|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | |
MARCH 21, 2005
Edited by Monica Gagnier HEADLINER Paul E. Jacobs: Someday, Son...  After Irwin Jacobs founded wireless technology company Qualcomm (QCOM
) in 1985, he shuttled his son Paul around the company, placing him in different management jobs. Now that grooming appears complete: On Mar. 8, the San Diego company announced that Paul will become CEO when his 71-year-old father retires in July.Paul, 42, is taking over at a heady time. Qualcomm is flush with demand for its cell-phone chips and licenses for its CDMA technology, used by such major cellular carriers as Verizon Wireless (VZ ). Analysts expect revenues will jump 23% this year, to $6 billion, and profits will balloon 27%, to $2.2 billion. The younger Jacobs hopes to expand the markets for some of the technologies he's fostered at Qualcomm -- including streaming video and data applications for cell phones. But he'll also need to recruit more foreign cellular companies to CDMA and to head off competition in cell-phone chips. If Paul ever needs any advice, Irwin won't be hard to find: He's staying on as chairman of the board. By Arlene Weintraub Firmer With Fannie The regulators' grip on Fannie Mae (FNM ) keeps getting tighter. On Mar. 8, the board of the troubled mortgage giant accepted a new set of restrictions, including a pledge to separate permanently the jobs of chairman and CEO. The board also promised never to rehire the last man to hold both jobs -- Franklin Raines, ousted on Dec. 21 -- or former Chief Financial Officer Timothy Howard. Fannie's agreement with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight also calls for stricter controls on accounting entries. Fannie critic Representative Richard H. Baker (R-La.) wants to probe whether executives tampered with financial documents. Neither Fannie nor the regulator would comment.   Oracle Is Still Hungry  Oracle (ORCL
) CEO Lawrence J. Ellison is at it again. Just two months after the Silicon Valley tycoon closed the $10.3 billion hostile takeover of rival business software maker PeopleSoft, Ellison on Mar. 8 announced an unsolicited offer for Retek (RETK
), a small Minneapolis company that makes software for retailers. The Oracle offer, $9 per share, or about $524 million cash, comes just eight days after German software maker SAP (SAP
) bid $8.50 per share for Retek, raising the possibility of a bidding war. The fight between Oracle and SAP is getting testy. Two months ago, SAP acquired TomorrowNow, a Bryan (Tex.) consultant that has lured away software maintenance contracts from PeopleSoft.J.D. Power's New Driver The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP ), parent of BusinessWeek, agreed on Mar. 7 to acquire J.D. Power & Associates for an undisclosed sum. The Westlake Village (Calif.) company is best known for its annual surveys of quality and customer satisfaction in the auto business. Power mails its surveys to thousands of new car buyers every year and tallies the results. Winners pay for the right to advertise the J.D. Power seal of approval. The firm also sells data to companies and consults with them on how to improve their scores. McGraw-Hill expects Power to benefit from its new parent's global reach in financial services, construction, energy, and other major industries. After McGraw-Hill warned of earnings dilution because of the purchase and two other acquisitions and changes in pension plan assumptions, its shares fell 6.8%, to $89.31, on Mar. 9. Capital One Ropes A Bank What's in your wallet, pardner? Capital One Financial (COF ), which became the nation's fifth-largest credit-card issuer by marketing credit by mail, on the Web, and with its familiar TV campaign, is making Texas the target of its first foray into bricks-and-mortar banking. On Mar. 7, the McLean (Va.) company announced it's paying $5.3 billion to buy Hibernia, a Louisiana-based bank sprouting branches in Dallas and Houston. Cap One's goal is to fund consumer lending with cheaper bank deposits. Et Cetera... -- Comcast (CMCSA ) will pay Motorola (MOT ) $1 billion for set-top boxes and co-develop new technologies. -- AOL (TWX ) will soon offer Web phone calling to subscribers in 44 markets. -- Washington has approved the sale of IBM's (IBM ) PC division to China's Lenovo Group (LNVGY ). Closing Bell: McDonald's  Nearly two years into a comeback, McDonald's (MCD
) may be growing stale. On Mar. 8, the fast-food giant said same-store sales rose just 1.6% worldwide in February, with sales sliding 3.4% in Europe. The report sent McDonald's shares down 5% over two days, to $32.53, on Mar. 9.
| | |
 Copyright 2005, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version
