Intel Corp. has agreed to buy Infineon Technologies AG's wireless unit for approximately $1.4 billion in cash, the companies said Monday.
The unit will operate as a stand-alone business of Santa Clara-based Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). Infineon's chips are used in smart phones including Apple Inc.'s iPhone 4.
The technology will expand Intel's Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings and be used in Intel Core processor-based laptops and Atom processor devices, including smart phones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers.
"The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an extraordinary rate," Paul Otellini, Intel's president and CEO, said in the announcement. "The acquisition of Infineon's WLS business strengthens the second pillar of our computing strategy — Internet connectivity — and enables us to offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMAX and LTE business card design.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
It is the second major acquisition for Intel in recent weeks. The company on Aug. 19 announced it had agreed to acquire the security software maker McAfee Inc. (NYSE: MFE) for approximately $7.68 billion.
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It’s not every day you meet a chief executive officer named "Punkass." Especially one who runs a $200 million company.
The heavily tattooed, bandana-wearing CEO fits right in at TapouT, a 140-employee clothing company in Grand Terrace, Calif., that caters to athletes and fans of mixed martial arts, a combat sport known for its brutality.
Apart from the name, what makes Punkass and his co-founders unique is the commitment they made more than a decade ago to a sport that was then virtually unknown. They took a gamble on a market that barely existed.
The risk? If the market didn’t grow, TapouT would have nowhere to go. The reward? If the market exploded, they would be the first ones in.
Back in 1997, TapouT’s three co-founders — Dan "Punkass" Caldwell, Charles "Mask" Lewis and Tim "Skyskrape" Katz — had no college degrees and little money. But all three had trained in mixed martial arts and were ardent fans of the sport. They were confident that someday, the sport would be accepted — even embraced — by a mainstream audience.
So they took the kind of leap that would make little sense to anyone but their fellow true believers: They maxed out their credit cards to start a small operation selling t-shirts at underground mixed martial arts competitions.
Back then, mixed martial arts was still a fledgling movement, well under the radar of other apparel companies. Today, it’s almost as mainstream as boxing — and TapouT’s block-letter logo has become synonymous with the sport.
The company sponsors well-known fighters like Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko and Thiago "Pitbull" Alves. (Along with tattoos and bulging biceps, nicknames are a must-have for practitioners of mixed martial arts). TapouT also sells clothing, mouth guards, nutritional supplements and other branded goods online and at retail chains including Macy’s and Champs Sports.
All those t-shirts and vitamins add up fast. Last year, TapouT raked in $200 million in annual revenue — more than 16 times its $12 million revenue in 2006.
So how does TapouT keep the mixed martial arts market in a headlock? Customers say it’s the early relationship the company developed with both fighters and fans.
"They’ve been right in the mix from the beginning," says Andrew Lang, co-owner of Lightning MMA, a mixed martial arts gym in Laguna Hills, Calif. "Those three guys were at all the events — they have this presence, this rapport with the fighters."
In the late ’90s, TapouT sponsored fledgling fighters for $300 a pop. Nowadays, sponsorships cost anywhere from $3,000 to $1 million.
"We have a full team dealing with our fighters and their managers 24/7," says Punkass. "We’re worried about their personal lives, too. How’s their new baby? How do they feel after a fight?"
The goal is to get fighters to wear TapouT gear in and out of the ring. That, in turn, has given the company mass appeal among fans — which come mainly from the sought-after 18- to 34-year-old male demographic guaranteed payday loans.
"I don’t know who’s more fanatic, mixed martial arts people or NASCAR people," says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market research firm. "But in either case, when you’re that fanatical there is a tremendous allegiance to a brand, and it’s all about the lifestyle. It’s almost like a club."
To make sure that club keeps growing, Punkass, Mask and Skyskrape brought a seasoned entrepreneur, Marc Kreiner, on board in 2006. Kreiner had a varied background — he launched disco bands in the ’70s and more recently started an infomercial company — but he helped bring TapouT products to over 20,000 stores worldwide. He also inked a handful of licensing agreements, including a line of TapouT-branded supplements with Champion Nutrition.
"We’re licensing a nutrition line, energy drinks and TapouT gyms," says Kreiner, now the president and chairman of TapouT. "The motto is ‘Grow big or go home.’"
But TapouT’s evolution had its low ebbs. In 2009, co-founder Mask — known for his big personality and signature face paint — died in a car crash. Kreiner, Punkass and Skrape were leveled by the loss of their friend and colleague. Many TapouT employees got commemorative tattoos in Mask’s honor with the word "believe."
Punkass says that Mask’s death has been the company’s biggest challenge to date. But TapouT has other, less tragic troubles. While mixed martial arts has toned down the violence a bit in recent years — the rules, for example, no longer permit biting and eye-gouging — some lingering controversy about the sport’s roughness could limit the growth of its fanbase, which is TapouT’s main audience.
A handful of smaller companies have also entered in the mixed martial arts apparel industry, including Dethrone Royalty Clothing and Hitman Fight Gear. But when it comes to the competition, TapouT’s main threat is much bigger players, like Nike and Adidas.
So could TapouT be the next sports apparel giant, akin to Under Armour?
It’s unlikely, suggests Cohen, the NPD Group analyst. But for the moment, at least, the company doesn’t have significant competitors vying for a share of the same market, he notes. And there’s plenty of room to grow: The overall sports apparel market rakes in $12 billion a year in the United States alone.
As TapouT lends its name to more and more products, the company runs the risk of diluting its brand and losing "street cred" with its loyal fan base. But Punkass isn’t worried about that.
"I don’t see ourselves making TapouT Ken and Barbie dolls anytime soon," he says. "We won’t make a product unless it connects to our core audience. We stay true to the brand."
The free credit score industry has been booming since the recession as a lot of people hit hard times and want to keep an eye on how the recession has affected their credit standing.
Northrop Grumman Corp., which warned in April that 330 jobs were at risk at Fort Eustis in Newport News, Va., as the company competed for a contract renewal, said will cut 173 jobs there even though it got the renewal.
Northrop announced July 1 it won a new contract for logistics support at Fort Eustis worth as much as $46 million over five years. The company will continue to provide supply management, installation transportation support and equipment maintenance at the base, but it will no longer provide food services.
“The new contract has a few changes,” said Northrop spokesman Ron Ellis. “One key change was a small business requirement for the food services portion of the contract.”
The company said it will offer assistance to employees affected by the job cuts, without being specific.
Northrop (NYSE: NOC), which is moving its headquarters from Los Angeles to Fairfax County, has provided support services at Fort Eustis for nearly 30 years.
Former University of Texas star quarterback Colt McCoy is leading an effort to raise $50 million to transform a Temple hospital into a pediatric emergency and care center.
Scott & White Healthcare acquired the King's Daughters Hospital in April 2009, and officials plan to renovate the facility into a medical and surgical pediatric hospital beginning in the fall. It is slated to open in late 2011.
McCoy, who was recently drafted on the NFL's Cleveland Browns, is acting as a spokesperson for the fundraiser.
"Children and their families will no longer have to drive great distances to receive the highest standard of care," McCoy said payday loans. "We all need the support of family and friends during difficult situations and now these kids will be able to stay close to home. It's my privilege to lend my support in making this children's hospital a reality for so many people in my home state."
Scott & White hopes to raise about $35 million before construction and another $15 million after work finishes. The organization was established in 1897 and operates 10 hospitals and more than 60 clinics in Central Texas, including the recently merged Trinity Medical Center in Brenham.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has made several changes in the management structure at its Air Quality Division.
Ira Domsky was named director of information technology and a science adviser. He had been acting director since January. Domsky has been with the department for 26 years and previously served as deputy director.
Eric Massey, who has been with ADEQ for 11 years as a manager of air quality compliance and permitting, was named director cash advance loan. He had been acting deputy director since January.
Trevor Baggiore will become the division’s new deputy director. He has been with the department for nine years.
Business First rated 287 public and private elementary schools that participate in the statewide testing program for fourth graders.
Each school’s rating was based on four years of data from the New York State Education Department, covering the period from 2006 through 2009. The greatest weight was given to results from the most recent academic year.
Fifty percent of each school’s rating was determined by its students’ scores on the statewide English test for fourth graders. The other 50 percent was based on the statewide math test for fourth graders.
Each test from each year was analyzed twice. The formula considered the percentage of students who demonstrated superior skills, as well as the percentage with basic skills.
Superior is defined as a Level 4 score on either test. Basic is defined as a Level 3 or Level 4 score.
A total of 16 statistical indicators were analyzed for each school — two results per test, two tests per year, for four years.
Three types of schools were not rated:
1. Elementary schools that don’t extend to fourth grade.
2. Schools that have been open for less than two years, or that have not generated at least two years of test data.
3. Private schools that don’t participate in the statewide testing program.
Terremark Worldwide said on Thursday that revenue for the fourth quarter rose 11 percent to $82.5 million, up from $74.2 million in the prior three-month period.
The Miami-based provider of IT infrastructure services (NASDAQ:TMRK) reported revenue for the fiscal year ended March 31 was $292.3 million, a 17 percent increase over the prior fiscal year.
The company reported a net loss of $1.2 million, or 2 cents a share, improved from a loss of $8.3 million or 13 cents a share in the previous quarter, but down from the same time last year when it earned $4.1 million, or 6 cents a share.
Terremark said it added 56 customers in the fourth quarter, bringing its total number to 1,350.
“With another very strong quarter and fiscal year, Terremark continues to produce the positive results that reflect the strong demand among federal and enterprise customers for our suite of industry-leading solutions across our global footprint and our proven ability to successfully execute our strategic plan,” said Manuel D. Medina, Chairman and CEO of Terremark, in a news release. “Our consecutive quarters of record bookings, robust pipeline and strategic expansion create a solid base for fiscal 2011 and a clear path for sustained growth.”
Last week, Terremark said it acquired 27 acres of land adjacent to its Network Access Point (NAP) of the Capital Region for $5 million. The company also recently opened a 72,000-square-foot headquarters building at the NAP of the Capital Region campus.
The company said it expects revenues in the first quarter to range from $77 million to $79 million. For the full fiscal year, the company raised its guidance of revenue to range from $338 million to $343 million.
Shares closed up 32 cents to $7.50 on Thursday. The 52-week high was $8.98 on Jan. 21. The 52-week low was $4.34 on July 10.
The Federal Reserve has a more optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy, according to meeting minutes released Wednesday, but the central bank is still debating how to shrink its massive balance sheet.
The Fed now expects U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, to increase at an annual rate of between 3.2% and 3.7% in 2010. That’s up from the Fed’s previous estimate of between 2.8% and 3.5% in January.
GDP rose at a 3.2% annual rate in the first three months of this year, the government said last month.
At the same time, the Fed reduced its forecast for the nation’s unemployment rate to a range between 9.1% and 9.5% this year, versus 9.5% to 9.7% in January. The unemployment rate currently stands at 9.9%.
The minutes were from the Fed’s most recent Open Market Committee meeting, which took place last month. That meeting happened before the financial markets were rocked by an escalation of fears about the economic crisis in Europe.
Still, Fed members also acknowledged the growing turmoil in Europe leading up to its last meeting, noting that "fiscal strains in Greece intensified during the intermeeting period."
The Fed subsequently announced plans to expand currency swaps with the European Central Bank and other central banks in the region to help contain the crisis.
When will the Fed raise rates? Despite the improved outlook, the Fed cautioned that the U.S. economy remains vulnerable enough to maintain an "accommodative stance of monetary policy."
In addition, committee members discussed ways to reduce the central bank’s balance sheet, which swelled during the financial crisis as the Fed bought billions worth of government and corporate bonds.
In March, the Fed completed a $1.25 trillion program to buy mortgage bonds backed by government-sponsored lenders. It also purchased about $175 billion of agency debt.
Last year, the Fed bought $300 billion of long-term U faxless payday loans.S. Treasury bonds to help keep mortgage rates down.
"Meeting participants agreed broadly on key objectives of a longer-run strategy for asset sales and redemptions," according to the minutes. "Reducing the size of the balance sheet would decrease the associated reserve balances to amounts consistent with more normal operations of money markets and monetary policy."
But the minutes showed that Fed bankers had a variety of opinions on how and when to begin selling the securities. Most members wanted to delay asset sales "for some time," but a few members preferred to begin sales "relatively soon."
A majority of members were in favor of selling assets gradually over a period of five years — but not until after the Fed begins increasing interest rates since that would mean the economic recovery is firmly established.
If that’s the case, the Fed may not wind up selling any of these assets anytime soon. The Fed also lowered its outlook for inflation, suggesting the central bank will be able to maintain the low interest rate policy it has had in place for over two years.
In April, the FOMC voted to hold the federal funds rate, its key overnight lending rate, near 0%. At that time, the Fed said it expects to keep rates "exceptionally low" for an "extended period" — which has been the central bank’s mantra for months.
However, one member of the committee voted against holding rates low indefinitely.
Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, indicated that rates should be increased toward 1% this summer, at which time the Fed could "further assess the economic outlook," according to the minutes.
Amid growing concerns about deficits, Congress will in coming weeks consider a bevy of measures that combined could increase the deficit by close to $500 billion over 10 years.
And that doesn’t include the big kahuna on this year’s agenda: extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which could cost anywhere from several hundred billion dollars to more than $2 trillion.
While it is expected that many measures will be paid for with revenue-generating provisions, the total cost of all that’s on the table would not be fully offset. That’s in large part because several measures are exempt from the new "pay-as-you-go" law.
Some of the measures have already been factored into 10-year deficit projections. But in a rough mid-term election year that has seen the eruption of a debt crisis in Europe, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are becoming more sensitive to the optics of passing measures that are not paid for, even when many consider those measures essential.
The specific contents of the major bills under consideration are still being shuffled about. But several of the measures below are likely to make the cut in one form or another.
Extension of tax breaks: Dozens of tax breaks for businesses and individuals have lapsed. The cost of extending them for this year is $31 billion.
Such "tax extenders" include the research and development credit for businesses and the choice for individuals to deduct either their state and local income tax or their state and local sales tax.
Estate tax: Defying all expectations, Congress let the estate tax die at the end of 2009. But it’s coming back in 2011. The question is at what level.
Unless Congress acts, starting next year no more than $1 million of a person’s estate would be exempt from the estate tax — which is well below the $3.5 million exemption in place last year. And the top estate tax rate would revert to 55%, up from 45% in effect last year.
President Obama has proposed permanently extending the estate tax at 2009 levels, which the Tax Policy Center estimates would cost $234 billion over 10 years.
In the Senate, however, a proposal to exempt $5 million and set the top rate at 35% has garnered some bipartisan support. Depending on how various parameters are set, the proposal could cost north of $300 billion.
Safety-net provisions for the unemployed: Some lawmakers are pushing to retain a program that extends the number of weeks an unemployed person may collect federal unemployment benefits. When combined with state benefits, under the program, that means a person can qualify for up to 99 weeks of benefits.
But the program expires in June. The measure under consideration would extend it to the end of the year.
Likewise, there’s a proposal to extend the federal subsidy to help the newly unemployed pay for health insurance under COBRA. The subsidy is scheduled to expire at the end of May, so anyone who loses their job in June would not be eligible.
Combined, the two measures would cost close to $90 billion.
Aid to states: A proposal under consideration would provide $25 billion in federal aid to help budget-strapped states meet the increased demands for Medicaid services.
Funding for education jobs: Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, has proposed that $23 billion be appropriated to prevent states, suffering from steep budget deficits, from having to lay off teachers, principals, librarians and other school personnel.
War spending: Lawmakers are considering a request for $33 billion in supplemental war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is expected to be included in a bill with other supplemental spending requests — such as for disaster relief. All told, the supplemental spending requests would total $59 billion.
‘Doc fix’: Unless Congress acts, Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians will automatically be cut 21% come June 1 and by 1% to 6% in future years because of a pre-set formula that dictates Medicare outlays related reimbursements. Lawmakers are likely to override that scheduled cut for five years, at a cost of $89 billion.
Small business tax relief: President Obama has proposed excluding capital gains tax on small business stock purchased by individuals. So the tax break — estimated to cost $2 billion over 10 years — would help "angel" investors who take early stakes in fledgling, privately held companies.
2001/2003 tax cuts extension: There’s been bipartisan support for extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the majority of Americans. If Congress doesn’t act, they will expire after Dec. 31.
Extending them permanently would cost an estimated $2.2 trillion over 10 years.
It’s not clear yet how long lawmakers might opt to extend the tax cuts, or if there will be enough of a push to also extend them for high-income households. Both parties have favored making the cuts permanent, at least for most Americans. But of late some believe extending them for a year or two may be the smartest move given current political and economic constraints.
Indeed, last week conservative economist Martin Feldstein, who was President Reagan’s top economic adviser, said in a Wall Street Journal editorial that while he favors temporarily extending the cuts for everyone, the country can’t afford to make them permanent.
"Changing the Obama budget proposal to limit all tax cuts to two years would reduce the total deficits over the next decade by more than $2 trillion. No single policy change could do as much to limit the future deficits and the national debt," Feldstein wrote.
Goldman Sachs brought its campaign to improve its image directly to investors Friday as Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the investment bank will do better at "listening to the concerns of our shareholders."
Blankfein also told the company’s annual meeting that Goldman is creating a business standards committee to study its practices as it fights civil fraud charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We need a rigorous self-examination," Blankfein told investors at the meeting, which attracted about 300 people. "Our firm must review our core principles."
The committee, which will report to the Goldman board of directors, will review both services and products Goldman offers, Blankfein said.
Blankfein, who has responded to the SEC charges by saying Goldman has done nothing wrong, offered a softer side Friday. He pledged that the company will be more introspective and listen to issues raised by shareholders quick pay day loan.
Blankfein noted there is a "disconnect" between how the company views itself and how outsiders see Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Blankfein noted that in the last few weeks, questions have been raised about how "we treat our clients."
Regaining the confidence of clients and shareholders is essential, he said.
In the past, Goldman has focused on its big institutional clients and not enough on the public, he said. The company has come under sharp criticism before and after the SEC charges were filed April 16, partly because of the high pay its executives and traders received during the financial crisis and recession.
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