A digest of the top business and technology news stories from the past week.
PayPal’s new international operations centre in Dundalk open for business
Sixty employees began work last week at global online payments company PayPal’s new operations centre in Dundalk.
“ … Sixty people started working here and by the end of this year we will have more than 200 people in Dundalk with 1,000 by 2015,” said Louise Phelan, vice-president of global operations for PayPal in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The new Dundalk Operations Centre is eBay Inc’s third site in Ireland, with the other two being PayPal and eBay locations in Dublin.
The PayPal centre in Dundalk includes customer service, risk operations, merchant services and sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The company is seeking to fill roles across a range of activities, including customer support, operations, finance, sales and compliance. More information about the job openings can be found on PayPal’s website or eBay’s website.
PayPal’s European operation centre opened in Dublin in 2003, with a staff of 25 people. Since then, the number of employees has increased to more than 1,400 today.
Intel goes to court to fight massive EU €1.06bn fine
Describing the EU decision to fine it €1.06bn in 2009 as being based on a simplistic and error-ridden analysis of how the computer industry actually works, chip giant Intel went to court last week to appeal the decision.
Intel contends that the European Commission failed to provide sufficient evidence to uphold its judgment in 2009, which came after an eight-year investigation.
The European Commission fined Intel for allegedly harming competitors and breaching antitrust laws by giving rebates to computer manufacturers between 2002 and 2005 if they bought at least 95pc of their chips to make PCs.
Manufacturers alleged to have accepted the scheme include Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and NEC.
Intel is also alleged to have also provide rebates to electronics retailer Media Markt if it only sold Intel-based PCs.
In its appeal, Intel points to errors in the EU decision, including not taking on board evidence from a witness regarding its position on competition with AMD, not seeking documents from AMD that might have cleared Intel of the charges and for not giving Intel an extra hearing to defend itself.
The fine represented almost 5pc of Intel’s 2008 turnover and was the largest ever levied on a company.
Intel is seeking to have the conviction either overturned or the fine reduced.
Sales of Samsung Galaxy S III drives US$5.9bn operating profit for electronics giant
Samsung appears to be in rude health, thanks to strong demand for its latest smartphone, the Galaxy S III. The company recently reported an operating profit of US$5.9bn (6.7trn won) as part of its Q2 2012 estimate.
The South Korean electronics giant estimated its second quarter revenues would be in the region of 47trn won (US$41.4bn).
The success of the Galaxy S III is enabling Samsung to weather a weak global economy and offset struggling markets like TV and other consumer electronics products.
Samsung’s full second quarter results are due at the end of this month.
It is envisaged that by the end of July, Samsung will have shipped some 10m handsets.
Earlier this year, Samsung overtook Nokia as the world’s largest seller of mobile devices.
HTC’s profits plummet 57pc – blames poor sales in Europe and US
Disappointing sales in Europe and the US have led to a massive 57.8pc fall in HTC’s quarterly net profit, the company admitted in unaudited consolidated results for the second quarter of 2012.
The company revealed recently that net profit was down 57.8pc to US$247.7m (NT$7.4bn) compared with NT$17.52bn a year earlier. Second-quarter revenue was NT$91bn.
Unaudited operating income was NT$8.2bn and net income before tax was NT$8.9bn.
In what should or could have been a stellar year for HTC with devices like the One X in the market, things are going rather roughly and sales in Europe are disappointing while the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer blames customs hold-ups in the US for poor performance in North America.
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