A digest of the top business technology news stories from the past week, beginning with the news telecoms company Eircom has appointed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise it on strategic financing options, including a potential IPO.
Eircom appoints Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise on potential IPO
Ireland’s incumbent telecoms operator Eircom has appointed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to advise it on strategic financing options, including a potential IPO.
The appointments follow the appointment of Rothschild as independent financial adviser to the telecoms operator.
Eircom said the purpose of appointing the investment banks as advisers is to “explore strategic options for the company, including a potential international offering and listing.”
Mobile cloud player Fleetmatics now connects with 472,000 vehicles
Irish NYSE-listed Fleetmatics has reported Q1 revenues of US$51.9m, up 35pc on last year. The GPS fleet and vehicle-tracking software provider’s total subscriber base has reached 472,000 vehicles, up 32pc on last year.
Gross profit for the first quarter was US$39.2m, compared to US$28.4m for the first quarter of 2013.
At the end of March, Fleetmatics had cash of US$148.2m on its balance sheet, up US$11m since December last year.
Twitter revenues up 119pc to US$250m – 80pc of ad revenue from mobile
Twitter has revealed Q1 revenues of US$250m, up 119pc on last year. The social media player also reported 14m new monthly active users, bringing total monthly active users to 255m.
Twitter reported Q1 net loss of US$132m and non-GAAP net income of US$183,000.
Mobile monthly active users reached 198m, bringing mobile users to 78pc of Twitter’s active user base.
Timeline views reached 157bn in Q1, up 15pc on last year.
Advertising revenue per thousand timeline views reached US$1.44 in the first quarter of 2014, an increase of 96pc year-over-year.
Samsung’s global mobile marketshare drops for first time in five years
For the first time since 2009, consumer electronics giant Samsung saw its share of the global mobile phone market slip, falling to 31pc from 32pc last year.
New figures out from Strategy Analytics reveal global smartphone shipments grew by 33pc annually to reach 285m units in the first quarter.
Samsung shipped 89m smartphones worldwide and captured the 31pc marketshare in Q1 2014. This marks Samsung’s first annual marketshare loss in the smartphone category since the fourth quarter of 2009.
Nokia appoints Rajeev Suri as new CEO after Microsoft takeover
Rajeev Suri has been appointed Nokia’s new CEO now that Microsoft has closed its acquisition of the Finnish mobile phone company’s devices and services business. Suri will began his new role on 1 May.
Suri replaced Risto Siilasmaa, who has been the company’s interim CEO following the announcement last September that Microsoft would be purchasing Nokia’s devices and services unit for €5.6bn.
Suri joined Nokia in 1995 and has held number of leadership roles within the company. Since October 2009, he served as head of Nokia’s networks and services division, the former joint venture between
Nokia and Siemens that is now fully owned by Nokia.
Steve Jobs tops CNBC ‘First 25’ to impact business and finance since 1989
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has topped CNBC’s 25th anniversary list of the ‘First 25’ – those leaders who are judged to have had the most profound impact on business and finance since 1989.
From a technology perspective, former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates comes in at No 2 on the ‘First 25 list‘ while Google’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Google chairman Eric Schmidt share the No 4 spot.
CNBC wrote of Jobs: “As Bill Gates shaped the experience of using the personal computer that sat on our desks, so Steve Jobs fashioned the experience of using the one we now carry around. Gates redefined the way millions of people work. Jobs redefined the style in which they live and set a new expectation about the embedding of technology in daily life.”
Financial markets image via Shutterstock
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