Breaking News & Stocks

9:58 AM - The Asian markets are trading in the positive. Good global cues see a good gap up opening. Sensex is trading at 17590, up 303 points and Nifty is at 5250, up 84 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index is up 1.52% and BSE Smallcaps index is up 0.93%. The market breadth is positive with advances at 591 against declines of 63 on the NSE. » Send to friends

Quote of the Day ? A stock does not know; you own it.

Bajaj Auto bike sales jump 23.6% in Apr

New Delhi, May 01: India's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto Ltd on Thursday reported a 23.60 percent growth in motorcycle sales during April at 2,03,081 units against 1,64,304 units in the same month last year.

The company's total two-wheeler sales also rose 23.08 percent during the month at 2,03,930 units as compared to 1,65,692 units in April last year, Bal said in a statement.

Total three-wheeler sales, however, were down by 26.47 percent at 17,913 units as compared to 24,360 units in the 12 month-ago period.

Exports however increased, showing a growth of 41.79 percent, to 73,624 units from 51,926 units in the year-ago period.

Bajaj Auto said owing to strong sales in the XCD, Discover, Avenger and Pulsar Series, which grew by 34 percent, the company performed well.

"The company's immediate strategy is to introduce four well-positioned '125cc plus' motorcycles in FY09 in its endeavour to expand the '125cc plus' segment to represent 50 percent of the industry by March 2009," the statement said.

The company is expecting to export over eight lakh units this year, it added.

Citigroup`s Pandit among US`s least paid CEOs: Forbes

New York, May 01: Heading the world`s largest bank does not guarantee fat paycheck to Citigroup`s India-born CEO Vikram Pandit who finds himself at the bottom of the Forbe`s’ CEO salary list for America`s 500 biggest firms.

However, with his 495th rank, Pandit, is still placed higher than the world`s richest man and legendary investor Warren Buffett in terms of compensation received for the latest fiscal year.

Buffett has been ranked 497th with a pay packet of 0.10 million dollars, as against 0.25 million dollars of Pandit.

The list, which includes at least six persons of Indian origin, has been topped by business software giant Oracle`s CEO Larry Ellison with total compensation of 192.92 million dollars for 2007 that included one million dollar in salary and 182 million dollars from exercise of vested stock options.

Among the India-origin CEOs, beverages giant Pepsico chief Indra Nooyi has been ranked highest at 139th, followed by Shantanu Narayen of software major Adobe Systems (154th), Raj L Gupta of specialty chemicals firm Rohm and Haas (399th), Surya N Mohapatra of healthcare equipment maker Quest Diagnostics (406th) and software solutions provider Cognizant Technology chief executive Francisco D`Souza (487th).

The Forbes list has put Chennai-born Indra Nooyi`s pay packet at 12.74 million dollars. Nooyi has been heading Pepsico for about two years, while Pandit took over as he CEO of subprime crisis-ridden Citigroup in December last year.

In the banking sector, Pandit is ranked 30th, while Nooyi is on third spot in the food, drink and tobacco industry.

Ranks are based on total compensation for latest fiscal year, which includes salary and bonuses, other compensation, such as vested restricted stock grants and the value realised by exercising stock options, Forbes said.

Report: Microsoft-***** deal may go hostile Friday
Friday May 2, 3:58 am

Report: Microsoft may go hostile in its bid for *****, announcement 'likely' Friday

SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. may go hostile in its bid for ***** Inc. as soon as Friday, according to a published report.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported early Friday that the world's largest software maker may be preparing to go straight to Internet pioneer *****'s shareholders.

An announcement was "likely" to come Friday, according to the report, though the newspaper said its sources cautioned that Microsoft may delay.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told employees in a company assembly Thursday that he knows how much he'd spend to buy ***** and accelerate his company's Internet play.

"We're willing to pay for that at some level, and beyond that level we're not willing to pay for it. I know exactly what I think ***** is worth to me," the executive said. "I won't go a dime above, and I will go to what I think it's worth if that gets the deal done."

But he didn't offer a figure, and he didn't say whether Microsoft is considering raising its unsolicited bid, worth $44.6 billion at the time it was made in early February.

The offer is currently worth about $42.4 billion, or $29.48 per share, based on Microsoft Corp.'s closing stock price Thursday. ***** Inc. has rejected the offer, saying it undervalues the company. Microsoft's board has been considering whether to raise the bid to as much as $33 per share, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Ballmer didn't provide any new insight into the company's efforts to buy the Silicon Valley pioneer during the meeting at Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, but he did indicate that an end to months of speculation was near.

"We ought to announce something in relatively short order," Ballmer told employees.

His comments were first reported by Silicon Alley Insider, an online technology news site, and confirmed by a Microsoft spokesman.

Ballmer added that buying ***** is just one of many moving parts in the software maker's strategy to compete with Google Inc. in search and Web advertising, and that if neither a friendly nor a hostile deal "look good," he's willing to walk away.

Microsoft's board met Wednesday but reached no decision on a next step, the Journal reported. The software maker had given ***** until last weekend to agree to a deal or face the prospect of an ugly proxy fight.

Meanwhile, ***** is exploring a possible advertising partnership with Internet search leader Google Inc. or a merger with the online operations of Time Warner Inc.'s AOL as possible defenses if Microsoft tries a hostile takeover.

Impressed by a two-week test completed last month, ***** could firm up a long-term deal within a week, according to the Journal. Any alliance between ***** and Google would face intense antitrust scrutiny, however, because the two companies control more than 80 percent of the U.S. market for search advertising.

***** and Google hope to allay those concerns by structuring their deal so their rivals, including Microsoft, could participate in an auction-based system, the Journal said.

Inflation on a 42-month high, rises to 7.57%

New Delhi, May 02: Despite a slew of measures and precautionary steps taken by the government to curtail the spiralling inflation, efforts do not seem to be yielding concrete results. Making life difficult for the common man, inflation on Friday soared to 7.57 % - the highest in 42 months. The hike in the rate of inflation from 7.33% to the current one has largely been due to the climb by 0.3% in the Wholesale Price Index of essential commodities such as rice, milk, tea, vegetables and some manufactured products.

As per past week`s reports, the price of tea shot up by 17 percent and that of other food items like milk, rice, vegetables and mutton also became dearer.

Among other commodities, the prices of light diesel oil and furnace oil went up by 2 percent and by 1 percent respectively. In the manufactured products category, the prices of cast iron pipes jumped by 51 percent, pig iron by 8 percent and steel sheets by 2 percent.

After the government banned export of certain commodities like non-basmati rice and pulses and reduced customs duties on various other items to rein in inflation, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to suck excess liquidity from the market with an aim to check inflation.

The price rise crisis has been giving nightmares to the UPA government and it is facing stiff opposition from top political parties.

The escalating prices of essential commodities have given the main opposition BJP ammo to corner the Manmohan Singh government. The issue is also likely to play a major role in the forthcoming elections. In view of this, the BJP today called for nationwide agitation to highlight the government`s repeated failure to ease inflation.

Inflation will be tamed: Chidambaram

Bangalore: Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said inflation will be tamed and food prices will come down sooner than other prices.

"The inflation will be tamed; food prices will come down sooner than other prices," he said on the sidelines of a function here.

The government, he said, has already procured 154 lakh tonnes of wheat and 230 lakh tonnes of rice.

Pointing out that the prices would come down, the minister said, "People need to have patience and have faith in the government".

***** May Do Full Rollout of Google Ads Next Week; Could Include Non-Exclusive Ads on Competitors
Thursday May 1, 8:08 pm


***** (NasdaqGS: YHOO - News), which was waiting for the other shoe to drop, is still waiting, but it is moving ahead with its plans to deploy Google's (NasdaqGS: GOOG - News) search/text ads more widely across its network after a two week trial. The rollout could start within a week, reports WSJ, citing sources. Microsoft's (NasdaqGS: MSFT - News) hostile bid, or a raised bid offer, could come as soon as tomorrow morning (Friday AM two months ago was when it announced the original takeover offer), and ***** may still go ahead with the rollout irrespective.
And while any broad GOOG-YHOO deal would be ripe for anti-trust scrutiny (DOJ has already been knocking), the options could include a nonexclusive arrangement that the two companies believe could satisfy regulators, the story says, and as it explain it: it would be a real-time auction system that would choose the most lucrative ads for any given consumer query from among those sold by *****, Google and any of their competitors. Microsoft, for example, could be that competitor, and have search ads it sold displayed alongside ***** Web search results, and share ad revenues. It would all be a Google world, then...rest would just be living off it. Not that we're that far away now…

Analyst estimates put *****'s cash pop on outsourcing the ads to be more than $1 billion a year. The story points out that within Google, there are mixed feelings on helping ***** fend off its bigger rival Microsoft.

US jobs data propels European shares higher
Fri May 2, 2008 8:37am

LONDON, May 2 - European shares rallied on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy lost fewer jobs than expected in April, reinforcing the belief that growth may be stabilising.

The U.S. government said 20,000 workers were lost from non-farm payrolls in April, against expectations for a fall of 80,000 and compared with a downwardly revised loss of 81,000 in March.

By 1235 GMT the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 1.8 percent at 1,362.94 points, versus 1,351.07 points before the data. The index was close to its highest since late February.

Although the data was not as bad as some investors had feared, April still marked the fourth consecutive monthly contraction in the labour market, the worst such run since a five-month stretch of declines from February to June 2003.

Banks were the top performing sector on the European market, accounting for a net 7.04 point gain in the FTSEurofirst, compared with a net gain of 5.02 points before payrolls. Spain's Banco Santander (SAN.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) was the largest individual positive weight, rising 4.3 percent.

well said.this is for egoists like me and many new comers.........

Microsoft ups ***** offer above $31 in bid for friendly deal
Friday May 2, 7:55 pm ET

Microsoft raises offer for ***** above $31 in bid for friendly deal that could reshape Web

SAN FRANCISCO -- Microsoft Corp. finally dangled a higher takeover bid in front of ***** Inc. Friday, hoping to reach a friendly deal after weeks of saber rattling.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker upped its offer beyond the original value of $44.6 billion, or $31 per share, according to a person familiar with the matter. The specifics of the new offer weren't known by this person, who didn't want to be identified because the negotiations are still confidential.

The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Microsoft boosted the offer by "by several dollars" per share, lending weight to the assertion by many market analysts that Microsoft can afford to pay up to $35 a share.

Representatives from Microsoft and ***** declined to comment on the negotiations. The talks were expected to continue into the weekend.

In an intriguing twist, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and ***** President Susan Decker were both expected to be in Omaha, Neb. this weekend to attend Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting. Both Gates and Decker are on the board of the company led by famed investor Warren Buffett.

The prospect of a sweetened offer lifted ***** shares 80 cents in extended trading after surging $1.86, or nearly 7 percent, to finish the regular session at $28.67.

Sunnyvale-based ***** began pressing for a higher offer shortly after Microsoft made its unsolicited bid in February. That offer, which was made half in cash and half in stock, is currently valued at $42.3 billion, or $29.40 per share, reflecting the decline in Microsoft shares since it began its pursuit of the Internet pioneer.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer had held firm, insisting the original offer was fair in light of *****'s eroding profits during the past two years. He threatened an attempt to oust *****'s board if the 10 directors, including Chief Executive Jerry Yang, didn't accept the offer by April 26.

Now that ***** has forced the issue by letting the deadline pass, Ballmer appears ready to put more money on the table.

Microsoft's board reportedly met earlier this week to consider raising the bid as high as $33 per share, or about $47.5 billion.

Several of *****'s shareholders are reportedly holding out for at least $35 per share, a price that would value the deal at about $50 billion.

Microsoft offered to buy ***** for about $40 per share during confidential discussions held in early 2007, but *****'s struggles since then make it unlikely the revised bid will be that high.

In a comments to Microsoft employees Thursday, Ballmer said he has a price in mind but didn't reveal it.

"I know exactly what I think ***** is worth to me, exactly," Ballmer told the employees, according to a transcript filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "I won't go a dime above, and I will go to what I think it's worth if that gets the deal done."

Most analysts have predicted all along that Microsoft eventually would buy ***** for $32 to $35 per share, so the news of Friday's negotiations wasn't a major surprise.

"It's all going according to script," said Ken Marlin, a New York investment banker specializing in technology deals.

The outcome of the weekend talks will likely ripple across the Internet.

If Microsoft and ***** shake hands on a deal, it will mark a significant step toward uniting two high-tech powerhouses whose online services are used by more than 500 million people worldwide. An amicable transaction also would make it easier to meld the two companies' disparate technologies and cultures.

Should the two sides remain at loggerheads, Microsoft could still try to force a sale by trying to replace *****'s board with 10 directors more inclined to approve a deal.

But that risky maneuver, known as a proxy contest, would likely entail several months of mudslinging with no guarantee of success.

Even if Microsoft were to prevail in a hostile takeover, it could wind up with buyer's remorse because the hard feelings provoked by the battle would drive off many of the ***** employees needed to make the deal pay off, said Arthur Dudley, a New York lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions.

"The trick for Microsoft is to figure out where the tipping point is," Dudley said. "They probably don't want to do a hostile takeover and just wind up with some more computer software and a bunch of empty desks."

Ballmer also has said Microsoft might simply withdraw its offer and walk away from *****. Most analysts doubt Microsoft will give up the chase because *****'s still-prized Internet franchise would give the software maker its best chance to chip away at Google Inc.'s dominance of the booming Internet search and advertising market.

Google's specter may have prodded Microsoft's higher bid. ***** is reportedly nearing a long-term deal that would allow Google to sell ads on its Web site. Although the alliance might be blocked by antitrust obstacles, Microsoft likely wouldn't want to risk the chance of Google gaining access to *****'s vast audience.

***** executives think the company is well positioned to bounce back from its recent malaise, but Dudley doubts the company's board will resist Microsoft if its new offer is sweet enough.

"*****'s board won't have a lot of choice if the price is right," Dudley said. "Now, everyone is just scratching their heads trying to figure out what the number is."