LONDON/SEATTLE (Reuters) – Nokia and Microsoft Corp will team up to build an iPhone rival, the Finnish phonemaker’s last-ditch attempt to catch up with Google and Apple and arrest its decline in the global smartphone arena.

Shares of the world’s largest cellphone maker plunged 14 percent on fears the decision by new chief executive Stephen Elop to throw in the towel and use Microsoft’s Windows Phone software will hammer margins and weaken its position during a tumultuous transition.

SEATTLE, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) put
veteran insider Satya Nadella in charge of its $15 billion
server and tools business as it looks to an expert engineer to
revitalize its push into cloud computing.

Nadella, 43, is a rising star at the company after leading
engineering efforts for Microsoft’s online services business,
including the search engine Bing, which has made headway
against market leader Google Inc (GOOG.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

NEW YORK/SEATTLE, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
on Thursday sold $2.25 billion of bonds at close to record low
borrowing levels as it looks for cheap ways of raising cash to
fund its share buybacks and dividend payouts.

The world’s largest software company, making its third trip
to the US corporate bond market in two years, has $41 billion
in cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet, but
likes to borrow as the most of that cash is locked up
overseas.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Sales of Microsoft Corp’s Windows software fell short of outsized expectations, rekindling fears that the spread of mobile gadgets will erode its main PC-focused business.

Microsoft surprised Wall Street with a better-than-expected profit, helped by resurgent corporate spending after the belt-tightening of past years. But its shares stayed flat as investors expressed concern about the weakness of overall computer sales amid a faltering U.S. recovery.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) surprised Wall Street with a better-than-expected profit, but its shares stayed flat as investors expressed concern about the weakness of computer sales amid a faltering U.S. recovery.

The world’s largest software maker, whose Windows operating system still runs on 90 percent of the world’s computers, is heavily dependent on PC sales, which grew only 3 percent in the quarter, and is starting to feel competition from Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) iPad.

SEATTLE, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted
a small dip in quarterly profit on Thursday as sales of
personal computers lagged expectations and Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
iPad started to eat away at the fringes of its core market.

The world’s largest software maker, which powers more than
90 percent of the world’s computers, reported fiscal
second-quarter profit of $6.63 billion, or 77 cents per share.
That compared with $6.66 billion, or 74 cents per share, in the
year-ago quarter. The per share figure was higher due to a
reduction in shares outstanding from last year.

SEATTLE, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp is set
to report a dip in earnings on Thursday, a year after the launch
of its Windows 7 operating system blew away Wall Street
estimates, as sales of personal computers lag expectations and
Apple Inc’s iPad eats away at the fringes of its core
market.

The world’s largest software maker, which powers more than
90 percent of the world’s computers, is still a money-making
machine, but its fortunes are tied to vulnerable PC sales and
investors have doubts it can replicate its dominance in the
fast-growing mobile and tablet markets.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – A year ago, Microsoft Corp blew away Wall Street’s earnings forecasts with blistering sales of its new Windows 7 operating system and trumpeted optimism about the recovery in tech spending.

This week, with its stock trading slightly lower than a year ago, the world’s largest software company is set to report lower profit as PC sales growth fizzles, and it struggles to convince investors that it can grab a foothold in the fast-moving mobile and tablet markets.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Facebook is preparing to open its books this year or early in 2012 to give investors a glimpse into the financial workings of the world’s No. 1 social network, after it sealed an oversubscribed $1.5 billion round of financing led by Goldman Sachs.

The financing, $1 billion of which is from Goldman Sachs’ overseas clients and $500 million from Goldman itself and Russian investment firm Digital Sky Technologies, gives the company a projected value of $50 billion, setting the stage for what could be one of the largest initial public offerings next year.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Larry Page once built an inkjet printer entirely out of Lego bricks. And now that Google is all grown up, it just might need that youthful ingenuity again.

Page’s return as chief executive of the company he co-founded 13 years ago is a sign that the maturing Internet giant is looking to recapture its original feel and edge.