Wall Street wants tax holiday to be a QE4

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

No, not another federal holiday to honor a dead president. (Coolidge, perhaps?) We're talking about an IRS holiday from Congress that would allow U.S. companies to bring back some of the $2 trillion in cash they've been stashing overseas to avoid paying taxes.

Such a move would give companies fresh powder to deploy on M&A, stock buybacks and even hire new workers.

"It could potentially act as a very potent market stimulus," Jeff Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial, wrote in a recent note. He compared the impact to a fourth round of quantitative easing from the Fed and even dubbed it QE4.

Related: When U.S. companies dodge taxes, is it unpatriotic?

While a tax holiday doesn't appear imminent, it has recently been floated by some leaders in Congress.

And there is a precedent for such a move. Congress ushered in a tax holiday in 2004 that paved the way for $362 billion of foreign profits being brought back onshore.

Here's how it works: Under the current system, companies don't need to pay the 35% corporate income tax on most overseas profits until they are "repatriated." And that cash can stay overseas indefinitely.

Apple (AAPL, Tech30), for example, has more than $50 billion sitting overseas. That's money Apple could be using to build new plants, reward investors with fatter dividends or snatch up a hot tech company. (SnapChat, maybe?)

The current rules, which Democrats and Republicans acknowledge are broken, have helped fuel a series of "inversion" deals that hurt federal tax revenue.

These transactions occur when a U.S. corporation moves its legal headquarters overseas after buying a foreign company that is based in a low-tax country. Medtronic's (MDT) takeover of Ireland's Covidien (COV) and drug maker AbbVie's (ABBV) plan to move to the U.K. by buying Shire (SHPG) are examples.

Related: More companies bail on U.S. for lower taxes

Under a tax holiday, companies could bring their overseas profits back to the U.S. and only pay a reduced tax rate. It was 5.25% in 2004.

"It would impact capital spending, employment, dividend payouts. It'd have a very therapeutic effect on the economy and the market," said Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at The Clearpool Group. "Many companies would love to bring capital back to the United States -- but it's just so prohibitive."

Shot in the arm for stocks: A tax holiday could also help offset the dwindling stimulus from the Fed, which this week dialed back QE by an additional $10 billion. The Fed is expected to end QE for good by October.

If companies brought back $1 trillion of overseas profits, that would match the Fed's peak annual bond-buying pace. (The Fed had been buying as much as $85 billion a month.)

Related: U.S. companies should pay U.S. taxes

But a tax holiday wouldn't boost stocks across the board. Large multinational companies that make a big chunk of their profits overseas would stand to benefit the most, said Bruce McCain, who helps oversee more than $20 billion at KeyCorp.'s Key Private Bank.

Mixed fiscal fallout: If endorsed by Congress, a tax holiday would also help pad Treasury's coffers in the short term through an influx of corporate income tax revenue.

However, it's not clear a tax holiday would help the country in the long run.

The Joint Committee on Taxation recently estimated a tax holiday would slash federal tax revenue by $96 billion over the next decade. That's because multinationals may continue hoarding cash overseas under the assumption that another tax holiday would be just around the corner.

There's also no guarantee that companies would use the cash for hiring. A report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded that the 2004 tax holiday "did not produce the promised economic benefits" because companies mostly bought back stock instead of investing the money to grow their businesses.

Clearly a tax holiday would be more effective if it was part of a broader reform of the tax code.

But there's a better chance of "Sharknado 2: The Second One" winning an Emmy than this divided Congress puling off an overhaul of the tax system in a midterm election year.

First Published: July 31, 2014: 10:54 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Is the iPad doomed?

Uh oh. That arrow's pointing the wrong way.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Easy, there, tiger. Tablets are still popular and sales are growing -- 11% last quarter, to be precise, according to tech consultancy IDC.

Still, that's a far cry from two years ago, when tablets were growing at a 60% clip. Meanwhile, the iPad has been in the doldrums, posting a 9% sales decline last quarter, which was preceded by a 16% slump the quarter before that.

So what's going wrong? There are three big obstacles facing the market that are impacting demand for tablets: Smartphones are getting bigger, tablets last a while and businesses aren't buying them.

Smartphones are getting bigger. Like, seriously huge. Samsung's popular Galaxy S5 has a 5.1-inch screen. Its Galaxy Note smartphone has a 5.5-inch screen, and Apple (AAPL, Tech30) is expected to release an iPhone 6 of the same size this fall. Amazon's (AMZN, Tech30) Kindle Fire tablet is just 1.5 inches bigger.

Who needs a tablet when you're already carrying one around in your pocket?

Related: IBM to start selling Apple iPhones and iPads

Tablets last a while. Unlike smartphones, there's not much incentive to buy a new tablet every two years.

Most people buy unsubsidized, Wi-Fi-only tablets without a contract from their wireless carrier. And there really isn't that much difference between Apple's new iPad Air and the original iPad that came out four years ago.

"Once you have a tablet of a certain generation, it's not clear that you have to move on to the next generation," Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly told Re/Code.

Businesses aren't buying tablets. PCs are everywhere in corporations, but tablets are harder to come by. Corporate IT departments are notoriously slow at adopting new technologies, and security remains a concern.

But that also means there's a huge growth opportunity.

Apple and IBM announced a partnership earlier this month aimed at solving the corporate tablet problem. Apple will deliver iPads to IBM (IBM, Tech30), which will load them with industry-specific apps for businesses in the banking, health care, insurance, retail, travel and transportation sectors.

That's why analysts think tablets could get a second wind later this year.

"We believe that stronger commercial demand for tablets in the second half of 2014 will help the market grow," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, IDC's research director for tablets. "We will see more enterprise-specific offerings, as illustrated by the Apple and IBM partnership, come to market."

So the tablet's not dead. It's just resting.

First Published: July 31, 2014: 10:59 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

WWE slams workers by axing 7% of jobs

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

WWE (WWE) revealed plans on Thursday to slash 7% of its workforce in an effort to save cash.

A WWE spokesman said the job cuts will impact all business units and locations. He said the pink slips will begin flying on Thursday.

The cost-cutting moves amount to a loss of around 60 jobs based on the company's headcount of about 850 people.

The job cuts come despite the fact that WWE CEO Vince McMahon declared in the company's earnings release that its "core business metrics remain strong."

The comments mirror ones made by biotech giant Amgen (AMGN), which earlier this week announced plans to cut 15% of its workforce, but declared it was making the move from "a position of strength."

Related: Amgen joins job-cut parade

As is often the case, WWE investors responded favorably to the belt-tightening. The company's shares popped 8% on Thursday morning on the news and stronger-than-expected earnings.

After topping $30 in March, WWE shares have taken a smackdown, losing more than one-third of their value over the past three months alone.

WWE continues to try to transform its business model into one that more closely resembles a media tech company.

The wrestling heavyweight plans to expand its network globally on August 12 and reported a jump in media revenue during the second quarter.

Related: WWE is the ultimate SmackDown stock

The influx of media revenue is offsetting trouble in other areas of its business. Live event sales have taken a hit due to lower attendance and consumer products revenue has tumbled amid slower video game sales.

WWE's job cuts come during a time of relative strength in the jobs market.

While Amgen and other big companies like Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) have recently cut jobs, the U.S. added 1.4 million jobs during the first half of 2014. That's the best first-half performance since 2006.

Economists polled by CNNMoney believe the employers added another 230,000 jobs during July, signaling continued improvement in the labor market.

First Published: July 31, 2014: 11:12 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple buffs up radio service with string of acquisitions

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Swell is like a Pandora (P) for talk radio, learning listeners' preferences and creating personalized stations with streaming talk radio content from NPR, TED, PBS, New York Times (NYT), BBC (BBCN) and more. Users can also select stations by topic -- from business, to politics, to tech -- and share what they're listing to on Facebook (FB, Tech30) and Twitter (TWTR, Tech30).

Swell has a number of investors, including Google (GOOGL, Tech30) Ventures. Co-founder and CEO G.D. Ramkumar is also a co-founder of the image recognition and product review app SnapTell, which was acquired by Amazon (AMZN, Tech30).

Re/code first reported the acquisition. Apple did not respond to a request for comment. Although Swell did not confirm the Apple deal specifically, its parent company Concept.io revealed in a statement on the company website that the app will no longer be available and thanked users for their support.

Related: Real reason Apple is buying Beats

Apple (AAPL, Tech30) has made dozens of acquisitions within the last nine months. Just last week, the tech giant bought another small startup, BookLamp, called the Pandora of books. Coming in with a $3 million price tag was the much buzzed-about Beats deal.

Swell joins iTunes radio, as well as Apple's own, not-so-popular app Podcasts, which currently has a lackluster 1.5-star rating.

First Published: July 29, 2014: 10:13 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

These startup ideas are money magnets

Investors are excited about companies like Enjoy Life Foods, which makes gluten and allergen-free products.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But financing isn't easily available for every business idea, said William Phelan, president of small business credit ratings firm PayNet.

PayNet, which maintains one of the largest database of small business loans, leases and credit lines, knows which startup ideas have become money magnets. And you'll be surprised.

Phelan said small business lenders are eagerly pouring money into sectors like niche food manufacturing, hobby farms and small-scale manufacturing.

Health food businesses are on a tear, especially for manufacturers of gluten-free and non-allergenic food.

"Small business lenders see this as a market with significant growth ahead of it, and they're confident to make loans to startups in this space," said Phelan

Related: Banks won't lend? Use these guys

Lenders also like the fact that there's solid collateral attached to these startups.

"There's the plant itself, equipment and other assets. This is always attractive to the loan market," he said.

Enjoy Life Foods in Chicago makes gluten- and allergen-free packaged foods like chocolate chip cookies, snack bars and lentil chips.

CEO Scott Mandell, a former commercial banker, founded the business in 2001.

"It was hard to find a manufacturing plant that wouldn't contaminate our products, so we refurbished one from scratch," said Mandell.

Even though awareness about these foods wasn't mainstream, he sold the idea to angel investors and raised enough capital to buy equipment for the plant.

Today, the firm has annual sales of over $40 million, employs 200 people and sells its products in stores across the country, including Whole Foods (WFM).

"Gluten-free food isn't a fad. It's a medical need. It's here to stay," said Mandell.

Related: Should you drain your 401(k) to start a business?

Small-scale manufacturing is another ripe area for startup loans, according to PayNet, especially firms using 3D printing and metal-cutting processes involving water-jet and lasers.

Rich Carrigan owns United Displaycraft, a third-generation family business that makes product advertising displays used in grocery stores, drug stores and discount chains.

Carrigan said he's been getting three to five "unsolicited weekly calls" from private equity firms and other investors who either want to buy his $50 million-revenue firm or invest in it.

He's not surprised.

"In the last five years, banks and other lenders have been looking for asset-heavy investment areas," he said. This has fueled investment both in new startups and industry consolidation.

Kurt Wedig and his wife Tammy at the hunting lodge on their hobby farm.

Farms don't immediately seem like hot startup concepts, but small-scale "hobby farms" are getting investors excited, said Phelan.

Phelan said hobby farms are often used for personal enjoyment by high-net-worth individuals, but many owners are also generating secondary income from the land.

Hobby farms are typically 20 to 100 acres and cultivate berries, apples, grapes or tree nuts. Nothing they produce is for large commercial sale.

"Farm real estate is having a good run lately," said Phelan. "For many people, having a small hobby farm has also become a good way to diversify their investment away from stocks and bonds."

According to PayNet, investment into hobby farms has grown 14% between 2009 and 2013, and they're particularly popular in the Midwest and Southeast.

Kurt Wedig owns a 450-acre hobby farm called Tanglewood Ranch in Mineral Point, Wis.

Wedig, who is a rural real estate developer, wanted a place to "get away from work and the city and just relax."

But he said it also was a good investment and business opportunity.

"And it's also fairly easy to get a loan from local banks to acquire a hobby farm," he said, noting that he used a combination of loans and savings to buy the property for $450,000

Since he bought the farm in 2000, he's turned it into a side business. The farm features a log cabin for rent and is also a hunting preserve.

"It generates a nice income for us," he said.

First Published: July 29, 2014: 9:59 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks get no search love on Google

Fewer investors are doing searches like this on Google. People are more interested in Kickstarter and other tech startups.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Over the past eight years, people have dialed back on searches linked to traditional assets like stocks and bonds. Instead, they're going to Google (GOOGL, Tech30) to find things tied to hot tech trends like seed funding and startups.

In fact, there are more searches now for crowdfunding platform Kickstarter than "buy a stock," according to the Google Trends data researched by ConvergEx.

This is yet another example of how soaring stock prices have not created a sense of euphoria about the market on Main Street. This is not like the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. Average investors are still scarred by the 2000 market crash and 2008 credit crisis and Great Recession.

Despite the fact that the S&P 500 has nearly tripled since March 2009, people seem to care less about stocks than they did pre-crisis.

"It's the bull market that nobody loves," said Tony Scherrer, director of research at Smead Capital Management.

Of course, that's not good news for the millions of Americans who have missed out on the bull market thus far. The fact that they're stuck on the sidelines will make planning for retirement and other long-term goals that much more difficult.

Related: Why hasn't Main Street recovered like Wall Street?

Interest in stocks wanes ConvergEx said searches for "mutual fund" have tumbled 73% since January 2006, while queries for "stock tips" are off 68%. Other searches linked to traditional financial assets that have taken a hit include "small cap stock," "stock market," "E-Trade" and "financial market."

And searches for exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have suffered following the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse. Even though many investors now prefer cheaper, passively-managed ETFs over mutual funds, searches for ETFs are down 56% between October 2008 and June 2014.

Overall, ConvergEx's analysis shows that traditional financial asset searches are down an average of 5% over the past eight years and 38% since the financial crisis hit in the fall of 2008. It's the only category where there was a decline in number of searches during those timeframes.

The waning online interest in stocks and bonds mirrors an exodus of cash out of mutual funds. Investors have yanked a whopping $611 billion from mutual funds since January 2007, according to fund flow stats compiled by the Investment Company Institute.

Related: Psychics are bullish on stocks

The Mark Zuckerberg effect But even though people may be less interested in finding out how to get rich in the stock market, they appear to be looking for other ways to make money.

Searches related to crowdfunding, a relatively new concept, have spiked 8,600% since January 2006. Searches tied to apps and startups have soared too. Scherrer said it's probably due to the success of Facebook (FB, Tech30) and other startups that have quickly become tech juggernauts.

Related: IPO market achieves liftoff

"They've all seen Mark Zuckerberg and the WhatsApp founders get very wealthy in a short amount of time from a tech idea. Of course they have a lot of interest," said Scherrer. But he added that the odds of a person actually becoming wealthy by founding the next hot tech company are extremely low.

Alternative investments, leisure activities jump Interestingly, people don't seem as interested in finding out about careers that require a lot of education. Law school, vocational school and business school queries are all down more than 40% over the last eight years. That's perhaps due to frustration over the job market and student debt.

People are also showing increased demand for information about non-traditional assets, calling up Google to research smart beta, angel investing, alternative ETFs and alternative mutual funds.

Related: Wall Street's new happy hour - liquid alternatives

Scherrer said this reflects a broader trend of investors expressing interest in new ways to generate returns while minimizing risk.

But after scouring the latest Google search data, there are reasons to be encouraged.

Americans are increasingly researching information about leisure activities like resorts, theme parks and stadium tickets. They're also doing Google searches about major life changes such as buying a car, having a baby and purchasing a house.

All of those things help stimulate the economy.

First Published: July 29, 2014: 10:46 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Kristen Bell invests. Now what?

This Bar Saves Lives founders: Ryan Devlin, Kristen Bell, Ravi Patel and Todd Grinnell.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Their enterprise really began in 2008, when Devlin and Grinnell used their celebrity to fundraise $30,000 to build a bridge in war-torn Liberia. They took meetings, shook hands and toured a clinic in Monrovia, where they saw starving children being fed Plumpy'Nut, a well-reputed RUTF (Ready to Use Therapeutic Food) that keeps kids alive in war- or disaster-torn regions.

The sight of those kids stuck with them. In 2013, the two launched This Bar Saves Lives, a company that would distribute one package of Plumpy'Nut for every granola bar it sold.

Support rolled in -- from Ravi Patel with whom Devlin had shot a pilot, and Kristen Bell, with whom he'd acted on Veronica Mars. Patel became the company's third partner and now heads up finance. Bell came on as a founding partner and brand ambassador. The two were also instrumental in the company's first round of funding, investing one-third of the overall $250,000.

Related: This startup thrives on a four-day workweek

"Everybody always wants a celebrity spokesperson or somebody who has 2 million Twitter followers ... that was the low-hanging fruit for us," says Devlin. What they lacked were connections in the snack food world.

Devlin and Grinnell had tried making samples of the product themselves -- what Devlin describes as "really terrible granola bars." They knew they needed help and put the first round of investment into hiring a graphic designer, attorney, and especially food scientists to develop a salable product.

For this, they turned to JPG Resources -- founded by food scientist Jeff Grogg who helped grow Kashi. The company consulted with This Bar Saves Lives "in every operational aspect of our launch," says Patel.

"They put us in touch with all their contacts in the snack business, and were able to lend their 25-plus years of experience to every major decision," says Patel.

Without them, says Devlin, "we would have been bankrupt in six months."

Related: Refugees cook for the masses

The company went through five versions of samples under JPG's guidance before soft launching with three flavors. Devlin said customer feedback on those bars -- the blueberry was a little too sugary; the vanilla was too crunchy -- allowed the company to make crucial tweaks.

The actors knew that celebrity endorsement might encourage single purchases, but the only way to create steady Plumpy'Nut aid was to draw repeat customers with a superior product.

They use non-GMO, organic and fair-trade ingredients -- and that standard comes at a price. Plus, Plumpy'Nut costs 34 cents per packet, which is factored into the bar's $2.69 retail price.

To keep costs down, the actors balance their startup roles with their day jobs, making up lost time at night, over weekends and when the camera turns off. (Devlin spoke to me from Puerto Rico where he was filming for MTV.)

Related: Facebook launched my business

"What we normally give away on our aid is what most companies peg as their profit margin," says Devlin. Nevertheless, according to Patel, their gross margin remains in the 40%-50% range, after their donations.

"Margins will continue to improve with scale, and currently all profits -- as well as deferred founder salaries -- are being reinvested into our aggressive growth," Patel explains. The company is on track for profitability within the next three years and has projected sales to double each year for the next five years.

Thus far, This Bar Saves Lives has sold over 214,000 bars and distributed that same number of RUTF's through Save the Children in South Sudan and in the Philippines. They're sold in Sprouts Farmers Markets nationwide and will expand to most Whole Foods (WFM) by August. And whether star power or taste is helping sell the bars (or both), hungry children are receiving emergency relief.

"We're all acting way less, and when we do act, we are still putting in at least ten hours a day," says Patel. "What I'm saying is, we are tired, but it's been so worth it."

First Published: July 28, 2014: 10:59 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Investors help the rich pay off student loans

Have a law degree from Harvard or MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg? Wall Street may want to buy your student debt.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Social Finance, a company that uses crowdfunding to refinance student debt, just packaged a bunch of those loans and sold them.

It's an increasingly popular form of lending called peer-to-peer, or P2P. Firms like Social Finance (SoFi) and contemporaries Lending Club and Prosper pair people who want income with people looking for credit. It's an end run around traditional bank lending.

SoFi's niche is refinancing student loans. But not just any loans. To even be considered for getting money through SoFi, you have to have attended one of a small number of selective colleges like Harvard, New York University and Northwestern. Their alumni provide the money -- The students must also have a job lined up after graduation.

The loans tend to be debt for law school, business school and medical school. And while these grad students carry a median $77,000 in debt, they are also bringing in an average of $183,000 in salary a year. Their average FICO credit score? 776. It's another sign of how the credit market is only open to a select few.

Related: Big bond investor Bill Gross says rates will be low for years

Packaging these kinds of loans into bonds is a pretty recent phenomenon. SoFi and hedge fund Eaglewood Capital, which securitized a bunch of Lending Club consumer loans last year, are the only two companies to do so.

The big ratings agencies, who serve as a gatekeeper to the big bucks in debt markets, have largely stayed away from these types of loans. But they're starting to warm up.

Canadian firm DBRS has an investment-grade rating on bonds SoFi put together last year. And Standard & Poor's has also recently given SoFi its high-grade blessing.

This should lead to more bond sales, according to Morgan Parkes, head of business development and investor relations for Eaglewood Capital. She argues that more investors will be interested now that some of these securities are getting credit ratings.

For SoFi, the increased attention meant selling more bonds for more money than before. Its first deal was for $150 million in bonds that started off at a 3.75% yield. Its second deal was for $250 million in bonds, the cheapest of which priced at a 3% yield. Bond yields go down when prices rise, so the demand is clearly there for these bonds.

That's because institutional investors -- think pensions and hedge funds -- are eager for anything that yields more than the relatively puny 2.5% rate you get with a 10-year U.S. Treasury.

And big firms like BlackRock (BLK) -- which didn't buy any of the SoFi bonds -- are actively buying Lending Club and Prosper loans, lowering rates for borrowers who can access those platforms.

Related: Investors are hungrier for corporate bonds than before the financial crisis

Still, SoFi doesn't plan to start branching into loans for associates degrees or for-profit schools, where students typically have much more trouble paying off federal loans.

Instead, SoFI CFO Nino Fanlo said the company plans to find ways to follow its wealthy customer base into other areas like mortgages or other consumer loans.

Credit is harder to come by these days for subprime borrowers with less-than-optimal credit, but it's easy to get a loan if your credit's good and you have a decent income.

"If you're a prime borrower, you're paying next to nothing," said Vishal Khanduja, fixed income portfolio manager at Calvert Investment Management, which bought some of the SoFi bonds.

But there are still many people stuck trying to pay off student loans who don't have high-income jobs and advanced degrees from some of the country's best schools. And they won't be getting the same kind of help from Wall Street.

First Published: July 28, 2014: 11:03 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Yo backer launches new app

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The app officially launched on Monday from Moshe Hogeg, the CEO and founder of Mobli, a mobile sharing platform.

Hogeg is a co-founder of Yo; he invested his own money into the incredibly simplistic app developed by a former Mobli iOS engineer. (The app was heavily scrutinized in June for raising $1.5 million in funding, when all it actually does is ping users with the word "Yo.")

MIRAGE builds on key pieces from Yo's virality: It lets users send messages, videos and voice recordings to their contacts -- with just one tap.

"[Yo] is very, very simple," explained Hogeg. "We tried to imitate this simplicity. This is what makes it very fast and beautiful. After you learn how to use it, it's the simplest tool ever."

A la Snapchat, messages last just mere seconds -- the app automatically determines how many. Videos self-destruct in up to 15 seconds; photos, in three seconds (or slightly longer if there's also text).

"In Snapchat, [at] minimum it will take four taps. In MIRAGE, it's one tap," explained Hogeg.

Related: Israeli startups flock to New York

With certain things -- like telling his secretary to order his lunch -- Hogeg said sending an email or text (and therefore having it logged in a digital archive) simply shouldn't be necessary.

"I would not say to my secretary, please bring me something to eat [with] a video on Snapchat," said Hogeg. "But in MIRAGE, this is exactly how we use it."

A lazy person's Snapchat? Maybe. With a MIRAGE message, lunch can be requested -- not by exhausting your fingers and typing out actual sentences -- but rather in one simple tap.

The free app, which is available on iPhone and Android, connects to one's phone contacts -- even if they don't use the app. This cures what Hogeg refers to as the "loneliness problem." If friends don't have the app, they can still receive the message through a text and view it in a browser.

Hogeg said everyone from friends to lawyers and their clients could be potential users of MIRAGE but is quick to note that there's no predicting how it will fit into people's lives.

Related: 10 best cities to launch a startup

"Exactly like Yo -- we thought certain things and then people took it to other places," said Hogeg. (The app was initially designed as a simple way for Hogeg to communicate with his wife and assistant -- it soon became used by World Cup fans to alert them when their team scored a goal.)

MIRAGE only collects data on what type of message people are sending (i.e., video or photo).

"Everything goes away from our server the second it disappears from your phone," he added.

About 350 people tested the app, and almost all the messages sent were videos, according to Hogeg.

This is the company's first app, aside from the original Mobli app. To date, Mobli has raised over $80 million in funding and counts high-profile investors including American Movil (led by Carlos Slim), Leonardo DiCaprio and Serena Williams.

First Published: July 28, 2014: 11:06 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

BuzzFeed fires viral politics editor for plagiarizing

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

BuzzFeed editor in chief Ben Smith said he and his colleagues had identified "41 instances of sentences or phrases copied, word for word, from other sites, many of them inappropriate sources in the first place," during a review of about 500 posts by Johnson.

"This pattern is not a minor slip," Smith wrote in a memorandum to BuzzFeed staff on Friday night. "This is a breach of faith with our readers; a violation of a basic rule of writing; and the reflection of an unserious attitude to our work that is wildly out of line with both our standards and our ambition."

Smith also published an editors' note that apologized to readers. He said corrections had been made to each of the 41 posts where plagiarism and attribution issues were found.

Many of the posts consisted of creative lists ("The 17 Best Swag Gifts Obama Has Received From Foreign Leaders") and regurgitated content from other sources ("FDR Had The Greatest Childhood Ever"). One image-heavy post, "The Story Of Egypt's Revolution In 'Jurassic Park' Gifs," plagiarized wording from Wikipedia; another, "7 Things Democrats Would Have Freaked Out About If Bush Had Done Them," copied phrasing from The Hill newspaper.

On Saturday morning, Johnson wrote on Twitter, "To the writers who were not properly attributed and anyone who ever read my byline, I am sincerely sorry." He then shared a link to Smith's editors note.

As websites grow up, their standards go up. And Smith, who was hired at the end of 2011 to turn the viral site into a bonafide news source, acknowledged as much in his editors' note.

"BuzzFeed started seven years ago as a laboratory for content," Smith wrote. "Our writers didn't have journalistic backgrounds and weren't held to traditional journalistic standards, because we weren't doing journalism. But that started changing a long time ago."

He cited the "high standards" of BuzzFeed's journalists and the "increasingly careful attribution" practices of "the people who produce our immensely popular entertainment."

For years, BuzzFeed has been scrutinized for its attribution practices, since some of its most popular material originates on Reddit and other social networks.

Partly thanks to its aggressive aggregation techniques, the venture capital-backed website has grown incredibly quickly; it now has 150 million unique visitors a month around the world. A story that emerges on Reddit one day can be picked up by BuzzFeed the next day and make it onto a network morning show or CNN the next.

Nowadays, though, BuzzFeed also breaks news stories on its own, and those exclusives live right alongside sponsored posts from advertisers and lists like "29 Essentials For Throwing The Perfect 'Harry Potter' Party."

The decision to dismiss Johnson is likely to trigger more scrutiny of the site's practices.

Accusations of plagiarism by Johnson first surfaced online on Wednesday. When Gawker wrote about several examples of copied language on Thursday, Smith called them "serious failures," but also expressed support for Johnson, calling him "one of the web's deeply original writers, as is clear from his body of work."

After Friday's more thorough review of Johnson's work by BuzzFeed editors, however, Smith said, "We had no choice other than letting him go."

Matthew Ingram, a GigaOm senior writer who closely follows digital journalism, commented on Twitter that BuzzFeed's apology felt "like a stake in the ground, showing they are serious about getting serious."

In Smith's more detailed memo to his staff on Friday night (which was provided by a BuzzFeed spokeswoman), he said BuzzFeed would change its orientation procedures for new employees to "make sure that the high standards of training that come with our fellowship program extend to everyone who arrives at BuzzFeed -- and particularly to those without a background in traditional journalism."

He concluded his memo by saying, "We have more responsibility now than ever now to keep raising our standards and our ambitions, and to continue getting better."

First Published: July 26, 2014: 1:02 PM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Math nerds are taking over Wall Street

Quant trader Elie Galam at the Panorama Partners' New York City office. He is not a Wolf of Wall Street.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But guess what? They are rapidly being replaced by "quants" -- soft-spoken super nerds armed with high-tech software to help them beat the market.

Elie Galam is one of them.

Every day, the 30-year old runs 35,000 different trading strategies through software he designed to find a handful of trading ideas with a high statistical probability of making him money.

"It's like seismic imaging," said the Parisian-born Galam, comparing his investing approach to the process used to find pockets of oil.

"I want to have a high degree of confidence that when I drill, I'm going to find oil."

So how did a Harvard math Ph.D dropout end up working on Wall Street?

Not your basic multiplication tables: From an early age, Galam was obsessed with math. After high school, he studied at the École Centrale Paris, a prestigious French engineering university. After that, came Harvard, where he enrolled in an applied mathematics doctoral program. Galam jokes that life at Harvard was like Matt Damon's character in the film Good Will Hunting.

Related: Graduate student loans are ballooning

In one class, he built a computer algorithm that successfully identified the writer of an article based on programmed characteristics such as style and voice. It was the kind of work that would lay the foundation for his career in finance.

'The Street' was calling: Soon enough, Wall Street recruiters began knocking on Galam's door. Money, prestige and the chance to work on cutting edge quantitative finance systems all appealed to him. So he cut his Ph.D program short after one year and settled for a master's degree instead. At the age of 22, he accepted a job at Blue Mountain Capital, a credit trading hedge fund in New York.

When he got there, he surprisingly felt right at home.

"The firm had a lot of smart people, it wasn't a stereotypical Wolf of Wall Street firm," Galam said. "I wasn't the only quant guy there."

It's all about the data: After a few years, his entrepreneurial spirit kicked in, and Galam went into business with James Greenberg, a veteran Wall Street dealmaker. The duo went on to launch Panorama Partners in late 2011.

At the core of their strategy: a quantitative software program built from scratch by Galam that uses historical data and analysis to predict price movements in various assets.

"We get as much data as we can, we shock it, test it, do back tests, historical analysis," Galam explains. "That's where I come in, where the science comes in."

Related: The unglamorous life of hedge fund startups

But Greenberg insists that Galam isn't your average Wall Street quant, and that he possesses the rare combination of computer skills along with raw trading instinct.

"He has a rigid approach to math but he also has creativity," Greenberg says.

Quant invasion: Galam is constantly looking to grow his firm, and to do that he needs more quants that think like him. Potential hires don't need to know much about finance, but they should be top notch when it comes to applied mathematics. Complex brain teasers are standard interview questions.

Galam's employees often come from Russia, China, and his native France. He keeps in close contact with his old math professors in Paris, and calls them frequently to ask about promising talent in the classroom.

"Who's the best guy? I want him," is what he tells them.

First Published: July 26, 2014: 11:23 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

There's no place like the economy

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The curtain is about to be pulled back to reveal some key economic data. Here's what you need to know.

It's the economy, stupid: Investors will have to wait until Friday for the main event of the week: the all-important July jobs report.

The key thing to watch is whether robust jobs growth is continuing into the second half of the year. In June, the government said 288,000 jobs were added, bringing the total number of jobs added in the first six months of 2014 to 1.4 million. That was the strongest six months for job growth since 2006.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rates stands at 6.1%, which isn't far off from what many economists consider full employment.

But before the jobs report, Wall Street will get a first read on second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) Wednesday morning. GDP is the most comprehensive gauge of how the economy is doing, and a majority of GDP comes from consumer spending.

Analysts mostly believe that the first quarter's 2.9% contraction was a blip due primarily to unusually harsh weather, but this week's GDP report should provide more clarity on how the economy is faring.

Related: Global economy still limping along — and you can blame the U.S.

Then there's the Federal Reserve. The central bank will release a statement outlining its latest monetary policies on Wednesday afternoon.

It's widely believed that the Fed will announce another $10 billion pullback in monthly bond purchases, but investors will be scrutinizing every word of the statement for clues as to when the Fed plans to raise interest rates.

Summertime earnings vibes: A slew of corporate earnings reports may also provide some hints about how the economy is doing.

Investors will pay close attention to earnings from UPS (UPS) on Tuesday. The shipping giant and FedEx (FDX) rival blamed its poor first quarter performance on that nasty winter weather, but market strategists are expecting the company's earnings picked up steam last quarter along with the economy.

Procter & Gamble (PG) earnings, also considered a good gauge of economic health because it owns big consumer brands like Tide, Gillette, Crest and Pampers, will come out Friday.

Related: Smart people buy generic brands

Momentum stocks will also be in focus when Linkedin (LNKD, Tech30) and Tesla (TSLA) report results after the closing bell on Thursday.

Tesla's stock is up 50% this year as investors continue to be excited about Elon Musk's electric car company.

Linkedin is a more complicated story. Shares of the social career network are down almost 20% in 2014, but jumped over 10% this week on news that it acquired ad marketing platform Bizo for $175 million. Strong earnings from Facebook (FB, Tech30)also helped.

Big oil earnings are also in the pipeline. Chevron (CVX) and Exxon (XOM) release earnings Thursday and Friday, respectively. While it's probably still too early to tell what, if any, effects the geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine and the Middle East are having on their finances, investors will be looking for guidance about their profits and oil prices.

First Published: July 27, 2014: 9:22 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mary Poppins won't work for minimum wage

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

But in a parody from Funny or Die, the Disney character (played by Kristin Bell) is quitting her job because that's all the Banks family will pay her.

She struggles to make ends meet while making $7.25, the federal minimum wage, pleading for a $3 raise.

"In every job that must be done, you must be paid in more than fun," she sings, a play on an original Mary Poppins song.

Related: LA hotel workers could get highest minimum wage in the U.S.

Plenty of people in the real world agree. 71% of people surveyed by CNNMoney favor an unspecified hike in the federal minimum wage. Meanwhile, 36% said it should be increased to $10.10 an hour, which is what Senate Democrats and President Obama have proposed.

A number of states and major cities aren't waiting for Congress to act and are passing minimum wage increases on their own. This year, five states and Washington D.C. passed legislation to gradually increase their wages to $10.10 or higher; other states passed smaller increases. In June, the Seattle city council approved an eventual increase to $15 an hour, making it the nation's highest so far.

But critics contend that a higher minimum wage will hurt jobs and consumers. A report released by the Congressional Budget Office in April said that a federal hike to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty, but also cut 500,000 jobs.

First Published: July 25, 2014: 4:32 PM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lyft gets the green light in New York City

Rideshare app Lyft, known for the pink mustaches on car grills, will launch in New York on Friday

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

After two weeks of sparring with New York City taxi regulators, rideshare app Lyft can start serving the five boroughs -- provided its drivers go through city licensing.

Lyft, known for the fuzzy pink mustaches on drivers' car grills, connects users with drivers, many of whom drive their own cars rather than a dispatcher's taxi. (The company said it will use smaller, dashboard mustaches in New York, as opposed to a big 'stache mounted on the front bumper.)

New York City's taxi regulator, the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), has said it has the right to regulate so-called rideshare apps like Lyft. The commission sought a temporary restraining order against the app as recently as July 11, when Lyft planned to launch in Brooklyn, because it had not secured licenses.

Related story: 24 hours with Lyft CEO Logan Green

Today's agreement suggests that the commission might be accepting technology with the potential to upend how it does business.

As part of the new agreement, Lyft drivers will meet a host of requirements. They'll submit to annual drug testing, attend a state-certified driving course every three years and get fingerprinted.

Around the country, regulators have shown skepticism -- and outright hostility -- to transportation apps like Uber and Lyft, which help users get taxis using their smartphones. They have laid down fines and court orders. Friday's agreement seemed to signal recognition in the highly regulated New York market that the apps are here to stay.

Commission chair Meera Joshi said in a statement that working with Lyft has helped regulators gain insight into the apps and how they serve passengers.

"As long as we ensure that public safety and consumer protection is at the forefront of these efforts, the city will benefit," said Joshi.

That's a far cry from the battle that Lyft's competitor Uber fought. It launched in New York in May 2011, according to its website, but it wrangled with the commission for two years before it was officially recognized.

First Published: July 25, 2014: 5:02 PM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Would-be giant in online house hunting has brokers scared

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The rumored deal -- the companies won't confirm it -- sent the companies' stocks soaring Friday as the chatter gathered steam.

The companies don't charge for publishing these listings of homes for sale, but they do charge real estate agents fees to appear on their listing pages.

Should the two sites merge, they could have the leverage to charge more, said Steve Murray, editor at Real Trends a real estate communications and consulting company.

Already, some agent teams spend $20,000 a month with Zillow, Trulia, or both, said Murray.

For now, the agents are generally satisfied with the fees because the exposure generates so much business. Zillow and Trulia together attract 130 million visitors a month.

The ultimate fear: Zillow and Trulia could make brokers irrelevant.

Zillow, for instance, has its own home value algorithm called Zestimates. Trulia offers extensive rankings on crime, public transit and schools.

"Combined, [Zillow and Trulia] could further erode the leadership of the National Association of Realtors," said Jonathan Miller, president of Miller Samuel, a New York based appraisal firm.

Related: 10 mansions for under $1 million

Related: Best places for vacation home deals

First Published: July 25, 2014: 6:31 PM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Russians pay higher price for isolation

Russia's central bank jacked up interest rates for the third time since March.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

The country's central bank jacked up interest rates Friday for the third time since March, taking them up to 8%.

With inflation running at 7.5%, it had little choice.

The crisis has led investors and companies to yank money out of Russia. This has crushed the ruble and raised the cost of imports -- helping to drive prices higher.

The government hopes that higher rates will make it more attractive for businesses to keep money in Russia. However, it also means that both consumers and companies will have to pay more to borrow money. It raises the risk that the economy will sink further into recession.

The ruble has fallen 6% against the dollar so far this year, while Moscow's main stock market has dropped 7.6%.

Both were under pressure again on Friday.

Russia's $2 trillion economy slowed dramatically this year as cash flooded out of the country in response to the threat of tough financial sanctions.

The central bank said growth in the second quarter was close to zero. The IMF predicts stagnation this year -- other economists are much more pessimistic.

Even before the shooting down of a Malaysian passenger jet over eastern Ukraine last week -- blamed by Western governments on pro-Russian rebels -- the U.S. had cut off access to long-term financing for two Russian banks and two energy companies.

Europe has been much more reluctant to adopt tough sanctions, partly due to its heavy dependence on imports of Russian energy.

Still, the EU warned Moscow Tuesday that it could prevent Russian banks and businesses from raising finance in Europe if it didn't act fast to ease tension in eastern Ukraine and cooperate with the investigation into the downing of the plane.

Diplomats were meeting Friday for a second consecutive day to draft details of new sanctions, but a decision on whether to proceed is unlikely before next week.

First Published: July 25, 2014: 9:22 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Investors go LOCO for grilled chicken stock

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

El Pollo Loco (LOCO), the California-based restaurant chain specializing in Mexican-style grilled chicken, went public Friday and shares surged nearly 30% to above $19 in their first few minutes of trading.

El Pollo Loco -- which trades under the symbol "LOCO" -- priced its initial public offering at $15 per share late Thursday, the high end of the expected range. The company raised $107 million from the sale of 7.1 million shares of common stock.

Based in California, El Pollo Loco has 401 company-owned and franchise locations in five U.S. states, including Texas and Arizona. But the vast majority of its restaurants are in the Golden State.

The first El Pollo Loco was opened in 1980 on Alvarado Street in Los Angeles, and the chain still has a huge presence in the city. Last year, it generated 80% of its revenue from the greater L.A. area.

El Pollo Loco says it's well positioned to benefit from increasing demand for healthier food (its chicken is grilled, not fried) and the growing Hispanic population in the United States.

The company believes it has the potential to operate 2,300 locations in the United States, but it has had limited success expanding beyond its home markets.

Despite steadily improving sales, El Pollo Loco has lost more than $54 million over the past three years. The company is backed by two private equity firms, which collectively own more than 70% of its stock. It plans to use the proceeds of its IPO to pay down its $288 million in debt.

El Pollo Loco competes with other fast casual restaurants that specialize in chicken, such as Yum! Brand's (YUM) KFC and Chick-fil-A. But its main competitor is Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), which dominates the market for quick-serve Mexican food.

It's been a good year for companies to go public, but some restaurant chains have struggled to maintain their initial post-IPO pops.

Shares of sandwich shop Potbelly (PBPB), which more than doubled when they went public last October, are now trading below their offering price. Noodles & Co. (NDLS) soared after it went public just over a year ago, but the stock down more than 40% from its most recent high.

More recently, Zoe's Kitchen (ZOES), a Mediterranean style restaurant chain with 111 locations, debuted in April. The stock jumped nearly 64% on its first day of trading. It soared even higher in June, but has since dropped.

First Published: July 25, 2014: 10:48 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

TGIF? Nope. Stocks fall on earnings woes

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The S&P was down about 0.3% in mid-morning trading. The Dow was down more than 100 points, or 0.7%.

A 4% drop In Visa (V), which has the biggest weighting in the Dow, weighed down the blue chips.

The Nasdaq fell too, largely due to a more than 11% drop in Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) following its latest earnings.

Here's what you need to know.

Amazonian drought: Amazon's sales jumped more than 20% but it also reported a $123 million loss. Some investors may be growing tired of Amazon's long history of quarters where it loses more than expected due to big investments.

The company has been spending a lot this quarter, unveiling products and services like the Fire TV, Fire Phone and Sunday delivery, but it seems that's not enough to keep some investors around until next quarter.

Related: See how Amazon compares to other companies in CNNMoney's Tech30

IPO Loco: Today's the first day of trading for El Pollo Loco (LOCO), whose shares priced at $15 per share, the higher end of its IPO range.

The company has a lot of debt and isn't exactly Chipotle (CMG), but it has ambitious expansion plans and healthy IPO market behind it. The stock is up 28% so far.

Related: Are healthy chicken and a tiny profit enough to take El Pollo Loco nationwide?

A few other companies are due to debut today, but it remains to be seen if they have El Pollo Loco's spark: Orion Engineered Carbons (OEC) is flat, and Ocular Therapeutix (OCUL) and Innocoll (INNL) haven't started trading yet.

Cynk sinks: Cynk Technology (CYNK), the mysterious social network with no earnings, revenue or even assets, is once again trading after the SEC suspended trading two weeks ago following a from-nowhere 25,000% price increase. The stock was down more than 80% in late morning trading.

Related: Three takeaways from the Cynk stock blowup

Fox aims sky-high: 21st Century Fox (FOXA) merged its BSkyB cable assets in Germany and Italy with BSkyB in England, freeing up $8.3 billion in cash. The market thinks that the money might be put to use to help Rupert Murdoch's Fox make a higher bid for Time Warner (TWX), which Fox has sought to buy for $80 billion. Time Warner turned down the offer. Fox and Time Warner shares were flat Friday.

Related: Time Warner shares skyrocketed when Murdoch's offer went public

Other stock movers: Visa is having the second-worst day in the S&P 500 behind Amazon. It's down more than 4% in mid-morning trading. It had a great quarter that exceeded expectations and even spurred a number of price target upgrades from analysts. But it lowered its revenue growth forecast, and it's getting punished. Rival MasterCard (MA), whose earnings come out in a week, is down 2%.

Starbucks (SBUX) is also out with a good quarter that doesn't seem to be swaying investors. Its shares are down 2%. StockTwits trader pcbleyer wrote that the move was "irrational" given that the outlook from CEO Howard Schultz still seems healthy.

International Markets: The Russian central bank had to raise interest rates to lure foreign investors amid sanctions related to its aggression around Ukraine and high inflation. The main RTS index is down more than 1.65% so far today.

Related: Russia is paying a higher price for isolation

Asian markets ended the day mixed, but Japanese stocks surged 1.13% after data shows inflation may finally be returning to the long-dormant economy. European stocks are broadly lower in afternoon trading, with the FTSE 100 down about 0.2%.

First Published: July 25, 2014: 9:57 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

When U.S. companies dodge taxes, is it unpatriotic?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

They do it by merging with foreign companies in countries with lower rates and officially moving their home base.

The strategy is called "inversion," and it's legal. But is it un-patriotic?

In the past decade, at least 47 U.S. companies have made the move. Several inversions have been proposed this year and more are in the works.

"We should prevent companies from effectively renouncing their citizenship to get out of paying taxes. What we need is a new sense of economic patriotism, where we all rise and fall together," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew In a letter to lawmakers last week.

Allan Sloan, senior editor-at-large at Fortune Magazine, has called inversions flat-out un-American. "Undermining the finances of the U.S. government by inverting helps undermine our economy," Sloan wrote in a recent cover story.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer, says U.S. companies benefit from doing business in the United States and should pay for the privilege.

"You want to operate here? You want access to this market? You want access to the work force ... the economy? Understand this: To continue to have that access, you're going to have to pay your fair share of U.S. taxes."

Most tax experts and politicians from both parties say the real culprit is the overly complex and outdated tax code.

Democrat Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, called the code an "an anti-competitive mess" in a hearing Tuesday.

Since tax reform is on the slow train and inversions appear to be accelerating, Wyden and others want a short-term fix to stem the tide until the code is properly reformed. But that's unlikely to happen this year.

The trend of U.S. companies moving abroad is more a testament to, among other things, "the importance of non-U.S. markets for U.S. firms," said Mihir Desai, a Harvard professor of finance and law. "Rather than questioning the loyalties of executives it is critical to understand these underlying ... forces."

More than patriotism, everyone's concern is that the corporate moves will reduce U.S. jobs. Witnesses at the Senate hearing Tuesday couldn't point to hard evidence to either support or contradict that fear.

"It could go either way. If the foreign company is a better managed company, they bring in new technology, it could increase jobs," said Peter Merrill, the director of PricewaterhouseCoopers national economics and statistics group.

But based on anecdotal evidence, "high-value headquarter jobs ... may well get relocated when [a U.S. company ] becomes foreign-owned," Desai said.

First Published: July 23, 2014: 10:13 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

We work in a war zone but we're not unstable

Levkovich and her team at Zuznow (top); HappySale team (bottom left); Wibbitz co-founders (bottom right)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Try doing it with key team members gone, sirens blaring and rockets firing at your city.

With the ongoing fight in Gaza, Israeli entrepreneurs in Tel Aviv have been operating under these circumstances for the past two weeks.

Racheli Levkovich -- alumni of the 8200 EISP accelerator and co-founder of Zuznow -- was recently talking to an investor on Skype when a siren went off.

"We literally took the computer with us [and] moved to the stairwell in the middle of the call," recalled Levkovich. "When we talk to companies outside of Israel, we try to hide it. We don't want them to think we're an unstable company and to change their minds [about doing business with us]."

Zuznow, a development platform that automatically converts websites into mobile sites, is already operating one person short, which is significant given that there are only eight people.

The employee has been gone for about two weeks now, one of 65,000 IDF reservists called up to serve in the ground offensive in Gaza.

Levkovich said the Israeli market understands any delays, but she's trying to respond to U.S. requests as quickly as before.

Related: Israeli tech talent tapped to fight in Gaza

Doron Nir, CEO of mobile marketplace HappySale said the environmental and emotional distractions are a reminder to stay focused.

"It [makes] you want to succeed in what you're doing even more," said Nir. "The essence of the Israeli startup community is that, no matter what, we need to be successful."

(But Nir is quick to note that Tel Aviv is getting it "very easy" with only a few bombings a day, compared to the devastation in the south of Israel.)

HappySale has only six employees -- who have not yet been called up to serve. Because their team is so small, each person manages particular functions. If someone like their iOS developer is called to serve in the reserves, the impact on business would be profound.

"That's it for iOS development until they come back," said Nir.

Related: Israeli startups flock to New York

Wibbitz, a Tel Aviv-based startup that turns text articles into videos, had one of its co-founders tapped to serve for about a week. He remains on call and could return to service at any time.

Co-founder Zohar Dayan said they've also been working to quell the fears of non-Israeli employees who are experiencing this conflict for the first time.

"Once you hear the sirens, everyone runs to a shelter or to the staircase," explained Dayan. "[It's] very sad but it's something that [native Israelis] learn to live with."

For Israeli tech companies, this is just an obstacle for the time being.

For Levkovich, her primary concern is that her employee returns safely -- and soon -- but the financial strain on the business doesn't go unnoticed.

Outside investors are more hesitant to invest. Zuznow, in the process of trying to fundraise, said they've already had people say, "Let's wait."

"People are holding and waiting to see what's going to be," said Levkovich.

First Published: July 23, 2014: 10:55 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Investors take a breather

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Here's what the markets are buzzing about today:

1. More records in sight: That was fast. The S&P 500 cruised to a new all-time high of 1,988.43 right out of the gate. If it closes above 1,985.59, that will mark its 26th record close this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted lower at the open settling in around the breakeven mark. The Dow remains just shy of its intraday record of 17,151.56 that was set just last week. Boosted by upbeat tech earnings, the Nasdaq edged 0.4% higher. All three major indexes ended in the green Tuesday.

Related: Fear & Greed Index still stymied by fear

2. Geopolitical jitters ease: Major indexes across Europe floated higher after EU officials stopped short of imposing tough economic sanctions against Russia.

"I think some of the macro geopolitical concerns have, at least for the moment, moved back to the back burner," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist for Wunderlich Securities, referring to violent conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. "It's a market that's shifted its focus over the last 24 hours back to earnings."

Still, the relief could be short-lived as Europe demanded Russia's "full and immediate" cooperation over Ukraine or risk losing access to European finance, defense equipment and energy technology. Also, Ukraine said a pair of its fighter jets were shot down in rebel held territory on Wednesday, underscoring the continued tensions.

Germany's Dax gained 0.4%, while Russia's Micex index slipped 0.3%, taking its losses for the year to nearly 7%.

Asian markets were mainly firmer. Indonesia markets were helped by news that former Jakarta governor Joko Widodo had won the presidential election.

Related: Nothing can ground Delta. Earnings fly higher!

3. Big-name earnings excitement: Wall Street continues to applaud healthy report cards from Corporate America. Not only are the vast majority of companies beating earnings expectations, an impressive chunk are also exceeding revenue forecasts. That's a positive sign for the economy and stock prices.

Shares of Apple (AAPL, Tech30) bounced higher a day after the the company reported a quarterly jump in sales and profit. Investors largely overlooked a more cautious outlook for the current quarter, as well as slowing iPad sales.

PepsiCo (PEP) jumped nearly 3% after the food-and-beverage behemoth beat the Street and boosted its outlook for the year.

Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) rose as investors focused on the tech giant's revenue, which beat Wall Street's expectations.

The latest numbers from Delta Air Lines (DAL) should keep the airline's stock flying high. The carrier's shares ascended about 4% following strong earnings.

Dow Chemical (DOW) impressed investors by posting across-the-board sales growth and a slight earnings beat.

Boeing (BA) shares declined, after the jet maker reported a lower-than-expected revenue increase. On the upside, Boeing reported earnings that beat expectations and upped its outlook for the year.

3. Tech stock movers - Intuitive Surgical, Biogen: Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) raced 13% higher a day after the robotic surgery company posted profits and revenue that topped estimates, despite coming in lower than a year ago.

Biogen Idec (BIIB) provided a boost to the much-maligned biotech sector. Shares surged 10% after the drugmaker logged earnings and revenue that trounced expectations.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech30

On the flip side, shares of Juniper Networks (JNPR) tumbled 11% after the networking-equipment company forecast soft earnings and revenue for the third quarter.

It's also been an ugly day for chip maker Xilinx (XLNX). The company's shares plummeted 16% on disappointing revenue and a gloomy outlook for the current quarter.

AT&T (T, Tech30) and Facebook (FB, Tech30) are scheduled to report after the closing bell.

First Published: July 23, 2014: 9:57 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks get a Chipotle and Comcast boost

Click the chart for more markets data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Here's what investors are talking about:

1. Stocks march ahead: It's hard to keep this market down. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all rose in early trading after taking a slight breather Monday. The Dow is up about 65 points (about 0.4%), while the Nasdaq is up 0.8%.

2. Hungry for some earnings: Food and beverage stocks were on the move Tuesday as some major restaurant chains released second quarter results.

Shares of Chipotle (CMG) skyrocketed almost 12% after the burrito maker posted earnings late Monday that surged from the year earlier despite higher menu prices.

McDonald's (MCD) sank after the fast food giant reported second quarter revenue and profit that fell short of expectations due to lower sales in the U.S. and Europe.

Related: McDonald's: People aren't lovin' it anymore

Domino's (DPZ) stock delivered for Wall Street after the pizza delivery service said that earnings grew 17.5%, driven by strong same store sales domestically and internationally.

Investors also got earnings from Coca-Cola (KO) Tuesday to wash down all those restaurant results. But the stock fizzled after the company beat analyst estimates but said its 2014 overall earnings are expected to suffer from unfavorable exchange rates.

3. Major media movers: The internet is king for Comcast (CMCSA), which said in its second quarter earnings Tuesday that a 15% increase in high speed internet users offset losses from so-called "cord cutters" who are dropping cable TV subscriptions. The stock moved higher in morning trading.

Part of the reason consumers are ditching traditional cable is due to companies like Netflix (NFLX, Tech30), which in its earnings report Monday revealed it now boasts over 50 million members. Still, the stock dipped over 4% Tuesday since the company said in its report that U.S. streaming subscriptions were lower compared to the year earlier.

Verizon (VZ, Tech30), another mega media conglomerate, also experienced an earnings bump, driven by strong revenues from its wireless and Fios segments. Shares were up Tuesday.

Investors will get more insight into the intersection of business and tech Tuesday when Apple (AAPL, Tech30) and Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) announce quarterly results after the bell.

4. Bikes and diet supplements: Shares of Herbalife (HLF) rose even though a press conference was getting underway by a major hedge fund manager who is revealing what he found after a nearly two-year probe into the company's nutrition clubs.

Pershing Square's Bill Ackman has repeatedly called the company a pyramid scheme and last year disclosed that he was betting against its stock price. The stock has fallen around 30% this year, but it's still up big since Ackman's campaign against the firm began.

Meanwhile Harley Davidson (HOG) shares downshifted after the iconic motorcycle company beat earnings forecasts for the quarter but lowered its full year guidance for bike shipments.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech 30

5. Tensions ease over Ukraine: European markets were higher in afternoon trading as tensions in Ukraine appeared to ease slightly.

After delays and setbacks, a train carrying the bodies of most of those who died in the MH17 plane crash began moving out of eastern Ukraine.

Still, EU officials are meeting Tuesday to discuss further sanctions against Russia in a bid to end its support for separatist rebels in Ukraine. Western leaders say the bulk of evidence suggests the rebels shot down the Malaysia Airlines plane. Russia's stock market, the MICEX, is positive for Tuesday, but still down over 4.5% for the month.

First Published: July 22, 2014: 9:57 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

It's 'peanut butter jelly time.' PBJ costs fall

Food prices have been rising, but don't fear: Not all groceries are more expensive. All the fixings for peanut butter and jelly are cheaper now than they were a year ago.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Food prices have been rising for six months in a row and are up 2.3% from a year ago, according to the Consumer Price Index -- an official inflation measure calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics each month. But don't fear: Not all groceries are more expensive.

All the fixings for peanut butter and jelly are cheaper now.

White bread prices have fallen 2.8% over the last year and canned fruit (a category that includes jelly) prices have fallen 0.7%.

Meanwhile, peanut butter costs 3.8% less than it did last year, which is a big relief after producers hiked prices in 2011.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not break out price details for crunchy versus creamy peanut butter, unfortunately, but according to the National Peanut Board, a farmer-funded research group, women and children tend to prefer the creamy stuff, whereas men prefer a crunchier spread.

That group also claims the average child will eat 1,500 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before graduating from high school.

Related: Look out: 'Burrito inflation' is here

Each month, government data collectors visit or call stores around the country to track the prices of thousands of items, ranging from groceries to used cars. Once combined, that data makes up the Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation experienced by average American consumers.

That latest CPI was released Tuesday morning and shows inflation is tame. Consumer prices have risen 2.1% over the last year, a level that's considered normal in a gradually improving economy.

Much of the recent increase comes from energy prices, which have risen amid turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine. Stripping out both energy and food though, shows other prices that consumers pay for goods and services are up only 1.9% over the last year.

Related: Janet Yellen wants you to get a raise

A little inflation is considered a good thing. The Federal Reserve, for example, aims to keep prices rising about 2% a year. Why? If prices fall (aka deflation) consumers have little incentive to spend money, especially on big ticket items like cars, appliances or homes. Why buy now, if you expect prices on those things to be lower six months from now? This phenomenon can slow the economy.

As inflation gradually picks up this year, the big concern now is will American wages keep up with price increases?

Wages did rise slightly in June, but not enough to keep up with inflation. In fact, real hourly earnings are down just a hair -- about 0.1% from last year, according to a separate report released by BLS on Tuesday.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen wants to see wages rise faster than inflation, so American households have more buying power. If this happens, it could boost consumer spending -- the single largest driver of economic activity in the United States.

Some independent economists expect wages to rise more later this year as the job market continues to improve, but for now, workers will have to keep waiting.

First Published: July 22, 2014: 10:14 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Goodwill: No security breach so far

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

So far no security breach has been identified, said Goodwill spokeswoman Joye Taylor. "We are currently working with the Security Service and payment card industry fraud investigative units to identify if a breach has occurred."

Taylor said Goodwill has formed "response team" and has been working "throughout the weekend" to follow up on reports of a security breach.

Related: Google's plan to rid the world of cyberattacks

"We are proactively engaged with the payment card industry contacts, the Secret Service and all Goodwill headquarters to identify what problem, if any, exists so that we can take prompt and appropriate actions as well as communicate appropriately to any affected parties," she said.

KrebsonSecurity reported on July 14 that financial institutions were "tracking what appears to be a series of credit card breaches involving Goodwill locations nationwide."

Major retailers, including Target (TGT), Neiman Marcus and Michaels Stores, as well as the restaurant chain P.F. Chang's, have been hit by a wave of security breaches since the 2013 holiday shopping season.

First Published: July 22, 2014: 10:14 AM ET

22.17 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cybersecurity startups to bank $788 million

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Venture capital firms are expected to funnel $788 million into early-stage cybersecurity startups this year.

That's a 74% increase from last year's $452 million, according to PrivCo, a financial data provider on privately-held companies. In 2011, VC firms invested just $160 million in cybersecurity startups.

PrivCo estimates the funding will be dispersed among about 40 cybersecurity startups in the early stages of funding.

Particularly hot right now? Companies offering protection against mobile malware.

"Employees' mobile phones have become the biggest soft targets for cybercriminals, and the venture capital dollars are following," said PrivCo CEO Sam Hamadeh.

Security breeches at companies like eBay (EBAY, Tech30) and Target (TGT) have made companies more willing to try new products from new firms, especially since it's difficult for cyberdefense powerhouses like Cisco (CSCO, Tech30) and Symantec (SYMC, Tech30) to innovate, according to Aaref Hilaly, partner at Sequoia Capital. From developing comprehensive cloud security to "botwalls," startups are hoping to fill the gap.

"Large companies rely on small companies for innovation," said Hilaly. "The radical new ideas come from small businesses. That's across the board in tech -- not just security."

Related: Google's dreaded blacklist

Hamadeh said Sequoia Capital is one of the most active venture capital investors in the security space.

Hilaly said they've had a consistent strategy: Look for companies that innovate around "architectural shifts" in computing that happen about once every five years -- like the turn toward mobile or the growth of the cloud.

One company they've invested in, Skyhigh Networks (which closed a $40 million round of financing in June), was early to anticipate the move toward the cloud.

Rajiv Gupta, CEO of Skyhigh Networks, and his two cofounders created a product to help companies evaluate the risk of using the cloud and analyze employee cloud behaviors. They officially launched in February 2013 with about 30 employees. Today, they employ about 130 people and service 220 enterprise customers, including some of the world's largest banks.

Gupta used to work for Cisco, which has since employed Skyhigh's product to understand their employees' need for cloud services, assess and reduce risks of using the cloud and ultimately improve the firm's productivity.

"We're addressing a need that [big cybersecurity firms] aren't addressing," explained Gupta. "We've chosen to partner with them as opposed to compete with them."

Related: 10 best cities to launch a startup

Shape Security also raised $40 million this year.

Sumit Agarwal and his two co-founders developed technology that protects against malware and bots (which can cause spam and hijacked accounts). Unlike existing software that protects based on past attacks, their "botwall" proactively transforms code on every webpage so cybercriminals can't latch onto the code.

The company publicly announced their anti-automation product in January. Agarwal said they work with major Fortune 500 companies that span the financial services, health care and ecommerce industries. The team went from six employees in 2012 to more than 100 employees today and Agarwal doesn't expect growth to slow.

"Everyone with a website is an eventual future customer of ours," explained Agarwal.

First Published: July 21, 2014: 10:38 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Military family groceries won't be cut, for now

Congress is putting off drastic cuts to military grocery stores.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney)

A Senate budget panel voted late last week to restore $200 million in cuts for military grocery stores, called commissaries. The House has already voted on a similar resolution.

The cuts were part of broader Pentagon cuts slated over the next few years that aim to trim forces as the U.S. withdraws from overseas conflicts.

Related: $3,000 hike slated for miltiary family grocery bills

The commissaries, usually located in military bases, sell subsidized grocery items and are a life saver for struggling families in the armed services.

A family of four can save $4,500 a year at commissaries on average, according to the Defense Commissary Agency. Compared to regular grocery stores, the items are on average about 30% cheaper.

The proposed cuts would have shaved those savings to $1,500 a year.

Food stamp use among military rises again

Lawmakers agreed that the cuts can wait one more year, at least. A special military panel, mandated by Congress, is reviewing the commissaries and other military costs, including pay, in a report due out next February.

Each year, $1.4 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars are used to run 178 commissaries nationwide and 67 located overseas.

The Department of Defense had planned to slash $200 million in subsidies each year for the next five years, which would mostly affect the U.S. stores.

First Published: July 21, 2014: 10:42 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

You're not cool enough for Facebook's newest app

Facebook has unveiled a new standalone app it's calling 'Mentions,; which is designed to help famous people manage their presences on the site.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Facebook (FB, Tech30) has unveiled a new standalone app called "Mentions," which is designed to help famous people manage their presences on the site.

The app is only available to users with "verified" accounts -- celebrities, government officials and other public figures, as well as popular brands and businesses.

Related: Facebook's new "Buy" button

The app tracks posts that mention the celebrity user. Mentions lists them in a News Feed-like interface that makes it easier for famous people to respond to fans directly. Mentions also lets users do live Q&As with fans from their phones, and tracks the most popular stories on Facebook in case public figures want to weigh in.

It may not rival personal assistants or fabulous wealth on the list of celebrity perks, but it at least beats the blue check mark.

First Published: July 21, 2014: 11:11 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Can Malaysia Airlines survive latest tragedy?

Four months after a Malaysia Airlines plane goes missing, another one of its passenger jets is shot out of the sky.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The tragic events have taken the lives of 537 people in all, and brought devastation to their families.

It has also left many pondering the future of the airline and its ability to weather the latest storm.

If customers flee, it could really put a dent in its bottom line, said Justin Green, a military trained pilot and aviation attorney.

Malaysia Airlines was already a struggling company before these latest tragedies.

Related: Malaysia Air's troubled year

Even before Flight 370 disappeared, a difficult business climate forced the airline into the red for the three years in a row, leading to a loss of about 4.2 billion ringgit ($1.3 billion) over that period.

"But the situation has become much graver," said Daniel Tsang, an aviation analyst at Aspire Aviation. "Bankruptcy is unquestionably a possibility."

According to international law, Malaysia Airlines is responsible for making initial payments of about $150,000 to the families of each deceased passenger in both flights.

There will also be lawsuits to fight. Even thought it appears Flight 17 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile last week over Ukraine, there's a chance the airline could be found negligible for flying in the disputed airspace where Ukraine rebels are operating, Green said. While the flight's route was approved by Eurocontrol, other carriers were avoiding the airspace.

Those additional payments still wouldn't break the bank, Green said. Many of Malaysia Airlines' expenses will be covered by the maze of insurance policies that cover a plane and its passengers.

Very few airlines went bankrupt immediately after previous tragedies, Green said.

The now defunct Pan Am was in financial trouble long before the terrorist bombing of its Flight 103 over Scotland, but the attack did help push the airline toward its ultimate bankruptcy, the airline's former CEO Tom Plaskett told CNN.

The airline survived for two more years after the attack, until it filed for bankruptcy in 1991.

Related Passengers' families could collect millions

So far, Malaysia Airlines customers have proved quite loyal.

After Flight 370 went missing on March 8, Malaysia Airlines did not see an immediate decline in passengers, according to its April traffic report. But the number of passengers dropped 4% in May compared to the same month last year.

The airline is also waiving fees and refunding tickets until the end of December for anyone who wants to cancel or postpone their travel plans.

Overall, the company experienced a 13% uptick in the number of passengers for the year to date.

Another factor that will play in its favor is that Malaysia Airlines has state-backing. The government's investment firm owns nearly 70% of the company, which just might help it survive these tough times.

First Published: July 19, 2014: 2:09 PM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Snowden asks hackers to protect whistleblowers

Ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, exiled in Russia, speaks via video connection to a crowd of hackers in New York City.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Daniel Ellsberg, who famously released the Pentagon Papers, and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden spoke to a packed crowd of computer experts on Saturday at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference in New York City.

It was a call to digital arms: Create easy-to-use software that lets insiders spill secrets of corporate or government malfeasance to journalists or politicians without getting caught.

"A lot of blood has flowed because people bit their tongues, swallowed their whistles and didn't speak out," Ellsberg said. "You people need to do what you can ... to make it possible for people to do this without spending their life in prison."

Related story: FBI sends agents to Holocaust museum for history lesson

A clampdown on government whistleblowers began during the Bush administration -- and has only intensified. The Obama administration has used the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers who leaked to journalists more than all previous U.S. presidents combined.

"You are the people who can make it possible for democracy to survive that attack on whistleblowers," Ellsberg told the crowd of hackers.

Snowden, in exile in Russia and speaking via a video connection, urged professionals to develop computer programs that hinder mass surveillance by encrypting all communication, thus making it private.

It's a technological answer to a civil rights problem, he explained.

"You have the means and the capability to build a better future by encoding our rights into the programs and protocol we use everyday," Snowden said.

First Published: July 19, 2014: 5:58 PM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Look out: 'Burrito inflation' is here

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

There are some tasty items on the agenda this week for investors. Chipotle (CMG), The Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Dunkin Brands (DNKN) and Starbucks (SBUX) are among the companies scheduled to report quarterly results.

But consumers may not like what they hear.

Many companies in the food industry have been hiking menu prices recently as wholesale prices for everything from beef and pork to coffee and cocoa have risen sharply this year.

Coincidentally, the government will release a report on June consumer price inflation on Tuesday. The CPI index for May showed an increase that was double what economists had expected, raising concerns that inflation is heating up.

Related: Growing demand in China has been a boon for milk producers this year

Hershey Co. (HSY), which will report results Thursday, said last week that it was hiking prices 8% in response to higher costs for cocoa, dairy and nuts.

This brings us to the Cheesecake Factory. The restaurant chain behind the Hershey's Chocolate Bar Cheesecake and the Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake reports Wednesday.

Coffee lovers may want to cover their ears too.

Related: Breakfast takes a bigger bite out of your wallet

Dunkin Brands is expected to announce price hikes when it reports results Thursday. The company that sells Dunkin' Donuts ground coffee in grocery stores, J.M. Smucker (SJM), has already announced a 9% price hike.

Starbucks, which rolled out price hikes last month, reports on the same day.

A severe drought in Brazil, one of the biggest coffee producers in the world, has driven wholesale prices through the roof this year.

Meanwhile, a prolonged drought in California helped push beef prices to record highs earlier this year. Avocados have also been hurt by the dry spell, driving up prices for the main ingredient in guacamole.

That's a double whammy for burrito makers. Chipotle (CMG) said in April that it would raise menu prices for the first time in three years. The burrito chain will report second-quarter results Monday.

Related: Would you order this $78 taco?

But the headwinds facing the food industry do not seem to have deterred another Tex-Mex chain. El Pollo Loco, which operates 400 locations in California, plans to make its initial public offering of stock this week under the colorful stock ticker "LOCO."

McDonald's (MCD), the largest fast-food chain, opens its books Tuesday. While sales have been in a slump, McDonald's has been relatively insulated from the rise in food prices. It locks in prices for key ingredients months in advance.

Tech also on deck: Aside from food companies, the week ahead brings results from several big technology companies. Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30), Facebook (FB, Tech30), Netflix (NFLX, Tech30) and Apple (AAPL, Tech30) are a few of the highlights. There's been a lot of discussion about whether tech companies, especially in the social media space, are overvalued.

More geopolitics? Investors will also be keeping a wary eye on geopolitical events. Tensions between Russia and Ukraine have been high since a Malaysian Airlines jetliner was shot down over a disputed territory between the two countries last week. And global stocks plunged after Israel's ongoing ground incursion in Gaza.

But U.S. bounced back Friday as investors seem confident that the turmoil in Ukraine and Gaza will not derail the bull market.

First Published: July 20, 2014: 9:36 AM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More

Murdoch says he can't buy Tribune but mum on Time Warner

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"Sorry can't buy Trib group or LA Times -- cross-ownership laws from another age still in place," Murdoch tweeted late Thursday night.

Murdoch was referring to Federal Communications Commission rules that limit how many newspapers and broadcast television stations a single company can own.

But the Twitter message confirms that Murdoch has thought about pursuing Tribune, and particularly the Los Angeles Times.

Last year, when Tribune (TRBAA) was actively considering a sale, The New York Times reported that Murdoch was "weighing whether a bid would be worth the headache and regulatory battles."

Tribune later decided not to sell its eight papers immediately, but to spin them off into a new company, Tribune Publishing, instead. The split is expected to take effect in August.

After that point, a buyer might be able to acquire the new company -- which also owns the Chicago Tribune and Baltimore Sun.

The journalism institute Poynter said earlier this month that a new rumor about Murdoch's interest in Tribune was making the rounds, and that "various circumstances would make such a deal logical for both buyer and seller."

Anything can happen down the road, of course, and Murdoch's tweet might have been a way to blow off some steam about government regulation.

Of Murdoch's two companies, News Corp (NWSA). would be the one interested in more newspapers. It already owns Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones and the New York Post.

21st Century Fox (FOXA), the home to Murdoch's movie studio and cable and TV programming networks, is the one that made a bid for Time Warner (TWX).

There have been no new reports about overtures from Fox to Time Warner since Wednesday's confirmation from both companies that Time Warner had rejected the bid Fox proposed in June.

Related: Why Murdoch wants Time Warner

The original bid was worth about $86 per share. Time Warner indicated in a statement on Wednesday that Fox could never pull together a compelling offer (both in terms of value and the right mix of cash and stock), but that has not stopped Wall Street from speculating on a magic number that could rekindle talks.

Janney Capital Markets analyst Tony Wible, who wrote about a potential tie-up of Fox and Time Warner last month, said Thursday that he expects a $100 per share offer from Murdoch.

"Simply put, Fox has the capacity to pay more but would likely target a mix of stock and cash," he wrote in a report.

And even though Murdoch did not tweet directly about Time Warner, he did seem to hint that the deal may have been a reason why he hadn't tweeted since July 8 before writing a trio of tweets from Australia yesterday.

"Sorry, I have been busy lately with many preoccupations!" he wrote.

CNN's Cristina Alesci contributed to this report.

First Published: July 18, 2014: 4:01 PM ET

22.16 | 0 komentar | Read More