A federal judge has dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission’s insider-trading case against Mark Cuban, the AP reports. Astonishingly, Cuban has yet to say anything about this on his blog or his Twitter account. But I assume that will be rectified shortly.
It’s hard for Time Warner to have been clearer about this, but there’s still a bit of confusion out there about the company’s plans to spin off AOL. Maybe this will clear it up: Time Warner told the SEC today that it intends to spin off AOL.
Question of the day: Did Apple somehow lay off 10 percent of its retail staff in the last quarter without anyone noticing until today? Answer: No. My bloggy brethren are hopped up about Apple’s disclosure, via its most recent quarterly filing with the SEC, that its retail group had “approximately 14,000 full-time equivalent employees” at the end of March. Three months earlier that number had been 15,600. Boring but important distinction: Cutting back hours is different than laying people off.
Congrats to the folks at Forbes for a journalistic coup: They’re the first media people to get their hands on sworn testimony Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave last year in a civil lawsuit. It is, as Forbes notes, “a rare look at Jobs in his own words.” Alas, Jobs in his own words, when he’s talking about options backdating, is just like anyone else: a snooze.
Google’s new 2008 proxy statement looks a lot like Google’s proxy statements from previous years: It tells us that the company’s top executives received nice bonuses, though slightly smaller than last year’s. And Google’s ruling troika–CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page–all took home salaries of $1. One smallish change: Eric Schmidt’s friends and families spent a lot more time with him on the company jet last year.
Can troubled video rental giant Blockbuster survive without filing for bankruptcy protection? Yes, says a former competitor, who is betting a few million dollars on that proposition. But if the company does file Chapter 11, Mark Wattles has some protection.
Time to start “getting our house in order,” Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has declared.
One of the first steps: Sweeping out CFO Blake Jorgensen.
Jorgensen, you may recall, was the Yahoo executive who was signaling the company’s interest in a Microsoft search deal just yesterday.
Here’s one concrete way that the New York Times can stop the depressing stream of news emanating from its corporate headquarters: Stop releasing a depressing stream of news. Today’s monthly revenue report is the last one the company will hand out, it announced this morning.
The billionaire investor explains why a recession is an excellent time to invest in start-ups–and how to manage a Gmail account that gets up to 5,000 messages a day. He’s also got a request for Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
How did Google become the most powerful company in the media business? One client at a time–many times over.
Here’s yet another twist to the long, sad saga of Electronic Arts’ failed bid for Take-Two Interactive: The SEC says day traders who were tipped off about EA’s interest in the videogame company ended up making $250,000 on the deal. Long-term shareholders in Take-Two, meanwhile, have gotten creamed.
Yesterday, I suggested that the SEC may have finally muzzled Mark Cuban by filing insider trading charges against him. But I’m quite glad I’m wrong. Cuban can’t help himself, and has already begun waging a high-profile campaign against the regulators who are suing him.
Investor/blogger/entrepreneur/Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban doesn’t shy away from the spotlight. Just ask him–if you can get a word in edgewise. But now Cuban is staying mum. That’s because the SEC has filed insider trading charges against Cuban, alleging that he “avoided losses of $750,000″ by dumping shares of search engine Mamma.com after learning about a secondary offering in 2004.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
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