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Potential Big Bucks Bring Other U.S. Companies in Space Race after SpaceX

2012-05-24T00:50:00.000-07:00

With an aim to make money in commercial space race as much as eight U.S. companies have started their bid even more aggressively after SapceX’s successful launch of its rockets early this week. Most of the companies, planning to jump in the new market, think that they can make even more money than major U.S. airlines in operations.

Potential Big Bucks Bring Other U.S. Companies in Space Race after SpaceX

The reusable space cargo capsule ‘Dragon’ was lifted off atop Falcon 9 rocket is expected to reach near the space station for tests early Thursday and ultimately will dock on Friday with its load of supplies.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (popularly known as SpaceX), run by Elon Musk (co-founder of PayPal and Tesla Motors) was hired by NASA to deliver cargo in the first hand, then eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost.

Private space exploration companies have planned for years about carrying supplies and human for NASA, but this is the first time one is actually in orbit and about to make a delivery for the space agency.

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Video Collection: SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket's Successful Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Station

Breaking News!! SpaceX Falcon 9 launch aborted at last minute

SpaceX on historical space travel -- It’s a big job: President Gwynne Shotwell

Facebook IPO - New Disclosed share prices value it at up to $95 billion: Renaissance Capital

2012-05-04T00:22:00.001-07:00

The social networking leader Facebook has been valued at up to $95 billion (£58.6 billion) after the company has set a price range of $28 (£17) to 35 dollars (£21) per share for an initial public offer (IPO) in a regulatory filing.

Facebook IPO - New Disclosed share prices value it at up to $95 billion: Renaissance Capital

Facebook's IPO has been regarded as the much-awaited event by experts, not just because of how much money it will raise but because of its worldwide popularity among the internet users. The world's largest online social network has more than 900 million users worldwide.

With the above-stated disclosed price range for IPO, Facebook has becomes the biggest ever valued internet company and its current shareholders could raise as much as 13.58 billion dollars (£8.3 billion). That happens if the underwriters sell extra stock reserved for over-allotments, which they will be expected to do keeping in view the excitement surrounding the IPO.

According to Renaissance Capital - an IPO investment adviser, with an expected number of Facebok shares i.e. 2.74 billion; it’s offering values the company at 76 billion dollars (£47 billion) to 95 billion dollars (£59 billion).

Present record-holder Google Inc. raised $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion) including the over-allotment for their IPO back in 2004 and Google was valued at $23 billion (£14.2 billion). Google is now worth about $200 billion (£123 billion).

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who turns 28 this month, has emerged as a genius leader who's led Facebook through extraordinary expansion from its patchy beginning as an interaction medium for Harvard students.

Facebook's next step is to go on an "IPO road show," where executives talk to potential investors about why they should invest in the stock. On Thursday, Facebook posted a version of its road show online, with appearances from Zuckerberg; the vice president of product, Chris Cox; and other executives.

If all goes well, Facebook's stock is expected to price on May 17 and make its public debut on May 18.

Zuckerberg will keep tight control over the company even after the IPO. He will control 57.3% of the company's voting power, through stocks he owns or because other shareholders have promised to vote his way through shares that they own. This means he will have final say over the biggest decisions facing the company even after it goes public.

Report Tags: Facebook, Facebook IPO, Facebook Value, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Network, Renaissance Capital, Facebook Shares, 95 billion dollar,

Wave: Absolutely Free Online Accounting Software for Small Businesses -- Pros and Cons (Video Demonstration)

2012-04-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

Accountancy is a very highly regarded profession. There are millions of the accountants, all thoroughly working away like other professionals to make sure that every cent is accounted for. They keep business moving day-to-day, advise the board of directors and help them to resolve their tax issues.

Wave: Absolutely Free Online Accounting Software for Small Businesses

As an accounting professional the article written by Joseph Thomas on Allvoices attracted all my attentions and I couldn’t help myself stop reading this informative article but also searching for more information about Wave Accounting software.

Wave is a great online accounting application for small businesses. There are numerous features that, combined together, make Wave different from other accounting software in the market.

They (waveaccounting.com) said on their features page, “Made for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs. Accountant approved. 100% free. Wave slashes the time you spend on accounting and bookkeeping, and saves you money every day.”

Wave is the free, easy-to-use accounting software made for small business owners and freelancers. Get back in control of your finances, while saving time and money. Send professional invoices, track expenses, and eliminate accounting headaches.

Powerful yet easy that can provide an accountant space to relax and smile while providing real double-entry accounting, posting journal entries, generating financial reports and much more for a professional accountant.

That’s not all about Wave, rather it is equally effective and practicable for non-accounting persons.

Wave’s most outstanding feature, at least to me, is auto-syncing with your business bank account and credit cards. Once you set up everything with your online banking, Wave syncs regularly even when you’re not online. The result of this is a list of newly imported transactions waiting for you each time you log in. All you have to do is drag each one into a category in either ‘Personal’ or your business accounts. This significantly reduces the amount of manual input you have to do.

In short Wave is all about:

SAVE TIME
• Connect with your online bank and credit card accounts (optional), and eliminate hours of tedious manual data entry: Wave imports all your transactions while you sleep, so you're always up to date.
• The more you use Wave, the smarter it gets, automatically filing your transactions where you want them.

EASY TO USE
• Wave is built for non-accountants, but also includes the tools that will make your accountant smile.
• Powerful yet easy: real double-entry accounting; reports; journal entries and more for the expert user.

100% FREE
• Not just a trial version. Use all of Wave, as much and as often as you want, for free.

MORE FEATURES
• Invoices: create and send unlimited professional invoices.

• At-a-glance dashboards.

• Unlimited collaborators: invite your accountant, bookkeeper, business partner or advisor to work with you in Wave.

• Manage business and personal finances together in the same program, seamlessly. Wave even handles business expenses paid from a personal account, and vice versa.

• No usage limits.

• Free support.

• Sales tax calculations and reports

• Free alternative to QuickBooks and expensive software.

... and much more ...

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Facebook IPO: Social networking giant signs $8 billion credit deal with consortium of banks

2012-03-09T02:54:00.001-08:00

PALO ALTO, CA (Fri, Mar. 09) – Social networking website Facebook, has secured credit deal worth $8 billion from a consortium of banks ahead of the social network's eagerly anticipated initial public offering (IPO).

Social networking giant signs $8 billion credit deal with onsortium of banks

According to documents submitted Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Facebook had secured a $5 billion revolving line of credit over three years from a bank consortium including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.

Sources in Facebook revealed that the company aims use the facility "for general corporate purposes." In the wake of new arrangement Facebook has terminated the credit facility agreement inked with Barclays Capital and others that granted the company the borrowing capacity of $2,500 million.

The social networking giant also said it had reached a deal with the same group for a $3 billion bridge credit facility to enable it to fulfill a number of obligations related to the initial public offering (IPO).

“This bridge credit facility allows us to borrow up to $ 3 billion to fund tax withholding and remittance obligations related to the settlement of RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) in connection with our initial public offering,” Facebook filing said.

In early February, Facebook filed for its IPO aiming to raise at least $5 billion in the largest stock flotation ever by an Internet company; but figure could grow to $10 billion depending upon the interest of investors.

The Palo Alto, California-based company, founded by Mark Zuckerberg eight years ago when he was just 19, reported net income of $668 million last year, up from $372 million the previous year.

In the documents filed Wednesday, Facebook also said it had now total of 31 underwriters after adding 25 to the existing six ahead of its IPO, expected later this year.

Facebook's value has been estimated at $75 billion to $100 billion.

British-American Carnival Corporation & Plc to suffer losses up to $95 million for sinking Costa Concordia

2012-01-16T04:27:00.000-08:00

Official sources of British-American Carnival Corporation & Plc, the parent company of stricken luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, revealed that the company will have to bear a loss up to $95m by the sinking of plunged ship.

British-American Carnival Corporation & Plc to suffer losses up to $95 million for sinking Costa Concordia

"For the fiscal year ending November 30, the impact to 2012 earnings for loss of use is expected to be approximately $85-$95m or $0.11-$0.12 per share," Carnival said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Though the company would enjoy an insurance coverage for damage to the ship with an approximately $30m.

"The vessel is expected to be out of service for the remainder of our current fiscal year if not longer," the statement revealed further.

The tragedy could hit the company even more severely as its shares already dropped 18% in early trading after the statement mentioning that the loss of earning from the capsizing of Costa Concordia to be between $85m and $95m.

The cruise ship ran aground near the island of Giglio off the coast of Tuscany on Friday evening, killing six people.

Italian, German, French and British nationals were among the 4,200 passengers on board.

Shrinking U.S. defense budget forcing Boeing to close Wichita plant by end of 2013: Mark Bass

2012-01-04T11:43:00.000-08:00

WICHITA, Kan. (Jan. 04) – U.S. aerospace giant Boeing plans to close down its Wichita, Kan., plant which would impact more than 2,000 employees working in the plant. The decision has reportedly been taken in the wake of shrinking U.S. defense spending.

Boeing to close Wichita plant by end of 2013

Boeing officials told, validating earlier reports, the shutting down will be exercised by the end of 2013, but it doesn't expect job cuts to take place until early in the third quarter of 2012.

Boeing said in a statement, “The site does not have enough sustainable business on the horizon to create an affordable cost structure to maintain and win new business.” Future aircraft maintenance, modification and support work will be done at its San Antonio facility. The shifting to the new plant will start in the months ahead, the statement disclosed further.

The plant under the threat of closing down has been manufacturing aircrafts since 1929 and it is part of Boeing's defense, space and security apparatus, or BDS. The Wichita plant, with more than 2,160 workers, had been the company's base for its worldwide transport executive systems business as well as its B-52 and 767 International Tanker programs.

However, the facility had been hit with program closures and the winding down of contracts over the past five years.

“The site does not have enough sustainable business on the horizon to create an affordable cost structure to maintain and win new business. We recognize how this will affect the lives of the highly skilled men and women who work here, so we will do everything possible to assist our employees, their families and our community through this difficult transition,” said Mark Bass, vice president and general manager for BDS' maintenance, modifications and upgrades division.

Boeing said it will provide workers with retirement seminars, job search resources, financial counseling and help finding work inside or outside of Boeing.

Google Chrome giving tough time to Microsoft Internet Explorer by increasing browser market share

2011-12-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

“Every rise has a downfall”, it’s an old saying but fits very much for recent victory of Google Chrome over Internet Explorer in terms of market share.

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8, which was considered as the undoubted king of browsing and once the holder of ‘world’s most-used browser’ tag, has lost its supremacy in browsing field to its toughest rival Google Chrome.

According to statistics and figures by StatCounter, a Web Analytic firm, Internet Explorer 8, after been trailed slightly by Google chrome in last week of November, has lost significant share of market until now.

The statistics shows that in last week of November, Internet Explorer 8 was capturing 23.5% of browser market share as compared to 23.6% of Google Chrome leaving a gap of just 0.1%; but the latest stats have shown that the gap has widened to 3% with browser market share of 22% and 25% for Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome respectively.

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Kingdom Holding Buys Shares of $300 Million in Microblogging Site Twitter

2011-12-19T04:16:00.000-08:00

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, - nephew of Saudi King who earlier this month was declared as the Arab world’s richest business man - announced the purchase of a $300 million stakes in microblogging site Twitter.

According to an emailed statement from Prince Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding Company; the huge investment in Twitter by the company is part of a drive “to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact.”

Prince Alwaleed’s stake is equivalent to 3.6% of the Twitter’s total value of $8.4 billion estimated by the analysts in October this year.

Microblogging site Twitter - allows users to send messages called ‘tweets’ of up to 140 characters each – has achieved recently a land mark of 100 million active users who send 250 million tweets per day.

“Social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the coming years. Twitter will capture and monetize this positive trend,” Ahmed Halawani, executive director of private equity and international investments at Kingdom Holding, said in the same statement.

Arabian Business magazine has rated Prince Alwaleed as the Arab world’s richest business man, with more than $21 billion in wealth in 2011.

Officials of Kingdom Holding, which was pursuing to purchase the shares of Twitter since October, didn’t provide any further details of the deal early Monday. Matt Graves, a Twitter spokesperson, confirmed the deal but refused to comment further.

It is worth-remembering that different online forums and social-networks, like Twitter and Facebook, had played a key role in the on going Arab revolution as the same were extensively used by activists during this year’s Arab uprisings.

Korean electronic giant Samsung breaks the record by selling more than 300 million units in 2011

2011-12-12T03:39:00.000-08:00

SEOUL, South Korea (Dec. 12) - Samsung is enjoying great leaps in the market by the growing in terms of sales over the past few years. The latest milestone achieved by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is “The Highest Number of Units Sold in any Financial Year”.

Sumsung sold more than 300 million units in 2011

Sumsung - the world's second largest handset maker by volume (counting smartphones and feature phones), trailing Nokia - said in a statement it had broken its sales record by the end of last month by selling more than 300 million units for the first time in the history of electronic giant.

The volume of sales in current year is up from 280 million in 2010, which itself was a big improvement over 2009. Samsung said the company's flagship Galaxy S smartphone series - Galaxy S and Galaxy S II - contributed significantly to the results.

Samsung's president and head of the Mobile communications business, JK Shin, says "We look forward to extending this success going into 2012".

Build Your Google+ Business Page -- Easy to Learn and Free to Download eBook

2011-12-08T07:11:00.000-08:00

New eBook: How to Use Google+ for Business

Google+ is the new social network on the block. With more than 40 million users and a growing influence on search, Google+ has definitely emerged as a key player in the online marketing ecosystem and poses a challenge to Facebook’s domination of the social media space.

Learn ... How to Use Google+ for Your Business?

Have You Built Your Google+ Business Page Yet?

On November 7, Google+ opened its doors to companies, allowing them to build business pages and encouraging them to increase their following. Grab our new guide to learn how you can start using Google+ for business.

In this guide you'll learn:

How to set up a Google+ business page

Marketing best practices with your Google+ page

The benefits of Google+ in search

Google+ Circles and the value of segmentation

How to incorporate the +1 button on your blog

Follow the link to get your free download ...... Hubspot

Forex Updates: Top EU Members Concern Over Euro Zone Debt Crisis Deepens as Euro Hits 1-month Low

2011-11-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

TOKYO, Japan (Nov. 15) – Euro zone debt crisis seems to get deepen with further slipping of the euro on Wednesday against dollar and the yen. The top-rated members of euro zone, like France, are feared to get affected because of increasing pressure on the government bonds of these countries.

Euro Zone Debt Crisis Deepens as Euro Hits 1-month Low (Image Courtesy: breakthrougheurope.org)

The euro drop as far as $1.3460 - the lowest in more than one month period - after the French bond yield spread over benchmark German bonds hit euro-era highs.

Italy’s failure under Mario Monti, former EU Commissioner, to crush fears over the country's long-term political and economic future has led to Italian yields shot back above the critical 7 percent level.

Adding further concerns over the crisis Masafumi Yamamoto, chief strategist at Barclays, said: "It's not clear if a new government in Italy can carry out measures that would satisfy the market. I would not be surprised if the euro falls to around $1.30 within two weeks."

As the euro currency union trapped in a nasty cycle of falls in government bonds which is hurting the region's big banks, further discouraging buoyancy in the area, the euro is coming under heavy pressure.

Funding strains among European banks are evident with euro/dollar three-month cross currency basis swap spreads widening to a level not seen since late 2008.

Reference: Reuters

Small Business Inspiration: Future female entrepreneurs aged 25 and below

2011-10-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

1. Lizzie Marie Likness

Lizzie Marie Cuisine
Age: 11

Lizzie Marie Likness runs Lizzie Marie Cuisine at the age of just 11

Lizzie Marie Likness, the youngest on our list, runs Lizzie Marie Cuisine, a site that offers cooking tips, product reviews, and recipes. Her entrepreneurial life began at six years old: She paid for her own horseback riding lessons by selling homemade breads and cookies at farmers' markets. Her equestrian career didn't last (she says she rode for a year-and-a-half), but her cooking stuck. Her "Tasty Tidbits" food education project won a grant in 2007 from DoSomething.org.