Showing posts with label tech. Show all posts
"Thompson has quickly lost the confidence of many employees, who think he has to go," one senior Yahoo executive told CNN. "A lot of people are saying, 'How can Yahoo let this happen?'"
The scandal ignited late last week when activist shareholder group Third Point alleged that Thompson lied about his college degree.
Thompson's published Yahoo bios -- including the one in the company's latest annual report, a legal document that CEOs must personally swear are truthful -- have claimed that he holds a bachelor's degree in both accounting and computer science from Stonehill College. His degree is actually in accounting only.
Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) called the mistake an "inadvertent error." The board said Tuesday that it has hired outside counsel to conduct a review of the false statement. Soon after, the director who led Yahoo's CEO search committee announced that she would step down at the end of her current term.
One executive recruiter says she's surprised Yahoo let things get to this point.
Hiring a top executive like Thompson usually involves extensive background checks conducted by a specialized search firm, which digs into candidates' credit histories, arrest records, past employment and more.
"I can't remember a search I've ever done in which [education verification] wasn't something we did," says Jane Howze, managing director of The Alexander Group, which has worked with tech giants including Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500). "Clearly something went wrong at major points in the process."
Samsung has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone - the Galaxy S3.
The handset has a 4.8 inch (12.2cm) screen, an increase on the 4.3 inch screen of its predecessor.The device is perceived to be critical to how people view both Samsung's brand and the Android system it runs.
Analysts say the popularity of the previous Galaxy - the S2 - was a major factor in the firm overtaking Nokia to become the world's best-selling mobile phone maker.
Samsung said that the new Super Amoled (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) display was 22% larger than its predecessor, but the actual device was not much wider since it had shrunk the size of the bezel.
The development allows Samsung to boast it has a slightly larger screen than the 4.7 inch dimensions of the HTC One X, the top of the range model from its Taiwanese rival.
t is also significantly bigger than the 3.5 inch display of Apple's iPhone 4S and the 4.3 inch screen of Nokia's Lumia 900.
Samsung may have been influenced by the popularity of its phone/tablet hybrid, the Galaxy Note, which has an even bigger screen and has proved to be more popular than many industry watchers had forecast.
Eye recognition
The South Korean firm said that a mix of "intelligent camera features" and face recognition technology should also offer owners a more natural experience.
For example, it said that the front camera would identify the user's eyes and would not go dark or lock so long as they were looking at it.
Other features on the S3 include an 8 megapixel camera on the rear, and a 1.9 megapixel front camera for video calls.
The phone also uses what is described as a "natural language user interface" dubbed S Voice. The South Korean company said it was a major improvement on the voice control features it included on earlier models.
"It is more like a good friend and listens intently and responds effectively to you," a spokesman said at the launch event in London.
The facility can be used to command the phone to play songs, adjust the volume, send texts or emails and take photographs.
The function is likely to be compared to Apple's Siri software.
Europe first
One expert attending the launch event said that the advances Samsung had made should help Google's Android continue to be the most used smartphone operating system.
"The importance of the Galaxy S3 to Samsung cannot be underestimated," said Adam Leach, principal analyst at Ovum.
"The company has built its reputation on producing the 'must-have' Android smartphone and in the process has become the poster child for the Android platform.
"However, Samsung's Galaxy S3 not only needs to stand out amongst a plethora of other Android-based smartphones, it will also go head-to-head with the next iteration of Apple's flagship smartphone, the iPhone."
Mr Leach added that Apple was not expected to release its new handset until much closer to the end of the year.
The S3 will be available in two colours, pebble blue and marble white, and the firm says that other options will be available at a later date.
Not everyone at the launch was convinced by the design."It is not an eye-catching device that will overwhelm consumers," said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager for IDC.
"It is a bit of a facelift of the Galaxy Nexus. It feels less 'plasticky' though."
The new handsets will be available from the end of May in Europe. Launches in Asia, the Middle East and Africa will follow.
A 4G version will go on sale in the US and South Korea in the summer.
Facebook has set the share price for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) at between $28 and $35 per share, valuing the company at between $85bn-$95bn (£52bn-£59bn).
The IPO is set to be the largest ever for an internet firm, bigger than Google's valuation of $23bn in 2004.
IPOs are when companies list shares on the stock market for the first time.
Facebook is set to list on the Nasdaq and would rival Amazon's and Cisco System's current market values.
It is thought that Facebook will start promoting the share offering on Monday. Its shares are expected to start trading under the symbol "FB" on 18 May.
More than 10% of the business is being sold, which is expected to raise about $12bn for the company.
The eight-year-old social network has 900 million users worldwide and made a profit of $1bn last year.
Mobile growth
There is expected to be a huge take-up, though some investors have voiced concerns about the company's longer-term growth.
Last week, Facebook reported its first drop in revenue between quarters for two years.
But during a video presentation on Thursday Facebook executives sought to allay those concerns, pointing to mobile as an area for growth that the company will invest heavily in.
Last month Facebook said it would buy the fast-growing mobile phone photo sharing app Instagram for $1bn, its largest purchase ever.
Zuckerberg-controlled
The higher valuation still falls short of the $100bn that had been talked about for Facebook.
But it is not uncommon for IPO price ranges to move up if there is strong investor demand for the stock.
Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will remain in control of the company even after the IPO, controlling more than 57.3% of the voting power through shares he holds and through voting agreements with other stockholders.
He will own 31.5% of Facebook's outstanding stock. At the top end of the price range, this would make his holdings worth $17.6bn.
Such a value would put him at about number 33 on Forbes' list of the world's richest people.
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Samsung has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone - the Galaxy S3. The handset has a 4.8 inch (12.2cm) screen, an increase on the 4.3 inc...
