networking giant, laid off 24 employees in Bellevue, WA, earlier this week. The staff cuts are effective May 30. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is laying off two employees at its Seattle facility near the ...

Microsoft loses patent case, ordered to pay $388 million
TG Daily - All News — ... this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported. We will ask the court to overturn the verdict." The case was originally filed in October, 2003. It has endured because Microsoft had previously won the case, with Uniloc appealing their losing verdict on the argument that a key expert witness used by Microsoft had a conflict of interest in giving his testimony. The appeal was granted and Uniloc won this second trial in court by a jury verdict. Microsoft's share prices ( MSFT ) were down slightly in after hours trading on the news, currently at $19.19. Microsoft had ...

Should the Government Control Internet Standards?
ReadWriteWeb — ... Additionally, with Facebook Connect, there are greater issues at stake; specifically, accountability. While Microsoft is held accountable by shareholders, Facebook, a private company, shares no such responsibility. ...

Microsoft Sells Franchise for $20M, Cell Therapeutics Collects $15M, Adapx Raises $9M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... , a lead-generation subsidiary based in Seattle and Roswell, GA, to Landmark Interactive for some $20 million. Franchise Gator was bought for $21.5 million in 2006 by aQuantive, which was acquired by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in 2007. ...

Microsoft Aims to Help Scientists Move Past Excel, Make Sense of Gene Data Overload
Xconomy — ... wrote: Biologists are living in an era of information overload, and Microsoft says it’s making an effort to help them cut through the noise. The Redmond, WA-based software firm is introducing a new program today called Amalga Life Sciences, designed to help lab scientists make sense of the vast reams of genomic data piling up from experiments, which often come from different software applications and are written in incompatible formats. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is rolling out the program today at the Bio-IT World Conference in ...

Dendreon Drug Prolongs Life, ZymoGenetics Cuts Staff, Microsoft Tackles Biotech & More Seattle-Area Life Sciences News
Xconomy — ... —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is starting to make its life sciences strategy much more clear. The Redmond, WA-based software firm said this week it is introducing Amalga Life Sciences, ...

Dendreon and Cell Therapeutics Sell Stock, Microsoft Buys BigPark, Calistoga Raises $30M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... that Seattle-based Dendreon (NASDAQ: DNDN) raised $197.4 million in a stock offering that is expected to close on May 13. The underwriter of the offering, Deutsche Bank Securities, has an option to buy another 1.27 million shares at the same terms within 30 days, which would amount to an additional $23 million. Dendreon will use the money to expand manufacturing and marketing of its experimental drug for prostate cancer, Provenge. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is acquiring BigPark, an online gaming company based in Vancouver, ...

Northwest Layoff Update: Vidoop, TeachStreet, Pathway, Nokia, Microsoft Cut Staff
Xconomy —

Facebook Funds Seattle Startups, 1000 Markets Gets Seed Financing, Modumetal Closes Equity Round, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... Gregory T. Huang wrote: Heading into the summer months, deals in the Northwest show no signs of slowing down. Neither does Xconomy, which debuted the reporting of our Seattle intern, Eric Hal Schwartz, last Tuesday. In the past week, Eric, Luke, and I have had our hands full with deals in biotech, materials, software, and energy. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is acquiring the Seattle-based assets of Rosetta Biosoftware from Merck, the drug giant based in Whitehouse Station, NJ, as Luke reported. Financial terms were ...

Microsoft Hires Three New Internet Execs
Xconomy — ... Redmond-WA-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is not letting the economy slow it down, hiring three new executives focused on Web search and Internet from Sunnyvale, CA-based Yahoo (NASDAQ: ...

Microsoft to Sell Razorfish, Report Says
Xconomy — ... that Microsoft [[NASDAQ: MSFT) is selling off Razorfish, its online advertising subsidiary based in Seattle, which it acquired as part of its purchase of aQuantive in 2007. The report says Morgan Stanley has been appointed to find a buyer, and that French marketing firm Publicis is a possible bidder. ...

Prometheus Partners with Big Oil, Qliance Raises $4M, Microsoft May Sell Razorfish, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... —Burnaby, BC-based Ballard Power Systems (NASDAQ: BLDP) has teamed up with Bend, OR-based IdaTech to sell 310 hydrogen-fueled generators to ACME Tele Power, a wireless infrastructure company in India, as Eric reported. Terms of the sale weren’t disclosed. The generators will help ACME produce backup power to maintain wireless networks during outages. —The Financial Times reported that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is in the process of selling Razorfish, its Seattle-based online advertising ...

Microsoft Opens App Store for Developers
Xconomy — ... Gregory T. Huang wrote: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced today it has opened its Windows Mobile marketplace for developer submissions from 29 countries. The Redmond, WA, firm is also running a “race to market challenge” in which mobile app developers will receive prizes for categories like most free downloads, most valuable app, and most useful app. The contest will officially begin when the store opens for consumers this fall, and will run until Dec. 31, 2009. The move is seen as an effort to compete with ...

Reports: Microsoft and Yahoo Close Search and Advertising Deal, Will Announce Today
Xconomy — ... It might all turn out to be anticlimactic. After a tumultuous year of on-again, off-again talks to strike an Internet search and advertising deal, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: ...

It's Official - Microsoft to Power Yahoo! Search
SEO and Tech Daily — ... have also set up a joint website here. Swisher also has published Carol Bartz letter to employees. The Microsoft Press Release has (Silverlight powered :) videos from both Steve Ballmer and Bartz with links to more.  The timing of the announcement was obviously set for the US stock market open as a conference call is set for 5:30 AM PT today. You can follow Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) here and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) here. In pre-market trading at 8:10 AM ET, Yahoo! was down almost 6% while Microsoft was ...

Inside the Microsoft-Yahoo Deal, and the Future of the Search Competition with Google
Xconomy — ... this morning that they had reached a search engine and advertising agreement. Amid intense speculation, and after more than a year of disagreements over minor and not-so-minor details, the two companies have signed a ten-year agreement that puts Redmond, WA-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) in control of both companies’ search engine technology, and Yahoo (NASDAQ: ...

Inside the Microsoft-Yahoo Deal, Covance Buys Merck’s Rosetta Lab, Delve Teams Up with Akamai, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... —The big news was the Internet search deal finally announced between Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NASDAQ: ...

Microsoft Sells Razorfish, EnerG2 Scores Stimulus Funds, Tekmira Teams Up with Alnylam, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... , as Bob reported. The payment is expected to include cash and Publicis Groupe treasury shares. In addition, Microsoft and Publicis have entered into a five-year strategic alliance whereby Publicis clients can purchase display and search advertising from Microsoft on favorable terms. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) originally acquired Razorfish in its 2007 purchase of aQuantive. ...

iLike Courts MySpace, Microsoft and Nokia Tie the Knot, Madrona Funds Three Startups, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... Seattle Genetics is six months ahead of schedule in a pivotal study of its experimental drug for Hodgkin’s disease. —Seattle-based Z2Live, a mobile social games startup, has raised $3 million from Madrona Venture Group, according to a report in TechCrunch. Z2Live has developed a free, multiplayer platform for social and casual games on the iPhone and iPod Touch. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) announced an alliance that will create ...

Chase Franklin, Former Qpass Founder and CEO, Takes Charge of Daptiv
Xconomy — ... Before his Qpass days, Franklin spent more than a decade at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), leading product development and management for Microsoft Office, interactive television, and MSN properties. He is regarded as a gifted strategist in the software world. He is also one of about ...

Microsoft Buys Interactive Supercomputing
Xconomy — ... Ryan McBride wrote: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) confirmed yesterday on its Windows Server Division Weblog that the company has purchased the technology assets of Interactive Supercomuting (ISC), a Waltham, MA, developer of parallel computing software. Financial details of the acquisition weren’t revealed. The blog says that ISC’s CEO, Bill Blake, and his firm’s technical experts are moving into Microsoft’s New England Research & Development Center in Cambridge, MA. Xconomy last reported on the activities of ISC when the ...

Microsoft Buys Interactive Supercomputing, Digeo Acquired for $20M, Ignition’s Cloud Portfolio, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... —Seattle-based Maveron and Boston-based Spark Capital co-led an $8 million Series A investment in Altius Education, a San Francisco company deveoping online higher education programs through partnerships with nonprofit universities. The Noah Fund also participated in the funding. Maveron was founded in 1998 by Howard Schultz and Dan Levitan, and focuses on investments in consumer and tech companies. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) acquired the technology assets of Interactive Supercomputing (ISC), a parallel ...

Three reasons why Steve Ballmer will resign from Microsoft (in 2010)
The Next Web — ... Screw those managers right? As long as investors keep loving Microsoft who cares about the rest of the world? Well, no luck there either. Microsoft’s shares have started losing their value the day Steve Ballmer took over as CEO and seem to have never recovered. ...

Amazon, Microsoft Team Up for Kindle on PC
Xconomy — ... a new “Kindle for PC” application that will let people read Kindle electronic books on Windows personal computers. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) demoed the free app at its Windows 7 release event in New York. It will be available worldwide next month. ...

Microsoft and Its Competitors Still In Search of Mainstream User Base for Personal Health Records
Xconomy — ... Neupert, along with his counterparts from Google Health and WebMD, was in Boston last Thursday to discuss personal health data platforms at the annual Connected Health Symposium, which was hosted by Boston-based Partners HealthCare’s Center for Connected Health. Despite the slow adoption rates of personal electronic health records indicated by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ: ...

Amazon Teams Up With Microsoft for E-Books, Bing Goes Real-Time, Revolution Computing Reels In $9M, & More Seattle-Area Deals News
Xconomy — ... (NASDAQ: MSFT) to release Kindle for PC, a software application that will let people read Kindle electronic books on Windows personal computers. No financial terms were announced. The free application will be released next month. ...

Who’s Up, Who’s Down in Tech Company Earnings Land
Xconomy — ... a $199 million profit for the third quarter of 2009—a 68 percent increase in net income over the same period last year—Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ...

Microsoft Lays Off 800 More; Washington and Massachusetts Affected
Xconomy — ... . But today’s cuts seem to push the total number of job losses beyond the originally stated 5,000—though with the company continuing to hire in some areas as it cuts in others, it is hard to track the exact number. The latest round of layoffs comes on the heels of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) ...

$875K for Swipely
Xconomy — ... filed last week. Angus Davis—a co-founder of the voice-based Internet search and services provider Tellme Networks, which was sold to Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and became a subsidiary of the Redmond, WA-based software giant in 2007—is listed as an executive and director of the startup. Davis told Mass High Tech in a ...

Google Demos Chrome OS, Microsoft Links Into LinkedIn, Amazon Ramps Up for Holidays, & More Big Company News
Xconomy — ... is a direct threat to Microsoft’s business model and the ecosystem of companies that support Windows. But more than that, it could reshape the landscape of online advertising by providing a new platform for launching ads on mobile devices, video channels (YouTube), and Internet TV. Perhaps the only thing that can slow down Google’s dominance on the Web is the federal government. In other words, this could get ugly. —Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has teamed up with LinkedIn to provide info about your business contacts within ...

Microsoft CFO Liddell Leaving
Xconomy — ... Gregory T. Huang wrote: Redmond, WA-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said today that chief financial officer Chris Liddell is leaving the company at the end of this year to pursue other opportunities. He will be succeeded by Peter Klein, who is currently the CFO of Microsoft’s Business Division. Liddell joined Microsoft in 2005 and helped lead the company’s $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive in 2007, as well as its more recent cost-cutting measures. ...

Brokerages Race To Find Speed And Depth With Smart Phones
MacBytes.com — Looking to get alerts on your mobile phone when a stock hits a buy or sell point? And then quickly execute a trade with a few taps on your handset based on that data? "There's an app for that," says Apple's marketing campaign for the iPhone. Indeed, software applications, or apps, are popping up on all sorts of smart phones, including Research In Motion's (NasdaqGS: RIMM ...

Seattle Layoff Update: Adobe, Microsoft, Real, ZymoGenetics, and Others Cut Staff
Xconomy — ... the company’s first profitable quarter since the first three months of 2008. —Seattle’s Classmates.com, which is owned by United Online (NASDAQ: UNTD), laid off 71 employees, or 17 percent of its workforce, early last month, as reported by TechFlash. The news was confirmed in a company earnings call. United Online said the move was made to increase efficiencies and streamline operations. —Last, but certainly not least, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) cut 800 more positions across the company exactly one month ago, in its third round of ...