Under The Radar News - Friday

Analysts unfazed by latest Google data. Google (GOOG) shares fell another 3.1% yesterday after comScore's February numbers, which showed dramatically weaker paid click-through rates (down 3% M/M). The company may well disappoint on Apr. 17, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster says, but adds: "We think the bad news is already priced in." Credit Suisse's Heath Terry says the recent close of Google's DoubleClick acquisition will drive the firm to outperform in H2, while other analysts contend comScore's data have often not reflected Google's earnings numbers.

Double trouble. Google (GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt promised staff reductions after the DoubleClick acquisition, the prospect of which insiders say is killing staff morale. Google will spill the beans Apr. 1 (no kidding) -- a possible attempt to push of layoff-related charges to Q2, and keep them away from an already brutal (?) Q1.

Asia shunning Treasurys? A Korean pension fund -- the world's fifth largest -- will no longer buy U.S. Treasurys, citing their anemic yields. Two-year notes currently yield 1.77%, vs. 5% last June. The fund only holds $14B of U.S. paper, a fraction of the $4.5T market, but it still raises a red flag. Last weekend 16 Asian central banks talked about putting more of their collective $1T in each other's bonds instead of U.S. debt. Asia owns more than half the total foreign-owned U.S. debt.

China could scuttle Yahoo/Microsoft deal. A new law that goes into effect in China Aug. 1 could give it veto power over Microsoft's (MSFT) hostile bid for Yahoo (YHOO), due to Yahoo's $1B stake in China's Alibaba. Experts say the law will turn China into a "third sphere of regulatory influence," with power matching that of the EU and U.S.

Alt-Yahoo board a reality. TechCrunch says the NY Post's suggestion that no Silicon Valley insiders are willing to sit on Microsoft's (MSFT) alternate Yahoo (YHOO) board for fear of alienating the company is wrong. "The sad truth is that nobody is afraid of Jerry Yang or any other Yahoo insiders." TechCrunch says it has confirmed an alternate board with one of its members.

Cisco preparing for the worst. Cisco (CSCO) recently told managers to cut back on travel expenses and use up their accumulated vacation days. "There's a willful ignorance out there among people who think that Cisco won't be affected by an economic downturn," one money manager says. Do larger layoffs loom?

Will Tata say ta ta? How "on earth" will Tata Motors (TTM) turn a profit from Ford's Jaguar and Land Rover units, considering Ford lost big money on the former and failed to succeed with the latter? Some guess it might sell off valuable UK properties, close the factories, and move operations to India.

71% of debt auctions failing. Auction-rate debt failures rose to about 71% this week, from 69% last week. Michael Phemister, VP of finance at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which was forced to restructure its auction-rate debt, says things will still get worse.

Comcast will only slow abusers. Instead of blocking BitTorrent and other file-sharing protocols, Comcast (CMCSA) now says it will simply reduce throughput for its biggest bandwidth hogs during extra-busy times. The new solution could go a long way toward polishing its tarnished image, after it was disclosed the company was slowing down traffic from BitTorrent and other apps.

Handy hire. Palm (PALM) poached another Apple (AAPL) frontliner: Lynn Fox, former head of Mac PR.

Fee for all. Warner Music Group (WMG) has hired industry veteran Jim Griffin to lead a push for a $5/month music tax to be levied on all U.S. internet users. "We're still clinging to the vine of music as a product, but we're swinging toward the vine of music as a service," Tarzan says. And why not? $5 per month would give the industry a cool $20B/year -- double its current $10B take.

CBS tests HD web video. CBS's (CBS) web labs is testing the streaming of HD video. It's not clear how they plan to overcome bandwidth limitations that should preclude high-def streaming, but the pictures sure look sharp.

More fish in the sea. Vale and Xstrata won't be merging, but the companies will likely look for other possibilities. Possible Vale (RIO) targets include Southern Copper (PCU), Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (FCX), and previous talks about an Xstrata (XSRAF.PK)/Anglo American (AAUK) tie-up are sure to resurface.

Taking their time. Blackstone (BX) is pushing off the closing of a $20B fund from April to June.

Dollar roast. "You know the U.S. dollar has problems when comedians start working it into their acts. 'Interesting fact came out today on the new $5 bill,' Jay Leno says. 'It turns out it used to be the old $10 bill.'"

Mishkin Shmishkin. "Some of you may be wondering about the meaning of my speech title — "Comfort Zones, Shmumfort Zones." Well, putting the "shm" before a word is a way to cast a bit of skepticism on it. Thus, if your friend tells you that you are "fancy, shmancy," then you might be overdressed for the occasion. And if you exclaim, "Email, shmemail!" then you’ve just found your inbox overloaded. Of course, there’s also a significant distinction between the expressions "shlemiel" and "shlimazel," but that’s more-advanced material that I will defer until another speech." Mishkin went on to say concrete inflation targets were preferable to shmumfort zones.

Comments

[Lisa]

Who would want to buy a Jaguar made in India???

[User 169031]

Dear Mr. Eli:

Your article shows the ignorance about Tata group. Please get some education on Tata group before making the statement. Tata group has bought Corus steel in Europe, did they move the operation to India?.


Can you please explain why did unions in UK agreed for a buyout by Tata group?. This merger has the blessing of trade union.
Tata group has a long history of work ethics and dependence. They are equivalent to GE.
Ford has failed to make on profit onn these brands due to poor management. Tata has management to make it profitable. Why do you think Tata spent $3B to buy these brands?.
Tata group has also bought Tyco cables few years ago and that entity is now part of Tata Communications.

You should get out of your shell and see the world. Be carfeul to make unjustified comments about companies when you are ignorant.
BTW,in few years, there will be more Jaguars and Land Rovers in India than combined US & Europe and all made in Europe.

[User 169835]

Hey Lisa, which one would you prefer a Jaguar made in

a. India
b. China
c. No more Jaguars

Oh, btw, I am Indian...

[daffy]

Well User, I am not a big fan of Jags, so I really don't care either way, but I would bet that a product produced in India would be far superior and at a much lower cost than in th UK.

My big beef here is the fee for all that warner has going on. So, they want to charge me for music? Hmmm, I get my music the old fashioned way. I go to the store and I buy a CD. Sometimes I even go to Cheapo and buy it used. Would they have a portion of my gas tax because I drove to Cheapo? That's like taking the rivers licenses away in a city beacuse one of it's citizens got a DUI.

Ridiculous.

Utterly ridiculous. I guess I will just stop buying music and start stealing it.

[Whisper OnThe Wind]

I like Jags, but I'd rather have a minicooper. And I don't personally care where they're built. TaTa's are cute too. And until I get one or the other, I'll just have to watch this music tax thing...

[NormanLepoff, M.D.]

Interesting article. Thanks for writing.

[tom1234]

Eli---i notice you reported about palm hiring another ex apple employee
--now there are two ex-apple people at palm --what is the turn around time do you think that two ex-apple employees can contribute to the creating --manufacturing and marketing to help palm enter the same arena as an apple or rimm ---

[liac]

article shmarticle

[h2oworks]

article shmarticle.....very funny. I read Eli almost everyday and appreciate all that he writes. Good to get some humor during these, sometimes, heavy hearted times.

[nukldrager]

with waterworks... Eli's offerings are in with the best. Just ad a yiddish converter for level 2 or above. Most of us pantheistic's have a basic working understanding, like pantheistic schmantheistic....

[Philly Jim]

Great work Eli, very helpful and always useful info!