Caterpillar profit jumps 58 percent (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) reported a 58 percent rise in quarterly earnings that blew away Wall Street expectations on record sales of construction and mining equipment, and projected strong growth for 2012.

The strength seen by Caterpillar, a bellwether for global spending and credit conditions, could be seen as a much-needed boost to those concerned about consumer confidence and sovereign debt. The company's forecasts have long been seen as one of the more telling indicators of future growth or malaise.

Caterpillar's results cap a record 2011 in terms of revenue and profits, and it posted its biggest yearly growth rate for sales and income since 1947. The company has been a leading name in a U.S. industrial sector that enjoyed a widespread rebound in 2011.

Acquisitions, increased demand for mining equipment, high commodity prices and sales growth in construction machinery and parts supported Caterpillar during the year. Price increases and higher inventories also fueled the performance.

Investors reacted positively to the report, with shares up 3.2 percent at $112.57, about $4 shy of a 52-week high set in May.

Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar said it would continue to

break records in 2012, with profit expected to rise 25 percent to $9.25 a share and revenue projected to increase between 13 percent and 20 percent. The outlook outpaced analyst expectations and is based on a forecast for higher sales for all geographic regions and business segments except marine engines.

"We're expecting 2012 to be another year of good growth," Caterpillar Chief Executive Doug Oberhelman said in a press release. "We have to be prepared for recovery in the developed world beyond 2012 and continued growth in emerging markets."

RECESSION "UNLIKELY"

The company said the U.S. economy will continue to experience slow growth. Meanwhile, China is moderating, and Latin America growth could slow down.

It estimated that the eurozone debt crisis could lead to negative growth in the region during the first two quarters of 2012 but "it is unlikely to trigger a worldwide recession," and sees improvement there by the second half of the year.

The company said tax expenses are the biggest challenge in 2012 due to its geographic sales mix and regulations.

Caterpillar said construction markets in the United States and Europe remain "depressed," contrasting the strong growth taking place in emerging regions. Still, the company sees buyers in developed markets snapping up new machinery in order to replace outdated equipment.

During a conference call, the company said it expects to "finally" see some growth in U.S. construction spending, but it will remain relatively low.

The company is gaining market share in many key regions -- including China -- putting further pressure on the company's production capacity. In some cases, customers are on waiting lists that span several years because of these constraints. Buyers of new large trucks are being quoted delivery times into 2014, for instance.

Meeting demand will also lead to increased costs as the company scrambles to add capacity in key regions, particularly to meet demand for mining equipment.

Caterpillar will invest about $4 billion on capital expenditures in 2012, compared with $2.6 billion in 2011.

Caterpillar said it added 14,000 employees in 2011 in order to meet growing demand, 6,500 of which were added in the United States. The company said it exported nearly $20 billion worth of goods in 2011, representing a third of its total revenue for the year.

Caterpillar spokesman Jim Dugan said the company anticipates adding more employees in 2012 as it opens or expands facilities.

PROFITS, SALES UP

The company posted net income for the fourth quarter of $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share, compared with $968 million, or $1.47 per share, a year ago. That result was 59 cents above the analysts' average estimate of $1.73 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 35 percent to $17.24 billion, above Wall Street estimates of $16.05 billion.

Caterpillar reported growth in all three of its product sectors -- construction equipment, such as bulldozers; resource equipment needed for activities like mining; and power systems, including engines. The resource equipment segment was the fastest-growing unit in terms of sales, but profit growth in the construction business was more robust.

It also is seeing steady demand for after-market parts needed for equipment already in use.

Increased expenses related to production volume, capacity expansion and incentive compensation added about $450 million worth of costs in the fourth quarter alone. The company also spent money on its Caterpillar Japan restructuring and integrating new business.

(Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Mark Porter)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/bs_nm/us_caterpillar

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Buccaneers introduce Rutgers' Schiano as new coach

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano pauses as he answers a question while talking with a group of reporters in Piscataway, N.J., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, after it was announced that he had accepted an offer to coach the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti says a new coach will be hired "as soon as possible" but did not guarantee that a hire would be made before signing day on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano pauses as he answers a question while talking with a group of reporters in Piscataway, N.J., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, after it was announced that he had accepted an offer to coach the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rutgers athletic director Tim Pernetti says a new coach will be hired "as soon as possible" but did not guarantee that a hire would be made before signing day on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Greg Schiano speaks during his introduction as the new head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during an NFL football news conference on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers new head coach Greg Schiano smiles as he introduced to reporters during an NFL football news conference on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers new head coach Greg Schiano, left, shakes hands with Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer after being introduced to reporters during an NFL football news conference on Friday Jan. 27, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Greg Schiano, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers new head coach, gestures while addressing the media after being introduced during an NFL football news conference, Friday Jan. 27, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? Greg Schiano couldn't resist the challenge of trying to transform the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into winners.

The 45-year-old architect of a stunning college football turnaround at Rutgers was formally introduced Friday as the "right man" to the lead the NFL's youngest team to playoff contention ? and beyond.

"I don't believe in doing anything except to be the best," Schiano told a packed auditorium inside the team's posh headquarters and training facility. "We're going to try to be the best starting today. How long that's going to take, I can't tell you that. ... But when our best is the best, we'll be Super Bowl champs."

Schiano took over a struggling program at Rutgers and turned it into a Big East contender during an 11-year run with the Scarlet Knights.

The Bucs are banking on him to have the same kind of impact in Tampa Bay, which has not won a playoff game since winning it's only NFL title in 2002.

"He's a person who came into a program and built it from the ground up. ... He went in there, rolled up his sleeves, cut no corners, did the hard work that was necessary to put it where it is today," Bucs co-chairman Joel Glazer said.

"He has a vision for what he wants to do, how he wants to coach football," Glazer added. "We spoke to a lot of people in football. The more people we spoke to, whether it be college or the pros or scouts, it was amazing the feedback you got."

There have been numerous suitors for Schiano over the past decade, however he said none of the opportunities seemed right for him. That is until the Bucs called during a 24-day search that began when Raheem Morris was fired on Jan. 2.

The Glazer family, along with general manager Mark Dominik, convinced Schiano they share a common vision of what it will take to build a consistent winner.

"I've been in the NFL" as an assistant, Schiano said. "I've been a head coach for 11 years. I did not need to be a head coach in the National Football league today. ... So I really studied the team, I studied the situation, I studied the ownership, I studied mark. That's what makes me comfortable" taking the job.

"There's been several opportunities to go to places that were quote, unquote bigger names or bigger programs," the coach added. "And at times I listened. But when I tried to put myself there, it just didn't feel good. ... This felt right."

The Bucs have fielded the league's youngest team the past two years with dramatically different results. After going 10-6 and nearly earning a playoff berth in 2010, they slumped to 4-12 for this season, ending the 35-year-old Morris' run as the NFL's youngest head coach on a 10-game losing streak.

A porous defense allowed 31 of more points in seven of the team's last eight games and the offense sputtered, in part because of the inconsistent play of Josh Freeman, who threw took a step back in his development with a career-high 22 interceptions after throwing just six the previous season.

Schiano was one of at least 10 candidates the Glazer family interviewed during a 24-day search. Oregon coach Chip Kelly turned down the job earlier this week, leaving Schiano, former Green Bay Packers and Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman and Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski as finalists for the Tampa Bay opening.

"The more time we had a chance to spend with him, the more evident and clear it was that he was going to be the man to lead our football team going forward," Dominik said.

In addition to getting Freeman back on track, Schiano faces the challenge of improving a defense that yielded a franchise-record 494 points while also ranking near the bottom of the NFL in sacks and yards allowed.

The Bucs used first- and second-round selections in each of the past two drafts to rebuild the defense line, yet still have not been able to generate a consistent pass rush.

Schiano was a defensive assistant in the NFL with the Chicago Bears for three seasons and was the University of Miami's defensive coordinator for two years before moving to Rutgers.

"You talk about how our team is going to look. ... Our team will be built around a humble, unselfish, attitude and sacrifice," Schiano said. "It's hard to find that in today's world. But that's who we'll be."

This season revealed glaring weaknesses throughout the team. Still, Schiano likes the foundation that Dominik and Morris laid the past two years.

"It a young core of very talented guys. But until you actually coach them, how do you know how talented? I've watched video, I talked to people I know in the National Football League and I'm very impressed," he said, adding that he's confident he'll be able to assemble a coaching staff that will help players grow.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-27-FBN-Buccaneers-Schiano/id-86c677ded78b489f80f1861da8397015

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Kepler telescope team finds 11 new solar systems

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:45pm EST

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida

(Reuters) - NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has found 11 new planetary systems, including one with five planets all orbiting closer to their parent star than Mercury circles the Sun, scientists said on Thursday.

The discoveries boost the list of confirmed extra-solar planets to 729, including 60 credited to the Kepler team. The telescope, launched in space in March 2009, can detect slight but regular dips in the amount of light coming from stars. Scientists can then determine if the changes are caused by orbiting planets passing by, relative to Kepler's view.

Kepler scientists have another 2,300 candidate planets awaiting additional confirmation.

None of the newly discovered planetary systems are like our solar system, though Kepler-33, a star that is older and bigger than the Sun, comes close in terms of sheer numbers. It has five planets, compared to our solar system's eight, but the quintet all fly closer to their parent star than Mercury orbits the Sun.

The planets range in size from about 1.5 times the diameter of Earth to five times Earth's diameter. Scientists have not yet determined if any are solid rocky bodies like Earth, Venus, Mars and Mercury or if they are filled with gas like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

The Kepler team previously found one star with six confirmed planets and a second system with five planets, said planetary scientist Jack Lissauer, with NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Nine of the new systems contain two planets and one has three, bringing the total number of newly discovered planets to 26. All are closer to their host stars than Venus is to the Sun.

"This has tripled the number of stars which we know have more than one transiting planet, so that's the big deal here," Lissauer told Reuters.

"We're starting to think in terms of planetary systems as opposed to just planets: Do they all tend to have similar sizes? What's the spacing? Is the solar system unusual in those regards?" he said.

Kepler is monitoring more than 150,000 stars in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra.

The research is published in four different papers in Astrophysical Journal and the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

(Reporting By Irene Klotz; Editing by Jane Sutton and Sandra Maler)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/9081eIRZ1AU/us-space-planets-idUSTRE80P27W20120126

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9 killed in violence-plagued northern Mexican city (AP)

MONTERREY, Mexico ? Nine people were shot to death early Thursday in the center of Monterrey, the third-largest city in Mexico and the scene of rampant drug violence in recent years.

The bodies of eight men between ages 25 and 30 were found on a street corner after neighbors reported hearing gunfire, said Adrian de la Garza, the Nuevo Leon state attorney general. The body of woman was found nearby.

De la Garza said the crimes appeared to be linked by the type of weapon used, but provided no more details.

He didn't say if the killings were drug related.

This northern industrial city has been plagued by fighting between the Gulf and Zetas cartels, former allies that split in early 2010.

Elsewhere on Thursday, the Mexican army announced the arrest of a suspect in a 2008 bombing attempt aimed at a municipal police official in Mexico City.

The army statement said Oscar Santoyo Rodriguez, alias "El Mosco," was captured in the southern state of Oaxaca last week.

Santoyo, an alleged member of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, is accused of participating in a Feb. 15, 2008, bombing plot in the capital. The attack failed when the homemade bomb detonated prematurely, killing the man carrying it and injuring a woman who authorities said was also involved.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico

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Obama Should Ditch the "Kumbaya" Messages (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | A theme that President Barack Obama offered in the last election, and this election, is bipartisanship. President Obama would like nothing better than for the Republicans and the Democrats to work together to get American back on track.

On Tuesday night, he gave his final State of the Union address before the 2012 election. Once again, bipartisanship played a role. "One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn't matter. Just like it didn't matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates -- a man who was George Bush's defense secretary -- and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president," as reported at the White House website.

But who was listening? Bottom line: Democrats who support the president want him to remain in office. Republicans want him out. There's no room for bipartisanship with these two separate agendas.

If Obama wishes to remain president, given the country's problems, he must convey strength. One of the biggest complaints that Democrats have had about the president is that he has oftentimes appeared like a puppet controlled by puppet masters. However, when Obama gave his final State of the Union address, we saw the toughness we came to know when he was battling for the White House in 2008. He was criticized as being inexperienced then. He's not inexperienced now.

There's two frontrunners battling for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Gingrich is not interested in "Kumbaya" moments with what he calls a "food stamp" and "Saul Alinsky" president. And neither, for that matter, is Romney.

If Obama hopes to stay in the White House, he needs to push his message of what he wants, whether the Republicans agree with him or not -- such as provide tax cuts for middle and working class Americans, strengthening security at our borders, supporting clean energy, support for same-sex marriage, removing the rest of the troops from Afghanistan, etc.

A "can't we all just get along" message sounds beautiful, but it won't work against a Gingrich or a Romney.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politicsopinion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120126/cm_ac/10885941_obama_should_ditch_the_kumbaya_messages

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Video: New poll reveals growing economic optimism

The latest NBC/WSJ poll found Americans are becoming more optimistic about the state of the economy. NBC?s Chuck Todd reports.

Related Links:

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46139369/

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CNN en Espanol anchor to participate in Fla debate (AP)

MIAMI ? CNN en Espanol is joining the list of Spanish-language networks to co-host debates and forums with the GOP presidential candidates.

On Thursday, CNN en Espanol's top anchor Juan Carlos Lopez will moderate questions from a panel in Miami during the CNN debate in Jacksonville. The debate is also co-hosted by the Hispanic Leadership Network and the Republican Party of Florida.

Last fall, Telemundo anchor Jose Diaz-Balart asked questions related to immigration during an MSNBC debate, and he has since interviewed several of the candidates, including Newt Gingrich. On Wednesday, Univision anchor Jorge Ramos went head-to-head in a series of "Meet the Candidate" interviews with Mitt Romney, Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

Lopez has collaborated with CNN before, but Thursday's event will showcase his talents to a much broader, English-speaking audience.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_en_tv/us_cnn_debate_spanish

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Obama praises special ops forces in hostage rescue

President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)

Cabinet members, from left, Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner listen to President Barack Obama's the State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

This undated photo taken at an unknown location and released by the Danish Refugee Council on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 shows American Jessica Buchanan from the Danish Refugee Council's de-mining unit. U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

This undated photo taken at an unknown location and released by the Danish Refugee Council on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 shows Dane Poul Hagen Thisted from the Danish Refugee Council's de-mining unit. U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

Map locates area around the town of Adado, Somalia, where two hostages were rescued during a helicopter raid.

(AP) ? "Good job tonight," President Barack Obama told his Defense chief as he arrived for his annual State of the Union message.

Unknown to a global television audience watching the speech moments later, a bold hostage rescue operation had played out half a world away with an elite Navy SEAL team's rescue of two hostages in Somalia, one of them an American. It was the same SEAL unit that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

Publicly, Obama did not tip his hand during his speech, though microphones picked up his congratulation to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta as he entered the House chamber Tuesday night. Obama pointed his index finger to Panetta and said, "Good job tonight. Good job." Panetta smiled broadly.

Unknown to those watching the speech, Obama had learned shortly before that the operation to rescue American aid worker Jessica Buchanan and another hostage had been successful. Immediately after the speech, Obama returned to the White House to inform Buchanan's father that she was safe and "on her way home," according to a White House statement.

It was a dramatic bookend to the pomp and ceremony of one of Washington's most elaborate rituals ? the State of the Union. The president did not mention the operation during his address to Congress and the nation, though he did refer to another successful military operation ? the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by Navy SEAL Team 6.

"One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden," Obama said in his speech.

Tuesday's hostage rescue in Somalia was carried out by the same SEAL unit that carried out the bin Laden operation, two U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation. The unit is the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, also known as SEAL Team 6. The members of the unit who carried out the rescue operation were not the same personnel as those who killed bin Laden, the U.S. officials said.

In a predawn White House statement, Obama praised U.S. Special Operations Forces who rescued Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, who had been kidnapped at gunpoint by Somali pirates in October.

"As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Obama said in a statement.

U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the top secret operation, said the SEAL team parachuted into the area and got to the rescue site on foot.

Panetta, in a separate statement, said Buchanan and Hagen Thisted "have been transported to a safe location where we will evaluate their health and make arrangements for them to return home." He said the two hostages were not harmed during the operation, and no U.S. troops were killed or injured.

"This was a team effort and required close coordination, especially between the Department of Defense and our colleagues in the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Panetta said.

On NBC's "Today," Vice President Joe Biden said the U.S. decided to move after determining that Buchanan's health "was beginning to decline."

"We wanted to act," Biden said.

Obama approved the mission Monday. On Tuesday, Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, gave the president half a dozen updates on the movement of forces and the progression of rescue operation.

About two hours before Obama was scheduled to begin delivering his State of the Union address, Brennan told him Buchanan and Thisted were safe and in U.S. hands.

After delivering his address, Obama called Buchanan's father. In his statement Wednesday, Obama said he told John Buchanan "that all Americans have Jessica in our thoughts and prayers, and give thanks that she will soon be reunited with her family."

"The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice," Obama said. "This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people."

Biden had high praise for the special forces. "It takes your breath away, their capacity and their bravery," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America." ''These guys and women are amazing."

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Kimberly Dozier and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-25-US-US-Somalia-Helicopter-Raid/id-0a3e5a03e8274f55bc87fe26d7e43a60

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Yahoo delivers another listless performance in 4Q (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Yahoo slipped further behind in the online advertising race during the fourth quarter as the Internet company entered the fourth year of a revenue slump.

The results announced Tuesday marked the latest in a succession of disappointing performances. The persisting malaise led to the firing of Carol Bartz as CEO four months ago.

Yahoo Inc. recently replaced Bartz with PayPal executive Scott Thompson, anointing him as the fourth CEO in less than five years to try to snap the company out of a funk that has depressed its stock. Thompson, who was hired just three weeks ago, promised to move quickly to fix the problems.

"There is no question we need to do better and we will," Thompson assured analysts in a Tuesday conference call.

The company earned $296 million, or 24 cents per share, in the October-to-December period. That is down 5 percent from $312 million, or 24 cents per share, a year earlier.

The earnings matched analysts' estimates, but the company missed Wall Street's revenue target.

Fourth-quarter revenue dropped 13 percent from the previous year to $1.32 billion. After subtracting advertising commissions, Yahoo's revenue totaled $1.17 billion, or $20 million below analyst projections. It's the 13th straight quarter that Yahoo's net revenue has declined from the prior year.

Although Thompson said it was still too early to share precise details about his turnaround strategy, he said he will close some Yahoo services. That could mean layoffs among Yahoo's workforce. The company added 300 employees in the fourth quarter to end the year with 14,000 workers.

Bartz had also closed or sold some of Yahoo's less popular services while jettisoning jobs to cut costs and sharpen the company's focus. Those moves, though, didn't increase Yahoo's revenue or stock price, leading Yahoo to fire her in September with more than 15 months left on her contract.

Besides closing services, Thompson said Yahoo will expand into some fields where he sees opportunities to make money. He didn't elaborate on that or on which services to close.

Thompson also pledged to develop more innovative products to keep Yahoo's audience of 700 million users on its websites for longer periods. Accomplishing that could make Yahoo more attractive to online advertisers. Thompson said he hopes to harness the data that Yahoo collects about its audience to help advertisers do a better job of putting their marketing messages in front of the people most likely to buy their products.

"I'll always ask a lot of questions and I'll immerse myself in the details but when it comes to making decisions, I make them quickly and then push to move fast, fast, fast," Thompson said.

But Yahoo isn't promising a quick start under Thompson's leadership. Yahoo predicted its net revenue in the current quarter will range from $1.02 billion to $1.1 billion. The mid-point of that target works out to $1.06 billion, unchanged from last year's first quarter.

Investors appear to be taking a wait-and-see attitude with Thompson. Yahoo's stock shed 15 cents to $15.54 in extended trading after the report came out. The stock price has fallen by about 40 percent from five years ago.

Yahoo's downturn in revenue has occurred as advertisers are shifting more of their budgets to the Internet as people spend more of their time on the Web. The biggest beneficiaries of this boom so far have been Internet search leader Google Inc. and Facebook, the owner of the largest online social network.

While Yahoo continued to struggle during the final three months of last year, Google's revenue rose 25 percent from the same period in 2010. As a privately held company, Facebook doesn't disclose its financial results, but data compiled by independent research firms show that its website has been luring advertisers away from Yahoo.

Google has become so dominant in Internet search that Yahoo teamed up with another rival, Microsoft Corp., in an effort to become more competitive and save money. Yahoo's search engine now relies on Microsoft's technology to handle most requests. The alliance, forged in mid-2009, hasn't generated as much revenue so far as Yahoo had hoped, although there were signs of progress in the fourth quarter.

Net revenue from search totaled $376 million in the fourth quarter, a 3 percent decrease from a year earlier. The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., had been suffering year-over-year declines of more than 10 percent in previous quarters.

As it tries to boost its revenue and lift its stock price, Yahoo is considering selling its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Yahoo is pursuing those negotiations with "great enthusiasm," according to Tim Morse, the company's chief financial officer. Neither Morse nor Thompson elaborated on when a deal might be reached.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_yahoo

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Lego okays Minecraft set, landscaping love-in ends in marriage

Lego okays Minecraft set, landscaping love-in ends in marriage
The block-building stylings of Minecraft bares a more than passing resemblance that timesucking hobby from our childhood. Now Lego and Minecraft look set to symbolize their love of all things block-based in a forthcoming set. The idea was suggested through Lego's fan submission site, Cuusoo, which offers the chance for new user-submitted building sets -- provided there's enough interest -- reach retail. The Minecraft project is the latest to make it through, claiming over 10,000 supporters and managing to pass through the toy-maker's requirements. Lego is now readying a concept that "celebrates the best aspects of building with the Lego system and in Minecraft." We've been promised more details soon -- until then, we're getting back to the digitial mining.

Lego okays Minecraft set, landscaping love-in ends in marriage originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/lego-minecraft-set-incoming/

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