Archive for July, 2007

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp will launch a new business channel for US cable subscribers on October 15, in a direct challenge to market leader CNBC, operated by General Electric Co’s NBC Universal.

In a statement, News Corp said the Fox Business Network will be headed by Neil Cavuto, a Fox News senior vice president.

I’m surprised it took Rupert Murdoch this long to get FBN out of the gate.

The mobile marketing world is about to explode. With cell-phones in every pocket, there won’t be a time, night or day, when marketers cannot reach you.

According to the New York Times, 94% of promotional text messages are opened on cell-phones but only 3% of promotional e-mails are viewed on computers, and that is a goldmine for marketing and media companies. Advanced Telecom Services, a leading provider of text message solutions, is prepared to help those companies make the most of their text messaging promotions.

They offer a wide range of services, including PromoText, a mobile messaging platform specifically for media companies, and Spark Network Services, which provides personals to radio stations across North America.

I’m not sure I am ready for this explosion, but as will all technology, you have to take the good with the bad, so you may as well make the most of it while you’re here.

It seems today was a very good day on Wall Street.

U.S. stocks surged on Thursday, with the Dow hitting a record on its biggest point gain since 2002, after healthy retail sales reassured investors about consumer spending and a $38 billion mining takeover fed expectations for more deals.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index also closed at a new record and is now less than 6 points from its lifetime high. The Nasdaq rose to its highest in about six-and-a-half years.

Isn’t it funny though?

When large retailers like Wal-Mart say something positive the markets always respond in kind. The market also hinges on every word that comes out of the mouth of the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

It makes me wonder how many times someone says something that isn’t true, just to see what the market does.

You can buy anything online. Seriously. With more and more people turning to the internet to find that perfect item, companies left and right, with varying Merchant Solutions, are making it easy for those consumers to spend their money.

On Monday, Reuters reported that U.S. consumer borrowing was up by $12.9 billion, in May alone! With consumer spending rising at a 6.4 annual rate, the credit card processing industry is showing no signs of slowing down.

Just about anyone can start an online business these days because many companies offer different merchant services packages to their customers. There is a perfect set-up for everyone, from the mom and pop’s to those who require high risk credit card processing.

With outstanding credit in America totalling $2.441 trillion, $894.8 billion of which is credit card debt, the banks are definitely in control so businesses would be wise to shop around and learn as much as they can before settling on any one particular merchant service provider.

Are you happy with your cell service? No? You better hope you don’t have Sprint.

Hundreds of cell phone customers are being given the boot, accused of being too high maintenance.

Sprint-Nextel is disconnecting more than 1,000 subscribers on grounds the clients call customer service too often and make “unreasonable requests.”

The 1,200 people getting dropped will have to find a new carrier by the end of the month.

A Sprint representative said the average customer calls customer service less than once a month, but the 1,200 clients getting the boot call 40-50 times as often.

Sprint said whatever the complaint, it has worked to resolve it but due to the volume of calls it’s obvious customers involved are not happy.

In a statement, the company said: “Rather than continue to operate in a situation that was unsatisfactory for Sprint and our subscribers, we chose to terminate our relationship with those customers to allow them to pursue other options.”

Wow. That’s one way to get out of your contract.

Here’s the skinny.

Burger King is once again following the industry leaders.

Burger King said Friday it will use trans-fat-free cooking oil at all its U.S. restaurants by the end of next year, following in the footsteps of other leading fast-food restaurants.

The world’s second largest hamburger chain said it was already using zero trans-fat oil in hundreds of its more than 7,100 U.S. restaurants nationwide.

Burger King is known for its flame-broiled burgers, but uses cooking oil for its french fries and most of its chicken products.

For the record, it was Wendy’s that started using trans-fat free oil first, then McDonalds. At least, at Burger King, you can still “have it your way”.

“The Business”, a London magazine, is saying that Rupert Murdoch has succeeded in his bid for Dow Jones.

Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal, according to sources acting for the Dow Jones board. Negotiations on price and matters of principle have been completed, though some details remain to be resolved. None is regarded by either side as a deal-breaker.

The Dow board is confident that the terms of the deal will be accepted by the Bancroft family, which controls a majority of voting shares in Dow Jones, over the next few working days. A formal announcement is expected next week.

That news would be amazing, if Dow Jones, the Bancroft family, and News Corp. weren’t all denying the news. In fact, a News Corp. spokesman said that the company was unaware of the truth or otherwise of the report in the British magazine.

It makes you wonder though. Doesn’t it?

As if they weren’t already large enough, Blackstone bought Hilton Hotels Corporation.

Blackstone on Tuesday bought Hilton Hotels Corporation for $26bn (£12.8bn), giving the private equity company the biggest hotel group in the world by number of properties.

The deal, at $47.50 a share, represents a 31.7 per cent premium on last night’s closing price of $36.05 and a 40 per cent premium on Hilton’s price at the start of trading yesterday. It is the biggest deal in the hotel sector.

That’s a huge deal I suppose. Of course, if I had $26 billion laying around I could think of some other things I would rather buy.

Oh, and for all you fans, Paris was not included in the deal.