Communications

Apple missed market share opportunity

15 Oct 2008

The maker of the iPhone and iPod is known for trendy offerings, not cheap ones. But by failing to deliver a bargainpriced notebook, Apple missed an opportunity to increase its share of the computer market. The cheap portables trend is real, fashion is fleeting.

Vodafone’s $2.5bn South African deal is pricey

10 Oct 2008

The UKlisted mobile operator finally looks to have won control of Vodacom, with its offer for an extra 15% stake. It comes with a steep premium Vodafone s paying the price it offered in June despite a 50% fall in the South African markets. But that could still be justified.

BSkyB gets off lightly where it counts

1 Oct 2008

It could have been a terrible week for the British satellite broadcaster, but it didn t turn out too badly. Sure, it has been told to reduce its 17.9% stake in rival ITV. But Sky is only being asked not forced to give rivals better access to its most valuable content.

Libya has chance to prove itself with Telecom Italia stake

24 Sep 2008

A few years ago, the notion of the former terrorist state taking 10% of a major Western company might have made investors skin crawl. But Libya is reforming itself and even has a $50bn SWF with pretty good governance. This is Qaddafi s opportunity to show he s not a bogeyman.

Google’s next decade shaping up tougher

9 Sep 2008

The search giant turned 10 this week. The US government is helping it celebrate by bringing in an antitrust litigator to scrutinize the search business. Legal contests are just one reason Google's path to 20 won't be so easy. The underdog label has been replaced with a bullseye.

Vittorio Colao puts his first mark on Vodafone

9 Sep 2008

The mobile operator s new CEO has appointed an outsider to run the European business and will take personal control of Vodafone s US investment in Verizon Wireless. It's good housekeeping for a new boss of a big company already going in roughly the right direction.

Kekst exploits personal battle of PR supremos

2 Jul 2008

Maurice Levy, who runs France s Publicis, snatched the NY public relations adviser away from his adman nemesis Martin Sorrell of WPP, the more logical owner. Getting moguls to compete has proved a lucrative affair for Kekst s 73year old founder.

Nordic merger underlines limits to postal freedom

7 Apr 2008

The Swedish and Danish post offices are responding to EU deregulation by joining forces. But politics rules out tough moves such as shutting sorting centres. And the liberal Scandinavians are ahead of the postal pack. Southern Europeans can only dream of being so lucky.

Germany may regulate away postal competition

3 Dec 2007

Axel Springer could be the victim of the government s decision to impose a minimum wage on postal providers. That will make it tougher for the German publisher to sell its Pin subsidiary. Lacking competitive wages, potential rivals to incumbent Deutsche Post will hesitate.

MySpace deal shows where Skype belongs

17 Oct 2007

Murdoch s social networking giant inked a deal to offer its users the internet phone service. This makes sense social networking is all about communication. And the deal shows how Skype can be put to better use than as an addon to an online auctioneer like Ebay.

iPhone price cuts smack of Beat the number

10 Sep 2007

Apple has already sold 1m of its hot mobile phones. So why did it risk alienating customers and cut the price by $200? Apple has a long history of smashing the guidance it sets. The maths suggest the group had to cut prices to keep the game going. Steve Jobs has a long history of smashing the guidance he sets. The maths suggest the group had to cut prices to keep the game going.

Skype would be better off with Facebook or MySpace

20 Aug 2007

The internet telephony firm now boasts 220m users. But it has few obvious synergies to bring to its online auctioneer parent, Ebay. But as an adjunct to a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace, it s easy to see how Skype might add some value.

RadioShack still needs tuning

1 Aug 2007

RadioShack shares have surged in the past year on high hopes of a turnaround. But its latest results were a disappointment. While the company has trimmed costs, it still has a long way to go to win back customers. Investors should tread carefully.

Intelsat LBO nudges against some scary records

13 Jun 2007

The $16.4bn satellite company s sale is the largest secondary LBO ever. It also tops out in terms of leverage and valuation. That was enough to make BC s own banker, Merrill Lynch, back out of financing the deal. Perhaps others should have done so.

PT’s Brazil plans would tick a lot of boxes

1 Jun 2007

The Portuguese group is proposing to switch out of mobile group Vivo into rival Telemar. That could solve two big problems. It could get Spain s Telefonica out of PT s hair and give it control of a Brazilian asset. The trouble may be delivering the deal.

Skype’s Wal-Mart deal still leaves Ebay hanging

14 May 2007

The internet phone company s new pact with the retail giant should generate sales by putting its service in front of mainstream shoppers. But even so, Ebay s shareholders remain at least a decade away from seeing a return on the company s outsized investment in Skype.

Handset makers face Razr thin margins

5 Jan 2007

Despite selling 6m more mobile phones than expected, Motorola says it will miss its already lowered fourth quarter sales target by $250m. Handset markets are saturated in rich countries. Once demand slows in poor ones, mobile makers apple carts will tip this could be near.

AT&T’s Bell South acquisition put on hold by political impasse

19 Dec 2006

Regulators split evenly down the political aisle have delayed the AT&T merger vote. Now a tiebreaking regulator is abstaining from voting. Markets seem unworried that negotiations may erode merger benefits. But investors should take note of the shifting political sands.

Are companies gaming new CEO options?

8 Sep 2006

It s certainly confusing. Options for Viacom s new boss were priced after his arrival sliced 7% off the stock price. Ford s CEO got his priced before his appointment juiced the shares up 6%. A uniform practice would be preferable.

Time Warner rolls the dice on AOL shift

11 Jul 2006

The internet arm's plan to move away from charging highspeed subscribers has erased some $2.6bn of market value. But this may be an overreaction. AOL's gamble to replace this jurassic revenue stream with highermargin advertising is right on.