SEC

Rumor
August 9, 2010
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Weekend iPhone Rumors: Apple ordering "hoards" of CDMA chips, AT&T SEC filing hints at loss of exclusivity?

By on August 9, 2010 at 2:14 PM.

Weekend iPhone Rumors: Apple ordering "hoards" of CDMA chips, AT&T SEC filing hints at loss of exclusivity?

The iPhone 4 has been out for well over a month now, so it is only natural that iPhone rumors begin again, no? Over the weekend, two iPhone rumors of interest were spotted on the interwebs. The first comes via blog TechCrunch, TC is reporting that:

Sources with knowledge of this entire situation have assured me that Apple has submitted orders for millions of units of Qualcomm CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone run due in December. This production run would likely be for a January launch, and I’d bet the phone is nearly 100% consistent with the current iPhone 4 (with a fixed internal insulator on the antenna).

We’ll let you decide how feasible a Verizon iPhone in December is, it isn’t like we’ve ever heard that before.

The next rumor come courtesy of an SEC filing from AT&T. In the filing, dated June 30th, the company writes:

In addition, offering a number of attractive handsets on an exclusive basis distinguishes us from our competitors. As these exclusivity arrangements end, we expect to continue to offer such handsets (based on historical industry practice), and we believe our service plan offerings will help to retain our customers by providing incentives not to move to a new carrier.

The rub here is that the only device that AT&T has exclusivity on, that would be worth mentioning in an SEC filing, is the iPhone (sorry BlackBerry Torch).

As with all rumors, these should be taken with a heavy dose of NaCl (that’s salt), they are rumors after all. More →

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Business
August 9, 2010
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Skype going public, files for IPO

By on August 9, 2010 at 1:01 PM.

Skype going public, files for IPO

We bet everyone out there is saying, “Finally.” And if so, we’re right along with you. Skype has just filed with the SEC for an IPO and will be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. In terms of revenue, Skype is reporting EBITDA of $115.8 million on $406.2 million in net revenue for the first six months of 2010. In 2009, however, the filed documents report a loss of $368.6 million on revenue of $718.9 million which is when Skype and eBay no longer shared sippy cups. More →

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General
May 17, 2010
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HP beat out four companies in bid for Palm

By on May 17, 2010 at 5:17 AM.

HP beat out four companies in bid for Palm

hp-logo

When the news officially broke that HP had put in a winning bid for Palm, it all seemed so simple. HP, a company that has long had its smartphone ambitions beset by poor hardware and execution, seemed to simply be the only company that was really intent on purchasing the troubled company based in Sunnyvale. But according to a recent SEC filing from Palm, what really took place in weeks leading up to HP’s successful bid was a five company bidding war. Click through to get all the facts straight from the horse’s mouth. More →

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News
January 21, 2009
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SEC begins investigation into Apple / Jobs health disclosure

By on January 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM.

SEC begins investigation into Apple / Jobs health disclosure

File this one under “duh”. With all of the commotion caused by Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ announcement earlier this month, it was only a matter of time before the SEC began looking into the matter. For those of you who have been living with the Fraggles for the past few months, allow us to recap the situation in one short series of sentence fragments: Jobs was sick. Apple denied Jobs was sick. Jobs admitted he was sick. As Stevo plays such an integral role in all things Apple, it’s a no-brainer that investors deserved to know what was going on.The question is, did Apple do anything illegal?

To bring any case, the SEC would probably have to show the company tried to benefit by withholding information about an unambiguous diagnosis, said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor and SEC lawyer who now teaches at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

“It would be difficult, and certainly a new area of the law,” Henning said. “You would have to pin down exactly what they knew, and with a health issue — unlike a merger or a decline in revenue — it’s not subject to definitive answers.”

While the SEC’s inquiry isn’t yet official, a source close to Bloomberg spilled the beans and you can expect official word to come soon as a result. Either way, it looks like the SEC will be treading on some new and tricky ground if its findings are worth pursuing.

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General
November 25, 2008
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Google is trimming “operational expenses”; read layoffs

By on November 25, 2008 at 1:15 PM.

Google is trimming “operational expenses”; read layoffs

Regardless of how large, powerful and influential a company is, no one is recession-proof. Internet search giant Google has been laying off employees since this summer, and it has been doing so under the news radar for the most part. The SEC requires companies to disclose information regarding layoffs but apparently Google had slipped around the rule and reported its Q3 earnings as expected by saying it had cut down on “operational expenses”. Though Google officially has 20,123 employees, there are an additional 10,000 which are just labeled as temporary operational expenses. However it wants to label those human beings, they are still going to get shafted and are still going to be hurt by this massive cut in manpower. Google’s very own Sergey Brin says, “There is no question that the number (of workers) is too high”.

More →

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General
October 24, 2008
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Teen behind the fake Steve Jobs heart attack story

By on October 24, 2008 at 2:49 PM.

Teen behind the fake Steve Jobs heart attack story

What happens when you write a fake story that Steve Jobs had been rushed to hospital suffering a heart attack and post it on CNN’s ireport.com website? You will cause Apple’s stock to plummet and lose nearly $4.8 billion in market value before the story is debunked by Apple. You will also find yourself on the wrong end of an agressive SEC investigation. Such is the case of “Johntw”, the 18 year old author of said blatantly misleading and false post. According to anonymous sources familiar with the probe, the SEC has not uncovered any evidence of illegal trading on behalf of the author. Obviously the author didnt do it for the money, which begs the question why did he do it? Was it out of Boredom? Was he desperately craving some notoriety? You would think that the image of Palin email hacker, David Christopher Kernell, walking into federal court in handcuffs, shackles, and tennis shoes would be a major deterrent to pulling such high profile stunts. You would think?

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