Manulife Gains Respect from Moody’s … and the Chinese

On December 5, 2009

Manulife Gains Respect from Moody’s … and the Chinese

Canadian insurer and financial services giant Manulife Financial recently took some knocks for surprising investors with a $2.5 billion (Canadian) stock offering, described by one major shareholder as "god-awful." Now comes some good news. Bloomberg News reports that Marc Sterling, the head of Manulife's China operations, believes the life insurer can double or even triple its revenue by winning licenses to operate in about 100 of its cities. That would be welcome news at a time when Manulife shares have lost nearly a third of their value from this year's high of about $25. The news comes on the heels of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's state visit to China this week to increase business, including financial services, between the two countries....


On December 5, 2009

Snubbing Google Won’t Line Most Newspapers’ Pockets

There's an intriguing idea floating around the media: Microsoft wants to undercut Google so badly in Internet search that it might pay newspapers to withhold their content from Google. Just don't count on that turning into a lucrative plan for newspapers. The unorthodox strategy faces stumbling blocks, starting with this one: Microsoft is unlikely to fund a Google boycott.


On December 5, 2009

Apple’s Odd Double-Talk About Psystar

One of the reasons Apple has been the most venerable opponent a courtroom defendant may face is because of a significant trump card the U.S. Supreme Court handed it in 1983. In a landmark case that rendered "Apple II clones" effectively illegal, the high court established a unique precedent for determining liability and damages in software copyright cases.


On December 4, 2009

Predictions for 2010 Worth Listening to, from Craig, Jimmy and Alec

It's the time of year when those of us in media love to make predictions about what will happen next year. While I don't have any of my own (yet), here are a few I picked up this week from people well worth listening to: Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, told the closing plenary at Supernova 09 yesterday that he believes 2010 will bring the "tipping point" for social media. He never really elaborated on this point, but he clearly believes that what has been only a remarkable phenomenon most of this year will become mainstream during the year to come. Fair enough. If you check the numbers for Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace, not to mention their host of imitators,...


On December 4, 2009

Social media rescues customers before company does

Recently my anti-virus software went crazy. It started finding viruses all over my netbook. After several hours of banging my head against our kitchen table, with no success in cleaning up the problem, I turned to my good friend Google for help. There I discovered (to my great relief) that there was no virus on my computer. Instead, my anti-virus software had a problem.


On December 4, 2009

5 Tips To Prevent Blog Wandering and Traffic Loss

This is a guest post by Robb Sutton. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here. Blog wandering? What is that?! I have seen it over and over again. A new blogger kick starts a blog with all intentions of hitting it big and growing a huge subscriber count. They are going to be the next big thing! Just you wait and see! So what does this new blogger do?

Original Post: 5 Tips To Prevent Blog Wandering and Traffic Loss


On December 4, 2009

The End of Sarbanes-Oxley? Good Riddance!

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments that challenge the constitutionality of substantial parts of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, aka SOX, potentially invalidating the entire law that has cost the economy nearly $1 trillion. I say the sooner the better.


On December 4, 2009

Valero Energy Sours on Heavy Crude, Sweet on Ethanol

Valero Energy announced the permanent closing of its Delaware City refinery last month, prompted by financial losses and annual cost savings of $450 million expected from the shutdown. Though refinery operations are struggling with soured demand for petroleum products, including gasoline, its nascent ethanol business looks sweet. Is there a profitable future in biofuel for the nation's largest oil refiner?


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