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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mannie who wrote (159198)	1/28/2009 1:52:23 AM
From: SiouxPal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 362386

I'll find it's next showing and record it. Thanks. Doing some destructive wall entrance trim removal of stuff now. It's rather messy. Wanna arm wrestle? Just kidding I'm a wimp.

To: Mannie who wrote (159198)	1/29/2009 6:24:20 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 362386

Amazon.com Tops Profit, Sales Estimates; Shares Surge (Update2) By Joseph Galante Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., the world’s largest Internet retailer, posted an 8.7 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit after promotions and discounts lured consumers to its Web site. Sales beat estimates, sending the shares up 13 percent. Net income climbed to $225 million, or 52 cents a share, from $207 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier, the Seattle- based company said today in a statement. Sales rose 18 percent to $6.7 billion, compared with an estimate of $6.45 billion in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is relying on low prices, shipping promotions and product selection to maintain growth in a recession. The company outpaced the rest of the e- commerce market over the past two years and that’s likely to continue, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Amazon.com had its biggest holiday sales ever, even as rival EBay Inc. posted its first quarterly decline. “They have discounted heavily in order to maintain market share and drive revenue,” Fred Moran, an analyst at Stanford Group in Boca Raton, Florida, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Given the environment, that might be the right way to go.” Amazon.com rose $6.40 to $56.40 in late trading after closing at $50 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares dropped 45 percent last year. First Quarter First-quarter net revenue will rise to between $4.53 billion and $4.93 billion, an increase of as much as 19 percent, the company said. Analysts had estimated sales of $4.55 billion. Operating income will be between $125 million and $210 million. Analysts had estimated profit of 38 cents a share in the fourth quarter, according to the Bloomberg survey. U.S. online retail sales growth will slow this year to 11 percent, or $156 billion, from 13 percent last year, according to Forrester Research Inc. Amazon.com sells products in more than three dozen categories, ranging from power tools to musical instruments. Once just a book seller, the company opened a site last year that offers more than 300,000 parts and accessories for motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. Bezos also has expanded sales of digital media, such as music and video files. The company introduced the Kindle electronic-reading device in 2007 to encourage book, magazine and newspaper downloads. Kindles have sold out for two straight years ahead of the holiday shopping season. EBay Results EBay, the biggest online auction site, reported a 6.6 percent sales decline last week. The San Jose, California-based company was hurt by the global e-commerce slowdown, hindering efforts by Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe to gain sales by overhauling listing fees and bolstering the company’s payments unit. Amazon.com will probably keep discounting goods this year, at the expense of profit, as it tries to fuel sales and ward off competition, Tim Boyd, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech, said in a report. “Amazon has a tough decision to make in 2009,” Boyd said. “Will it attempt to grow its top line come hell or high water, or will it instead try to preserve its gross margin? It cannot do both.” To contact the reporter on this story: Joseph Galante in San Francisco at jgalante3@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 29, 2009 17:12 EST

To: Mannie who wrote (159198)	1/29/2009 6:30:17 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 362386

Starbucks Ratings May Be Cut By Moody’s on Sales Drop (Update1) By Courtney Dentch Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Starbucks Corp.’s debt ratings may be lowered by Moody’s Investors Service after the world’s largest coffee chain said yesterday it will cut 6,700 additional jobs and close 300 more stores. Sales at U.S. stores open at least 13 months dropped 10 percent in the first quarter, the company said yesterday. Net income fell 69 percent to $64.3 million, or 9 cents a share, as overall sales dropped 5.5 percent to $2.6 billion. “The review for downgrade reflects Moody’s concern that a persistently weak economic and consumer environment will continue to negatively impact Starbucks’ same-store sales and overall operating performance at least over the intermediate term,” Moody’s said today in a statement. The Seattle-based company’s Baa2 senior unsecured and Prime-2 short-term ratings are under review for downgrade, Moody’s said. The firm lowered Starbucks’ long-term debt rating in November. Starbucks has a $1 billion unsecured credit facility that matures in 2011, and $550 million in bonds due in 2017, according to Bloomberg data. Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz plans to close 200 U.S. stores and another 100 shops overseas, adding to a July plan to shut 661 locations. Yesterday’s moves will eliminate 700 corporate positions and 6,000 café jobs, although some workers may be transferred to nearby sites. Starbucks aims to save $500 million in labor and product costs by September. Shares were unchanged at $9.65 today in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The stock has lost 52 percent in the past 12 months. To contact the reporter on this story: Courtney Dentch in New York at cdentch1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: January 29, 2009 17:44 EST

To: Mannie who wrote (159198)	1/29/2009 6:35:04 PM
From: stockman_scott	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 362386

Norah Jones & Downloading Help Blue Note Beat Record Industry Ax By Patrick Cole Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- As big record companies cut their jazz rosters during the past 10 years under pressure from the downloading juggernaut, EMI Ltd. left Blue Note alone. It didn’t hurt that the storied label found its own juggernaut in petite Norah Jones while also turning a profit every year since President Bruce Lundvall took over 25 years ago. Besides elite jazz artists like Wynton Marsalis, Blue Note Records has done well with the crossover appeal of singer- songwriter Jones, whose three albums have sold almost 35 million copies in the past five years. That makes it a little easier in these belt-tightening times for the label to toot its own horn as it celebrates its 70th birthday this year. “It’s always about finding the most original artists in the genre,” said the 73-year-old Lundvall, dressed in a business suit and matching cream-colored overcoat and fedora, during a recent interview at Bloomberg News headquarters. “The artists keep the label going, not the people in the middle. I’m just a middleman.” Blue Note kicks off a yearlong birthday bash this week at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in Manhattan with a show by one of the original saxophone masters, Lou Donaldson, who first recorded with the label in the 1950s. Started in 1939 by two German emigres, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, Blue Note quickly assembled a roster of jazz’s defining artists, such as saxophonists Charlie Parker and John Coltrane and pianist Thelonious Monk. “Blue Note documented every form of jazz from swing and boogie-woogie piano to hard bop,” Lundvall said. “It documented every major modern jazz player today, from Herbie Hancock and Dexter Gordon to Wynton Marsalis.” ‘A Celebration’ To celebrate the label’s legacy, Lundvall ordered up a studio recording, “Mosaic: A Celebration of Blue Note Records.” Released this month, it features eight jazz classics the label released during the past seven decades, recorded by a septet that includes pianist Bill Charlap, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and trumpeter Nicholas Payton. The band put a contemporary twist on numbers such as Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance” and Joe Henderson’s “Inner Urge,” Lundvall said. The group is on a 50-city tour that includes stops in Tucson, Arizona (Jan. 30), St. Louis (Feb. 22), Chicago (March 20), Minneapolis (March 29) and Washington (Apr. 5). The tour ends with a six-day engagement at New York’s Birdland Jazz Club April 14-19. Some jazz festivals, including ones in Monterey, California, and Portland, Oregon, will have exhibitions of Blue Note album covers featuring Wolff’s photography. Selling Downloads While Blue Note celebrates the past, Lundvall is also focused these days on selling digital downloads of his artists’ work through Web sites, including iTunes, which make up about 20 percent of its revenue. To bolster sales, he’s expanding the roster to include jazz-influenced acts and mainstream artists such as Jones, rhythm-and-blues singer Al Green and Willie Nelson. “They’re not particularly jazz artists as such, but Norah Jones broke down that wall for us,” Lundvall said. “The door opened all of sudden to everyone who wanted to be on Blue Note, but we’re still trying to be true to the jazz art form.” The Lou Donaldson Quartet is at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Broadway at 60th Street in Manhattan through Feb. 1. Information: +1-212-258-9595; jalc.org. To contact the writer on this story: Patrick Cole in New York at pcole3@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: January 29, 2009 00:01 EST

To: Mannie who wrote (159198)	1/29/2009 7:23:06 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 362386

Lenovo Agrees to Purchase Switchbox Labs for Undisclosed Amount By Joost Akkermans Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Lenovo Group Ltd., China’s biggest personal-computer maker, agreed to acquire Seattle-based Switchbox Labs Inc. for an undisclosed amount. Projects at Switchbox Labs, a developer of consumer technologies, are confidential and will continue under the new ownership, Lenovo said in a BusinessWire statement today. The maker of Thinkpad laptops said it expects Switchbox’s technologies will be used in Lenovo’s products in the future. Switchbox co-founder Michael Sievert has been named a senior vice president will report to Lenovo Chief Executive Officer William Amelio. Before starting Switchbox Labs, Sievert was a vice president at Microsoft Corp., according to the statement. To contact the reporter on this story: Joost Akkermans in Hong Kong at jakkermans@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 28, 2009 19:48 EST