Google adds financial channel
Online search engine leader Google Inc. is devoting a section of its Web site to information about the stock market and corporate America, filling a gaping product hole as it continues to battle for Internet traffic with rivals Yahoo Inc., MSN and America Online.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company plans to unveil its newest channel today at http://finance.google.com.
Many of the Google features, including stock market quotes and charts, mirror Yahoo’s finance section, which has been available for the past decade.
MSN Money is currently the Web’s top-drawing finance site with 11.6 million unique visitors last month, according to comScore Media Metrix. AOL’s finance section ranked second at 10.6 million unique visitors followed by Yahoo at 8.7 million, comScore said.
“A federal judge found former Gemstar-TV Guide CEO Henry C. Yuen liable for securities fraud, according to a ruling unsealed Monday in a federal regulatory lawsuit that claimed Yuen inflated the company’s revenue by $248 million to boost its stock.
U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer also found Yuen liable for misrepresenting facts to Gemstar’s auditors and falsifying its books.
The Securities and Exchange Commission will now submit a proposed penalty.
Pfaelzer’s findings came almost three years after the SEC filed the lawsuit against Yuen and Elsie Leung, Gemstar’s ex-finance chief, in an alleged scheme to inflate revenue.
“Technology services company Unisys Corp. said Monday it has sold its stake in a Japanese distributor for $374 million, and will use proceeds of that sale to pay severance and related costs for 3,600 previously announced layoffs.
The Blue Bell, Pa.-based company said about 3,000 people will be laid off by the end of September, and 600 will be let go by the end of 2006. The job cuts, which were announced in October and account for 10 percent of its worldwide work force, are expected to save the company about $250 million a year by the end of 2007.
“Delphi Corp. has delayed filing its year-end financial statement with the government until it concludes its discussions with General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers on a restructuring plan.
John D. Sheehan, Delphi’s vice president, chief restructuring officer and chief accounting officer, told federal regulators that the auto parts maker could not make the filing “until the outcome of the current discussions is better understood.”