Bad timing for Facebook. After the first listing of the giant online social networks, which received a mixed reception in the market, the site is subject to a complaint partnership or "class action". Filed in San Jose, California, the "class action" includes 21 cases of U.S. Internet users complaining of an invasion of their privacy. They blame Facebook for continuing to collect data on their online browsing after they leave the site.

The Wiretap Act, the U.S. law on eavesdropping, provides for "damages up to $ 100 per person per day and up to 10,000 dollars a Facebook user," says the complaint. At a rate of 800 million Internet users concerned, the amount required to Facebook miliards reached 15 dollars, or more than 11 billion euros.  

The plaintiffs wish to raise in their "class action" all Americans who have opened a Facebook account between May 2010 and September 2011, reports Bloomberg. They also seek to find ways to involve Internet users living outside the U.S..

Regular controversies on confidentiality rules

Because the class action brought hope to have a copy guaranteed cash advance. "It is not only an action for damages, but a trial on the rules of online privacy that should be a landmark," said David Straite, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in Bloomberg.  

A spokesman for Facebook, meanwhile, responded that the allegations of the plaintiffs were unfounded and that the company would contest them.

Facebook is regularly the subject of controversy over its confidentiality rules change often and easily mastered by its undefined users. In 2010, Mark Zuckerberg apologized for airing personal network users to advertising agencies. Last year, the group was forced to accept a confidentiality imposed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). But in February, Facebook was accused of spying on its users SMS Android application.

ALSO READ:

"A law to protect the passwords of Facebook employees

"Facebook: 8 years, 901 million fans, $ 100 billion

"IN PICTURES – From California to New York, the great day of Facebook

The agenda is filled Francois Hollande. Two weeks after his election to the French Presidency, and one week after taking office, the new head of state will visit on May 23, at an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders to discuss ways to boost growth in Europe without ceasing to fight against public deficits and debt. A date has been announced on Twitter by the President of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy.

Wednesday, May 23, Will Be the date of our informal dinner of Heads of State or Government. # EUCO

– Herman Van Rompuy (@ euHvR) May 8, 2012

This dinner will prepare the EU summit on 28 and 29 June next, and open the outline of a debate on growth, crediting the message supported by Francois Hollande during his presidential campaign of saying that the austerity alone can not get out the Europe of the crisis. According to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, "many proposals (Commission) are on the table and waiting for the green light from Member States and Parliament. While the return to growth will take time, we could reach a turning point at the end of the year if the right decisions are taken now. "

Growth, yes, but how?

Because the situation is serious in Europe no faxing pay day loans. The Greek political earthquake this weekend shook the whole euro-zone. The spectrum of an output of Athens in the euro area returns and fears of a precedent is being felt. For bankruptcy and return to the drachma could then contaminate Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and France. In Spain, the situation is alarming. And France, the passage of the political right to left removes an ally to Germany. Francois Hollande and his socialist political concern in the midst of crisis.

Europe, which as a whole is obviously to revive its growth, however, is not yet agreement on how to get there. For Francois Hollande, we must create Eurobonds. No question, the German chancellor. French side, advocates strengthening the European investment bank to support major projects. Okay, they reply the Rhine. However, it remains unthinkable for Angela Merkel to touch the Treaty nor the EU fiscal role of the ECB. Negotiations are open.

ALSO READ:

"The Europeans welcomed President growth

"Between Merkel and Holland, fundamental disagreements

"Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande will agree

"The Growth Pact in five questions

Unicredit closed Tuesday, piteously, the ball of the annual results of European banks. As expected, the first Italian establishment has suffered a massive loss of over € 9 billion. After years of too-rapid expansion, the bank decided to move his record to steel wool, to "have no surprises in the future," according to Director General, Federico Ghizzoni. This momentary dip of Unicredit in the shallows of the European ranking – the institution displays the worst performance of the sector just after Dexia – illustrates the new hierarchy of banks.

2011 will remain above all marked by the sharp inflection, from the summer, the crisis in the euro area. Institutions of the countries attacked – Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece of course – all bear the scars. They charged a double shock: degradation of their national sovereign debt and recession in their economies against the backdrop of austerity. In this grim context, the first two Spanish banks, Santander and BBVA, have their own in the game With their exposure to emerging markets, they show profits down "only" 35% to 5.4 billion and 3 billion euros, despite a national real estate market devastated.

The challenge of regulation

Second great lesson of the banking hierarchy 2011: the resistance of so-called universal institutions, which rely on local networks, possibly spread over several countries, and financing activities and investment. The success of British giant HSBC and Standard Chartered, whose results have respectively increased by 28% and 12% in one year, illustrates this situation. The resilience of the French BNP Paribas, proud of its profit more than 6 billion euros and its three major European networks, is another variation. Conversely, the Swiss UBS and Credit Suisse, highly dependent on performance of their teams of traders and bankers, driving out of this year huge market turmoil. Their profits were down 44% and 62%.

The challenge of regulation

Deutsche Bank is a notable exception: despite its similar profile, the champion Frankfurt has completed a very successful year. Up 86% year on year, the result exceeds 4 billion euros. Market valuations of the front runners as broadly these capabilities beneficiaries. HSBC leads the pack with a value of 122 billion euros, while Santander, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank weigh respectively 58, 45 and 36 billion in stock.

If Dexia puts the finishing touch of color to the landscape reshaped by the financial crisis. The little French-Belgian bank, run contrary to common sense for years, has lost 11.6 billion euros in 2011. A disaster that financial regulators do not want to hear. To guard against this, they launched a vast banks race to the recapitalization, which will mobilize the entire sector in 2012.

]]> http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/the-new-european-banking-landscape/feed/ 0 http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/the-songs-are-a-hit-in-electronic-format/ http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/the-songs-are-a-hit-in-electronic-format/#comments Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:36:06 +0000 admin http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/the-songs-are-a-hit-in-electronic-format/  

The romance between romance novels and digital media should not go unnoticed at the book fair opens its doors today. Special emphasis will indeed be given to the digital revolution, a growing market on which the various places novels in rose water have already made a place in the sun. The editors observe indeed a craze for romance in digital format. The books displayed feelings of record sales in electronic format. On the platform Numilog, the main French eDiffuseur digital books, two books of romance publisher Harlequin France top the list of the four best sellers.

Stéphane Aznar, the Chief Harlequin France asserts that "digital is a significant part of our business and our sales figures for e-books are well above the national average." The subsidiary equally owned by Hachette Livre and the Canadian publisher Harlequin expects to achieve 15% of its business in the digital within two years, where sales of e-books now represents 2-3% of national market value, according to Livres Hebdo. And a number of romance novels who observes an exponential growth in sales in digital format looks forward to continuing its development. The group that is "very early stage in an ambitious way on digital," said Stéphane Aznar, now offers downloadable titles in 1000 and is expected to multiply by three by the end of the year.

Attractive prices

Besides an abundant supply, the editor explains the success of its sales of e-books by lower prices of around 30% of his books to those papers. Now readers of romance novels are very large consumers: "Our readers read 15 to 30 novels a year," said Stephane Aznar. The price factor has a significant impact.

Even finding the United States and England where the market for e-book is much more developed than in France. Susan Edwards, Director of Operations at the U.S. publisher Ellora's Cave (house specializing in erotic novels) and evokes the "voracious appetite" for its readers to the digital format, although more discreet than the paper version. "E-books take up much less space, cost less. And no need either to move into a bookstore to get them, "she says.

The Reader mask coverage

The discomfort that many enthusiasts are having to buy songs or read stories of love also disappears in public with electronic media. Indeed, in transit, the book covers too "flaming" are hidden behind the hulls iPhone or digital reading lights. Gillian Green, editorial director of Ebury, told the Guardian that "there is such a snob vis-à-vis the genre that readers do not assume their tastes. With shelves and reading lights, they no longer have to hide. "

Everything leads us to believe that the romances in electronic format have good times ahead! The New Yorker as well as ensures the success of the ebook in the United States reflects this passion for romance novels.

ALSO READ:

"Shakes the Flammarion publishing industry

"Publishing has remained resilient in 2011

"The issue at the author: to be published at all costs (with the individual)

In a mobile market completely disrupted by the arrival of Free Mobile, Bouygues Telecom said it had lost 159,000 customers, of which 134,000 went to Free Mobile. This represents 1.4% of its fleet of 11.3 million mobile customers. Last week, Orange announced that it had lost, for its part, 201,000 mobile customers in total, or 0.7% of its fleet.

Result, Bouygues Telecom expects a decline of 10% of its turnover in 2012 to 5.14 billion euros. The arrival of Free Mobile is not the only cause. Martin Bouygues, CEO of the group, also cited pell-mell "regulation, the end of the differential termination, terminal costs, Chatel law which is one of the most protective for the consumer."

]]> http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/134000-bouygues-telecom-customers-left-at-free/feed/ 0 http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/hp-is-about-to-face-several-difficult-years/ http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/hp-is-about-to-face-several-difficult-years/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:32:06 +0000 admin http://lamarshbaptistchurch.com/hp-is-about-to-face-several-difficult-years/  

"It took us a while to get to the current situation. We will need some time to get out, "said Meg Whitman, arrived at the helm of HP five months ago. She spoke Wednesday night to mark the publication of first quarter results (ended Jan. 31) group.

Quarterly net income fell 44% to $ 1.5 billion, for a turnover down 7%, to $ 30 billion. The group anticipates a further decline in sales for the current quarter, weighed down by falling sales of PCs and printers. These divisions are still suffering the consequences of statements by the former CEO, Leo Apotheker, who suggested last August that HP would stop producing PC. To this were added the shortage of hard drives, a result of floods in Thailand, and the economic downturn. Finally, the PC division and tablets (PSG) has seen its sales drop by 15% in value and 18% by volume. This decline is likely to cost in addition to HP's leading position worldwide PC. The U.S. could be dethroned in the coming months by China's Lenovo. The direction of HP also noted the weak consumer demand for printers and evoked a reorganization of this division that has long been the cash cow of the group. For the current year, Meg Whitman still expects a profit of $ 6.3 billion.

Reduce expenses

"We must invest to save, save to grow," said Meg Whitman, without even specifying the amounts listed online cash advance. "We must optimize our supply chain and reduce the number of our references," she added. "The electronics industry is interested in the effect of increasing production methods introduced in the automobile: a common platform from which several models are broken," says one industry expert. For example, a frame may be common to one or two PCs, a tablet and a hybrid product. One way to significantly reduce development costs and production. This mode of industrial production would respond perfectly to the deployment of Windows 8, scheduled for the end of the year. The new version of the operating system from Microsoft is designed to promote convergence between PCs, tablets and smartphones.

Moreover, the allusions to Meg Whitman to the need to develop a simpler system ("one HP"), more integrated, suggest that job cuts are not ruled out. "Our big customers want to deal with a single point of contact when speaking to HP," she said. A way as to emphasize the importance of a presence in both the hardware (PC) and services. Meg Whitman also took care to reaffirm its confidence in the future of the company, its ability to adapt to changing conditions.

ALSO READ:

"Whitman acknowledges that Apple could surpass HP in 2012

Yves Rocher then steals the show from Citroen and Peugeot, which occupy the second and third place.Both brands of PSA, used to the top of the rankings are closely followed by Airbus, the only company in the first ten to score an increase over the previous edition dated June.

Banks still pending

Buffeted by the stock market, banks are unloved by the French. Frontlines to the problems of sovereign debt in the euro zone, this side of love see their melting: the index of average image of the banking sector down 18 points at half. Societe Generale dropped to 29th place out of 30 (-38 points), BNP Paribas in 28th place (30 points), Crédit Agricole on the 25th (29 points) behind the Crédit Lyonnais, 24th (14 points).The gap widens further with mutual banks, which enjoy a good opinion among respondents, like the Crédit Mutuel, ranking 11th.

L'Oreal, the 17th is still suffering from the case Bettencourt while Total is the least loved the company of the French, "crystallizing on behalf sensitive issues: the environment, purchasing power, sharing of wealth and taxation," says Claude Posternak. Overall, it notes that the average index of the image of French companies dropped sharply (-8 points). A decline that is equal to that which followed the subprime crisis in 2008.

ALSO READ:

"Low prices are not enough to win

As many failures as successes

Finally, with 224 new listed companies, plans IPO in 2011 materialized just above groups who backed down … Reveals a situation very unfavorable market conditions for the candidates to the adventure market."A successful introduction requires both companies which want to move in the markets and investors willing to commit, explains Philippe Kubis, capital markets partner at PwC. If the materials are there, the latter remain far behind, in a context of uncertainty in the business plan of candidates for introduction. In addition, operations are often arrested in very early stage, which means more delays than cancellations of projects. "

On June 20, the materials group Saint-Gobain Building and renounced to introduce an immediate business of bottles and jars, Verallia. Two months later, the CEO of Wendel (Wendel largest shareholder) welcomed the decision, finding that ca "was not a good start to the stock market history."Alongside 59 other companies had suspended their plans after the official launch of the operation, Verallia escaped the summer meltdown of financial markets, which saw the CAC 40 lost 18% between late June and early September. "The very low current valuations are not conducive to achieving the project, adds Philippe Kubis. The adequacy of the valuation of a company with market conditions at a given time is a key to the success of an operation. However, companies do not want an introduction to the discount. "

Market volatility, however, is not solely responsible. In September 2010, the hotel group Accor has sought to withdraw from the group of Casinos Lucien Barriere, via an initial public offering, and market conditions much more calm.No more successful for this group suffered from poor stock market performance of its competitor Partouche, and especially of a development strategy too unconvincing to raise funds expected.

Tell a story

A successful introduction presupposes an attractive project for sale to investors (a "story to tell," according to experts). From this point of view, some candidates still have a stock speech ambiguity, or an economic model that have not been sufficiently proven.

Best example: the site group purchasing U.S. Groupon. The group was founded by Andrew Mason enthusiastic market for two years by the brilliance of its growth. What to think about a possible introduction free credit score. But the news could cool investors.The site, which is a valuation of $ 20 billion, would be delayed by several months its plans stock, following the refusal by the federal authorities of certain elements of his record. The group took many liberties with the accounting to embellish his figures, making it the most beautiful bride. The kind of hocus-pocus that would certainly not digested the market if the group had been rated! Especially since Groupon continues to widen its losses under the weight of investment in advertising and marketing commitment to support its growth.

In terms of social networks, some uncertainty still exists about how to value companies. "The valuations given for these sites seem important in light of an economic model that looks a little, says Philippe Kubis.It seems to move towards a model including user fees, which ultimately enhance the strength of their profile, and investor interest. "

Constraints rating

A case which also the developer of video games on social networks Zynga. Again, the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) had requested more information on the group's activities. What backward one month (November) the first steps in Zynga Stock Exchange. Even Facebook, social networking superstar, endless hesitation. Its founder Marck Zuckerberg, fear of such an operation a shift in focus of its product development teams to financial performance. From this point of view, the market performance of its professional counterpart, LinkedIn tends to reinforce his caution.Despite a triumphant introduction to the New York Stock Exchange last May, the group rating today in its opening price.

For SMEs, the fund raising smaller first appear easier. Following the example of specialist endomicroscopy Mauna Kea, which easily lifted in early July about 50 million euros on the Paris. Innovative technology, and markets more stable: the stage was set to attract investors. But since then, the small company founded in 2000 has not escaped the stock market panic. After being flown by 43% during the first two trading days (a common occurrence during IPOs), the title of the listed company has 13% below its price of admission.

Mauna Kea in its IPO price

For SMEs, the fund raising smaller first appear easier.Following the example of specialist endomicroscopy Mauna Kea, which easily lifted in early July about 50 million euros on the Paris. Innovative technology, and markets more stable: the stage was set to attract investors. But since then, the small company founded in 2000 has not escaped the stock market panic. After being flown by 43% during the first two trading days (a common occurrence during IPOs), the title of the listed company has 13% below its price of admission.

ALSO READ:

"Groupama always wants to go public

"Mauna Kea, a small business health that runs on the stock market