Companies & Markets

NSA’s “MUSCULAR” Secretly Breaks Into The Cloud Of US Tech Companies, Siphons Off Data, Fouls Up Revenues Overseas

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on NSA’s “MUSCULAR” Secretly Breaks Into The Cloud Of US Tech Companies, Siphons Off Data, Fouls Up Revenues Overseas

The seamless, borderless surveillance society has a new dimension: MUSCULAR. Under it, the NSA and British GCHQ secretly break into the “clouds” of US companies to syphon off user data on a large scale. Illegal in the US. But the cloud is a worldwide phenomenon.

The Smart Money Denies They’re The Smart Money As They Franticly Sell Their Crown Jewels Before The Bubble Blows Up

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Smart Money Denies They’re The Smart Money As They Franticly Sell Their Crown Jewels Before The Bubble Blows Up

“It’s a great time to sell,” mused a pension fund investment officer. And Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private equity firm, is doing exactly that, feverishly, relentlessly, hand over fist, at peak valuations, cashing out. What does that mean for the rest of us?

Twitter IPO A Dud? Yes, Says Survey of Financial Advisors (But You’ll Own It “Whether You Want It Or Not”)

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Twitter IPO A Dud? Yes, Says Survey of Financial Advisors (But You’ll Own It “Whether You Want It Or Not”)

Brokers, financial advisors, and wealth managers are a recalcitrant bunch, suddenly, after having gotten their manicured fingers burned on a few super-hyped IPOs, and now they just refuse to get exuberant about the Twitter IPO. At least that’s what they indicated in a survey. But individual investors, well, that’s another story.

American Boondoggle Meets Chinese Methods

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on American Boondoggle Meets Chinese Methods

BYD, the name of a Chinese electric vehicle and solar panel maker, stands for “Build Your Dream.” Maybe that’s what they’re trying to do in China. But here, they’re building a nightmare: broken promises, falsehoods, design flaws… all lushly funded by American taxpayers. And they paid Chinese workers in California $1.50 per hour to do it.

Texas Instruments CFO Admits: Stock Market Is Overpriced

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Texas Instruments CFO Admits: Stock Market Is Overpriced

Stocks balloon, we’re incessantly told, because revenues are rising due to great products, ingenious strategies, or brilliant marketing; and because earnings are rising due to, well, if not rising revenues, then cost cutting, moving production overseas, squeezing suppliers…. But what if revenues sag and earnings plunge, not for a bad-hair quarter, but for years, and the stock still balloons?

Stockholders Got Plundered In IBM’s Hocus-Pocus Machine

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Stockholders Got Plundered In IBM’s Hocus-Pocus Machine

I’m not picking on IBM. I’m almost sure they have some decent products. So they had a crummy quarter – the sixth quarter in a row of sales declines. And their hardware sales in China have collapsed since Snowden’s revelations about the NSA and its collaboration with American tech companies. But in one area, IBM excels: its hocus-pocus machine.

NSA Revelations Kill IBM Hardware Sales in China

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on NSA Revelations Kill IBM Hardware Sales in China

The first shot was fired on Monday. Teradata, which sells analytics tools for Big Data, warned that revenues plunged 21% in Asia. Wednesday, it was IBM’s turn to confess: hardware sales in China had collapsed. Every word was colored by Snowden’s revelations about NSA’s collaboration with American tech companies, from startups to mastodons like IBM.

Alcatel-Lucent “Could disappear,” Says CEO Michel Combes

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Alcatel-Lucent “Could disappear,” Says CEO Michel Combes

“The company could disappear,” said Alcatel-Lucent CEO Michel Combes, not exactly the kind of wondrous hype CEOs normally sputter to bamboozle people into plowing their money into the company’s stock. The end, after two decades of ingenious Wall-Street engineering, fee extraction, fanciful accounting, executive wisdom, and brilliant strategic thinking.

Corporate Disease: Workers Are A Cost Not A Productive Resource

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The amount in Federal assistance received by families of workers in the fast-food industry, who’re dogged by low wages, part-time work, and scarce employer-provided health benefits, amounted to $7 billion per year. A way for the $200 billion industry to shuffle off part of the costs of doing business to the hapless taxpayer.

Earnings Season Starts With A Bang, So To Speak

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Earnings Season Starts With A Bang, So To Speak

They’re getting hilarious, the shenanigans on Wall Street. Revenues have been lousy all year, and despite feverish cost cutting, earnings are sliding. The third quarter has been over for almost two weeks, but Q3 earnings estimates are still being pushed down. A lot! So that companies can “exceed expectations.” They’re now at stagnation levels. And stocks soar.