|
Published January 15, 2009 at 5:12 PM
|
 Carol Bartz (pictured) who took the top job at Yahoo! Inc. [ YHOO] on Monday, is already displaying a cool head for dealmaking. Although she has spoken with Microsoft Corp. [ MSFT] CEO Steve Ballmer this week, she isn't rushing into a search deal with the software company. Bartz, 60, who was CEO of Autodesk Inc. [ ADSK] from 1992 to 2006, told her new staffers that her gut instinct is to hang onto the business and that she's weighing the pros and cons of selling it. For the first time in its 30-plus year history, Microsoft is reportedly considering layoffs due to the economy. Ballmer said last week that the company is considering cost cuts but declined to comment on layoffs specifically. In the past, Microsoft has reduced its work force following acquisitions. Other tech companies that have announced layoffs in the current economic downturn include EMC Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Yahoo!.
 Google Inc. [GOOG] is killing off a handful of its services to "better focus our teams on the products that can have the most impact," according to the Google Code Blog. Two of the services being shut down were the results of acquisitions: Dodgeball, a location-based mobile social network acquired in 2005, whose founders eventually left Google in 2007, complaining bitterly about the lack of support Google gave the service; and Jaiku, a Twitter-like service purchased in 2007. Other services getting the axe include Mashup Editor, Google Notebook, Google Catalog Search and Google Video, which is being turned into a search engine -- the result of Google's 2006 acquisition of YouTube.
 A 10-year veteran of Apple Inc. [AAPL], chief operating officer Tim Cook, 48, has been drafted for the second time to fill in for Steve Jobs, 53, while Apple's charismatic CEO takes a leave of absence due to health issues. The first time was in 2004 when Jobs underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer. Some say Cook (pictured with Jobs) has been quietly running the company for years. Cook is a consummate computer industry executive, having previously worked at Compaq Computer Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. He also sits on the board of sneaker maker Nike Inc.
Sharpcast Inc., which provides services for synchronizing and storing data online from a wide variety of devices including smartphones and netbooks, has raised a $10 million Series A from Sigma Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Selby Ventures.
InsideView Inc. has closed a $6.5 million Series B, led by existing investors Emergence Capital Partners and Rembrandt Venture Partners. Click here to see our September Behind the Money video interview with InsideView CEO Umberto Milletti, who explains how the company's customer relationship management software leverages social networking to help companies develop sales leads.
The Green Business Competition kicked off Thursday. Sponsored by Green Spaces, the contest will reward startups in New York that "not only accelerate positive social change and protect the environment but also prove they can effectively make money in the process." Winners will receive packages worth more than $30,000 in investment capital, green office space and other business support.
 Punk'd meets Diggnation at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. Celebrity Ashton Kutcher (pictured) is teaming up with Kevin Rose -- the serial entrepreneur with a cult-like following who is the founder of Digg Inc., Revision3 and the recently failed Pownce. The pair will host 24 Hours at Sundance, a whacky around-the-clock online game show featuring Weblebrities running around with Qik streaming cell phones as they compete to complete crazy tasks. Contestants include TMI Weekly host Meghan Asha, VentureBeat editor Matt Marshall, pop culture reporter Shira Lazar, Konsole Kingz founder CJ Peters and Geek Entertainment TV co-founder Irina Slutsky. The geek fest starts at 9:00 a.m. PST Saturday. - Mary Kathleen Flynn
Continue reading below
|
If you can't grow, what are you worth? Business is about allocating resources to growth opportunities, and layoffs indicate you can't grow. Layoffs are an admission of no growth plans, and that means you are heading straight into the Swamp. Read more at http://www.thephoenixprinciple.com