Business briefs: Microsoft CEO gets small raise for fiscal 2009
Published 7:11 am Thursday, September 23, 2010
Microsoft Corp. says it raised CEO Steve Ballmer’s salary by 4 percent in fiscal 2009 as the software maker’s profit plunged 17 percent on weak personal computer sales. Ballmer’s salary rose to $665,883 from $640,833, according to a preliminary filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The CEO’s bonus was $700,000 last year. Microsoft didn’t disclose Ballmer’s bonus for fiscal 2009. In an uncommon move, the company’s board proposed a “say-on-pay” measure that would give shareholders a chance to weigh in every three years on executive compensation. Microsoft’s 2009 earnings fell to $14.6 billion from $17.7 billion in 2008. Sales dropped 3 percent to $58.4 billion, the first time its revenue declined since it went public in 1986.
Other airlines offer financial aid to JAL
American Airlines Inc., British Airways Plc and Qantas Airways Ltd. have offered broad financial and business support to struggling alliance partner Japan Airlines Corp., including a possible investment of several hundred million dollars from American, a Japanese newspaper reported Friday. The Nikkei business daily said the three airlines jointly offered to help the Japanese carrier obtain fresh capital, as well as assist in its restructuring by combining operation centers and providing consulting. The Nikkei didn’t reveal its sources. JAL spokesman Taro Nanba said his company declined to comment.
Digital transition still rocky
Think the digital TV transition is over? Not quite. Many viewers have found that they can’t pick up certain stations after the switch, even with the right TVs or converter boxes. The stations are still trying to figure out ways to help them tune in. The main problem is that when the last major stations turned off their analog TV on June 12 to broadcast entirely in digital, some of them moved their digital signals from the UHF frequency band (channels 14 to 69) to VHF (channels 2 to 13). To most viewers, these channels are just different numbers on the remote. But as signals in the airwaves, they have very different characteristics. VHF hadn’t been used much for digital signals, and there were indications that there would be problems.
Google dialer story differs from Apple’s
Google Inc. said Apple Inc.’s top marketing executive personally told the company that its Google Voice application had been rejected because it duplicates the telephone dialer on the iPhone and could be used as a replacement. The newly disclosed discussion, revealed in a regulatory filing made fully public Friday, contrasts with Apple’s own denial that it rejected the program. Apple said Friday that the two Silicon Valley companies are still discussing the application. The Federal Communications Commission is looking at Apple’s block on the Google Voice app as part of a bigger investigation into how wireless industry practices affect consumers.
From Herald news services
