Microsoft has sold 40 million licenses of Windows 8 after one month on the market, matching the early pace of Windows 7, the company announced Tuesday.
, Fortune 500) is “very pleased with the customer reception so far,” Tami Reller, Microsoft’s new Windows division financial chief, said at a technology conference held by Credit Suisse.
The rapid adoption isn’t all that surprising, considering that the launch occurred on Oct. 26 — just before the holiday shopping season began.
Upgrades to the new operating system from previous Windows versions are outpacing Windows 7’s early rate, Reller said. That’s also not surprising: Microsoft has been offering $40 upgrades to Windows 8 during a promotional period (which ends Jan. 31) to anyone with a PC that runs Windows XP, Vista or 7. Customers who bought Windows 7 PCs since June were also offered $15 upgrades to Windows 8.
Though Reller herself made the comparison between Windows 8 and Windows 7, she quickly dismissed its significance.
“Each release of Windows has its own characteristics,” she said. “It’s always tempting to want to compare sales to Windows 7 credit score… but Windows 8 wasn’t built for any one single selling season — it was built for the future.”
PC industry analysts expect Windows 8 sales to cool in the coming months. Gartner, for instance, anticipates sales of the new operating system coming in 6% lower than the first full year of Windows 7 sales.
At the conference, Reller acknowledged some of the obstacles Windows 8’s path, including the lack of touchscreen PCs, a scarcity of Windows Store apps, and the large number of companies that just recently upgraded to Windows 7.
She said it will take “a few selling seasons” to get all the PC designs Microsoft wants into the marketplace and to build up a critical mass of apps in its store.
As for Surface, Microsoft’s own Windows tablet, Reller said it has been a success so far, despite “very limited distribution.” Microsoft is only selling Surface at its small handful of stores and on its website. She declined to provide any sales numbers for the tablet.
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Singapore Airlines will stop flying the world’s longest route next year as the company phases out the aircraft used to make the journey.
The ultra long-haul flight, which runs nonstop from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, typically takes just under 19 hours to complete. In total, the trip covers roughly 10,000 miles — and sometimes takes passengers over the North Pole.
The airline uses a roster of aging Airbus A340-500 aircraft to fly the route, but the company said Wednesday those planes were being sent back to Airbus as part of a deal to purchase five Airbus A380s and another 20 A350s. The deal is valued at $7.5 billion.
The A340-500 models will remain in service until the fourth quarter of 2013. Nonstop services from Singapore to Los Angeles will also be eliminated.
) has operated flights on the Newark route since 2004. A hot ticket for business and luxury travelers, passengers boarding the inaugural flight could hear strains of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” pumped through the aircraft’s sound system guaranteed online personal loans.
Later, in an effort to concentrate on elite business travelers, the airline stopped offering coach seats on the flight and converted the aircraft to accommodate only business-class passengers.
“Although disappointing that we will be halting these services, we remain very committed to the US market,” Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a statement.
“Over the past two years we have increased capacity to both Los Angeles and New York by deploying A380 superjumbos on flights via Tokyo and Frankfurt,” he said. “We will also continue to explore additional options to enhance our U.S. services.”
Airlines have adjusted routes in recent years as slack demand and rising fuel costs have reduced margins. Some costs have been passed on to customers in the form of rising prices and fees for baggage and other services.
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Scores of commodity investors were burned last fall when the brokerage firm MF Global went bankrupt.
A smaller group of investors got hurt this week when the futures broker Peregrine Financial Group filed for liquidation.
And then there’s Andreas Diessbacher, head of the $25 million Chicago-based investment manager White River Group, who knows this all too well.
That’s because he has about $17 million of his clients’ money tied up with the two scandal-tainted firms.
"Now, I’m afraid to refer anyone to anywhere, because there could be liability at some point," Diessbacher said.
Diessbacher said he has $9 million worth of clients’ funds locked in with Peregrine, also known as PFGBest. This is a problem for him and his clients, because the National Futures Association froze PFG’s funds on Tuesday after learning that more than $200 million was missing from the firm.
White River Group’s clients are primarily speculators in commodities futures on the Chicago Board of Trade. Diessbacher requires minimum investments of $10,000 from his clients, bids that are considered small for the industry.
Because his clients are relatively small-time players, Diessbacher deals with relatively small brokerages such as PFG, which tend to be privately held companies.
Since they are not publicly traded, Diessbacher said that it’s difficult to research the fiscal integrity of the companies. To get a feel for who he’s dealing with, he has to call the companies on the phone or meet with chief executives in person.
Taking the fall at MF Global
A CEO is "only going to tell you the good things," said Diessbacher. "He’s not going to tell you, ‘By the way, I’m a crook.’"
When Peregrine filed for liquidation Tuesday, chief operating officer Russell Wasendorf, Jr., signed the documents. Under power of attorney, he also signed for his "incapacitated" father, chief executive officer and founder Russell R. Wasendorf, Sr., amid allegations of fraud and his father’s attempted suicide.
Diessbacher said that none of this was apparent three weeks ago, when he sat next to Wasendorf, Sr. and his fiancee at an award ceremony for commodity trading advisers.
"He looked normal," said Diessbacher. "He was a nice guy, actually."
Diessbacher’s firm also has $8 million in clients’ money tied up with MF Global. The commodities brokerage, with former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine at the helm, filed for bankruptcy in October after large amounts of money went missing,
Former MF Global customers have claims of about $1.6 billion against the firm. Many of those clients were individual investors and farmers who used commodities contracts as part of their normal course of business.
All of this has shaken Diessbacher’s faith in the way commodities trading works.
"The current structure is not working; that’s pretty obvious," said Diessbacher.
European governments will jump-start as much as 100 billion euros ($123 billion) in loans to shore up Spain
China’s manufacturing sector is still expanding, but barely.
The National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing said Sunday morning that the China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for June fell to 50.2 from 50.4 in May. Any reading below 50 signals contraction in the manufacturing sector.
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10 largest economies
The good news is that economists had been expecting the numbers to be worse. According to a report from emerging markets analysts for Barclays in Hong Kong, the consensus was for the PMI figure to hit 49.9.
A separate reading of the manufacturing sector from HSBC bank showed a modest contraction, slipping to a 2012 low of 48.2 in June from 48.4 in May.
China’s central bank cut interest rates in early June for the first time since 2008. Many economists are predicting that the People’s Bank of China may need to continue lowering rates.
While China’s economy is still expanding at a rate that is the envy of the developed world — gross domestic product rose at an annualized 8.1% in the first quarter — there are concerns that the debt crisis in Europe is hurting China. The eurozone is China’s largest export market.
Along those lines, the Chinese government noted in Sunday’s PMI report that there was a sharp drop in new export orders in June.
Stop exaggerating China’s slowdown
Still, the Barclays analysts said that domestic demand appeared to improve — a possible sign that China’s rate cut and other steps taken to try and stabilize the economy are working. The analysts wrote that the June PMI figures "should provide some relief to investors fearful of a ‘freefall’ in the Chinese economy."
Inflation is no longer a significant problem for China either, which likely gives the government more room to lower interest rates. The Chinese government reported in early June that consumer prices rose at just a 3% annualized rate in May.
That’s the fourth straight month of consumer price increases below 4% and far below the 6.5% rate of inflation from the summer of 2011.
Ascension Health Alliance, the nation’s largest Catholic health system, has entered into a joint venture to build a $2 billion medical complex in the Cayman Islands.
The health care facilities could become a geographically advantageous site for medical tourism — offering a low-cost alternative for patients seeking special treatments and procedures, hospital care and rehabilitation in a tropical setting.
In recent years, a growing number of U.S. patients have traveled to Korea, Thailand, India and many other far-flung nations to receive medical care at discounted rates.
The Edmundson-based Ascension Health Alliance is teaming up with Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospitals of India “to bring innovative healthcare services” to the Caribbean and the Americas, the two companies announced today.
Narayana’s chairman and managing director, Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, is a cardiovascular surgeon who has a reputation of providing low-cost health care at medical facilities in India.
“Ascension Health has been working with Dr. Shetty for two years to explore ways to adapt his success at providing high-quality healthcare at low cost,” Anthony Tersigni, president and chief executive Officer of Ascension Health Alliance, said in a written statement. “Together, we are committed to bring first-rate healthcare provided in a world-class setting.”
The huge project — which the partners call a “health city” — is scheduled to break ground in August on a 200-acre site in Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands comprising the Cayman Islands.
Grand Cayman is best known as an offshore banking haven for U.S. companies including hedge funds as well as wealthy Americans seeking tax shelters. It’s also a popular resort destination for American and European travelers.
The health care project will be built in phases over 15 years, the companies said. It will include a tertiary-care hospital with as many as 2,000 beds, an educational facility, a biotech park and an assisted living community. The first phase, including about 140 hospital beds, is expected to open in early 2013.
According to a news release, the multi-specialty hospital will provide services including open-heart/bypass surgery, angioplasty, heart-valve replacement, cancer treatment, bone-marrow transplant, nuclear medicine, organ transplant and orthopedics.
The hospital will seek accreditation by Joint Commission International, the international arm of The Joint Commission, which accredits U.S. hospitals.
Ascension Health Alliance will provide facilities planning, supply chain management and biomedical engineering services to the project, the companies said. Narayana Hrudayalaya will provide “technical input and direction to the Cayman team.”
An Ascension Health official would not discuss the financial arrangements between the two companies.
Ascension Health, the nation’s largest non-profit health system, reported assets of nearly $20 billion and revenue of about $16 billion in fiscal year 2011. It operates about 80 hospitals in the United States.
Tersigni said the joint venture will provide his health system’s subsidiaries with “opportunities to examine and learn about different approaches to providing healthcare to all with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable.”
The partners say that the health care project will create thousands of jobs on Grand Cayman, diversify the island’s economy, provide ongoing research and education opportunities, contribute to the health of the citizenry, and bring new industry to the country.
Narayana Hrudayalaya, which in Sanskrit means “God’s compassionate home,” is one of the largest health care providers in India. It currently operates 5,000 hospital beds in India, and its stated mission is “making healthcare accessible and affordable to the common person.”
Narayana established its first health city, which it defines as “one point for all healthcare needs,” in the outskirts of Bengaluru, India.
Continued strength in Clayton, a decent showing in Creve Coeur and an uptick downtown are developments experts see for the St. Louis office market this year.
Until the market rebounds further, little construction will take place, said the experts, adding that hanging on to existing tenants is a priority.
“Landlords should do what they can to retain what they have,” said Steve Schmid, a St. Louis principal at CRESA Partners, a commercial real estate firm that represents tenants.
As the region — for yet another year — climbs only slowly out of the recession, a bright spot in commercial real estate is the lack of construction. That will allow absorption of space vacated when the economy tanked and unemployment shot up in 2008.
“The good news is that we didn’t overbuild,” Schmid said.
David Morris, senior vice president at Colliers International, said Thursday that until the recession becomes more of a memory no lender will back construction unless a developer gets leases in advance for much of the space. Even in Clayton, “there are no rumors of speculative development,” he said.
In 2012, downtown will remain “very much a tenants’ market” because of high vacancies in some areas, Morris said.
“There are some very bright spots downtown, but there are others that are still kind of struggling,” he added.
A downtown surprise, Morris said, was Nestle Purina PetCare’s decision to expand outside its campus on the south side of downtown to nearly 94,000 square feet of leased space at 100 North Broadway.
In much of the area, a trend that began last year is office consolidation in reasonably priced buildings with large floors adjacent to ample parking. Schmid said making such a move was American Family Insurance, which last year signed a long-term lease for nearly 71,000 square feet of space at Riverport, in Maryland Heights.
Another recent trend is for companies to consider fully furnished “plug-and-play” space, much of which became available during the recession as office users downsized or were bought out. Schmid said an example of such space drawing interest is the former Creve Coeur headquarters of Smurfit-Stone, the container maker that merged last year with Rock-Tenn Co., of Norcross, Ga.
The St. Louis area’s premier office market is still Clayton, which enjoys low vacancy and high rents. Despite the loss of the Smurfit-Stone headquarters, Creve Coeur remains a strong office market, experts said. Overall, the St. Louis market still gives tenants the upper hand but that could slowly change as the economy continues to improve, employment creeps upward and demand for office space rises.
Downtown, hurt by recent law firm departures to Clayton, will benefit in 2012 by decisions of some major remaining employers to grow, said Robert Reardon, vice president of research at commercial real estate brokerage Cassidy Turley payday advance online. Among them are Peabody Energy, Ralcorp Holdings (which is expanding at 800 Market Street, where Bank of America gave up space), Nestlé Purina PetCare (which is completing a four-story employee training center) and Stifel Financial Corp., which bought its headquarters and plans to add employees.
Reardon said St. Louis is likely to get a boost from health care reform. Cassidy Turley calculates the reform will add 250,000 area residents to the number of U.S. citizens with health insurance. By using a standard measure of 1.9 square feet of medical space for each insured person, the area will need an additional 475,000 square feet in medical space over the next few years, Reardon said. Much of that growth could occur among the area’s big care providers, including SSM Health Care, Mercy and BJC HealthCare, he added.
“I think it’s fair to say all the companies in that industry will grow,” Reardon said.
While St. Louis is helped this year by stable office rents and lower vacancy rates, enthusiasm is tempered by election-year uncertainty, the possibility company acquisitions and European debt “contagion,” Jim Mosby, Cassidy Turley’s senior managing director, said this month at the annual forecast meeting of the St. Louis chapter of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors.
Because it’s a secondary market, St. Louis barely registers in the Urban Land Institute’s national real estate outlook for 2012. Coastal 24-hour gateway cities, growing in importance as international financial and commercial centers, remain the nation’s strongest markets, the institute noted.
St. Louis also is absent from the institute’s roster of “cool towns,” such as Austin, Seattle and Portland. Mentioned as cool in this year’s institute study is Denver, where a “revived downtown, full of restaurants and sports attractions, fits the bill, too.”
Among the 51 metro areas in institute’s survey of 950 real estate experts, St. Louis holds the 39th spot, just one spot below “fair” as an investment market for commercial and multifamily residential properties. St. Louis leads institute’s “generally poor” pack, trailed by Detroit, which is at the survey’s bottom.
Is there any good news for St. Louis? Yes, some.
At a recent ULI St. Louis event, a Federal Reserve economist William Emmons said that the St. Louis real estate market will remain fairly weak this year but has better “fundamentals” than some “glamor cities,” such as Miami.
The sports gambling site Bodog was shut down and four Canadians indicted, including founder Calvin Ayre, for illegal gambling that generated more than $100 million in winnings, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The website’s domain name was seized Monday and the indictments, which were returned Feb. 22, were unveiled Tuesday in Baltimore, prosecutors said.
The indictments follow federal prosecutions last year of three of the biggest websites involved in online poker. More than 75 company bank accounts in 14 countries have been frozen, and authorities are seeking $3 billion in fines and restitution, in that investigation.
In addition to the 50-year-old Ayre, prosecutors say the indictment names website operators James Philip, David Ferguson and Derrick Maloney.
Gamblers in Maryland and elsewhere were sent a least $100 million by wire and check from 2005 to 2012, the U.S. Attorney’s office said, adding Bodog conducted a $42 million advertising campaign between 2005 and 2008 to attract gamblers to the Bodog.com website.
The operation allegedly moved funds from Bodog’s accounts located in Switzerland, England, Malta, Canada and elsewhere to pay winnings to gamblers. The four Canadians face up to five years in prison for conducting an illegal gambling business and 20 years for money laundering. Bodog.com faces a fine of up to $500,000 for gambling and money laundering. Initial appearances for the individuals have not been scheduled.
Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Baltimore, said the four are not in custody. Spokeswoman Vickie LeDuc said later Tuesday that arrest warrants had been issued for the four.
An affidavit filed along with the warrant to seize the site said investigators created accounts with Maryland addresses and received checks in the mail for winnings. The affidavit also said investigators interviewed a former Bodog employee who named top officers and directors and said the company had hundreds of employees in Canada and Costa Rica handling day-to-day operations.
“Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside the country,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. “Many of the harms that underlie gambling prohibitions are exacerbated when the enterprises operate over the internet without regulation.”
Prosecutors say the investigation was led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore and also involved the Internal Revenue Service, Anne Arundel County Police and Maryland State Police. HSI agents seized the domain name on Monday.
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The end is nigh for the Snickers bar as we know it.
Mars is discontinuing its King Size Snickers bar, and even the traditional 2-ounce version of the chocolate bar is headed for the chopping block, as the venerable candy company pares down its products in the face of America’s obesity epidemic.
The company has replaced the King Size Snickers with the so-called "2toGo," which is two bars in one package. Each of the bars is 220 calories. The company said the package can be resealed "to save one for later."
Mars also said it’s putting the kibosh on chocolate bars that exceed 250 calories by the end of 2013. That means the days are numbered for its traditional 2.07 ounce chocolate bar, which weighs in at 280 calories pay day loan lenders.
The candy maker sees reducing portions is a way to help fight obesity in America — adopting the tone often heard from makers of other products facing health experts’ scrutiny such as alcohol and tobacco.
McDonald’s shamrock shake goes national
"Mars chocolate products should be enjoyed in moderation as part of a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle," said the M&M producer in a statement.
More than one-third of U.S. adults, and about 17% of all children and young adults, are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The prevalence of obesity among children has tripled since 1980.
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