The Great Debate UK
from Commentaries:
Apple-Google learn Corporate Governance 1.0
LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The resignation of Google CEO Eric Schmidt from Apple's board should come as no surprise to anyone with an inkling of what corporate governance means.
But then Silicon Valley's idea of corporate boards has long consisted of cozy, interlocking directorships which would be considered collusion in most other industries.
Google's CEO is not leaving Apple's board voluntarily. He is only stepping down in response to the increased government scrutiny of obvious potential conflicts of interest between the two companies.
Yet regulators shouldn't be content with Schmidt's departure. The truth is that Apple and Google have been heading into the same markets for years. A veritable chain of overlapping business ties remain in place even if the most obvious formal link is now broken.
from Commentaries:
Tech results give few clues to economy: Eric Auchard
By Eric Auchard
LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - Investors have proved all too ready to interpret positive earnings trends from Intel, IBM and Apple as signs of economic recovery and to justify a continued rally in technology stocks.
Now they are taking the wrong lessons in reverse by reading disappointing results from Microsoft Corp as evidence that a nascent rebound in the economy has stalled.
from Commentaries:
Don’t read too much into Intel’s success: Eric Auchard
By Eric Auchard
LONDON (Reuters) - Intel Corp has cheered up investors by once again making forecasts about its financial performance. The trouble with reading too much into its rebound, however, is that this is largely due to productivity gains of its own making, rather than a broader awakening of demand.
To be sure, Intel's revenue, profit and margins surged past all published analyst expectations for the second quarter. Partly, this was merely the "snapback" that occurred after Intel throttled back production to as low as 25 percent of factory capacity in the first quarter, amid a glut of unsold chips and shriveling demand.
from The Great Debate:
China’s Web filtering starts in the West
-- Eric Auchard is a Reuters columnist. The views expressed are his own --
The Chinese government has backed away from mandating filtering software on all personal computers in China, in a move that averts a dangerous escalation in its censorship powers.
But however controversial and unworkable China's plan to require Internet filters on PCs proved to be, Western firms have largely themselves to blame for creating and selling such filters in the first place.
