Seven Latin American CROs Launch Multinational Company

South Cone Alliance LLC launched operations last April. Its members –seven CROs located in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Perú and Panama- joined their efforts under the banner “One contract, multinational reach, local focus”

To deliver integral corporate solutions through the merging of their services and the standarization of their operating procedures and rates, is the core of the strategy developed by the new venture, according to Carlos Cáceres, CEO of Clinical Trials Support (CTS), one of the founding members of South Cone Alliance.

SSI hatches long-term multinational scheme

MIDDLESBROUGH : Sahaviriya Group of Companies, Thailand's largest steel maker, is planning to invest more in steel overseas, while looking to invest in iron ore mining after acquiring an English steel blast furnace company."If we were successful in developing a smelting plant in Thailand, we would have focused on local projects and never would have made this move. It was a turning point," said Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI), the SET-listed hot-rolled coil steel maker founded by his family.

The group struggled in the past as its planned smelting plant worth 500 billion baht stalled after protests by environmentalists and community leaders at Bang Saphan in Prachuap Khiri Khan.

PepsiCo adapts in China

SHANGHAI: PepsiCo, the food and beverage giant, is leveraging digital media and new product development as a means of driving growth in China, where popular preferences are evolving rapidly.

While the US trading climate has proved particularly challenging as a result of the economic downturn, the world's most populous nation continues to flourish.

Multinational Banana Corporation Displaces Afro-Colombian Peace Communities

Since early December, hundreds of private contractors of multinational banana corporation Banacol have illegally invaded and occupied Afro-Colombian peace communities in the Curvaradó river basin in order to clear the land for banana cultivation. Their actions have been supported and assisted by local paramilitaries, army soldiers and municipal governments.

Renault managers linked to espionage claim fight back

Michel Balthazard, the most senior of three sacked Renault executives, has begun legal action to clear his name.

The three were dismissed over allegations of industrial espionage.

His colleague Betrand Rochette has also filed a complaint with French prosecutors, and the third man is said to be preparing legal paperwork.

Mr Balthazard's lawyer Xavier Thouvenin told the BBC a criminal complaint was filed against unnamed individuals to discover who had accused his client.

A second filing was made against Renault for the unfair dismissal of Mr Balthazard.
Denied wrongdoing

Mr Balthazard was dismissed last week as head of Renault's long-term development amid reports that secret information about the company's electric car programme had been leaked.

French media reports speculated about money being deposited in Swiss bank accounts and of links with one or more companies in China.

Renault has filed a criminal complaint with the Paris prosecutor's office, alleging it has been the victim of organised industrial espionage, corruption, and breach of trust.

Mr Thouvenin said: "In his letter of employment termination, my client was told of an anonymous claim that he received bribes. Our action is to find who is the whistleblower who has named my client."

He described the claim against Mr Balthazard as "unfounded and slanderous". The other two executives have strongly denied wrongdoing.
Major investment

French judicial authorities will now decide whether to investigate.

Although media speculation pointed to foreign involvement, Renault has not accused any country or company of being behind the espionage.

Renault and its Japanese partner Nissan have invested $4bn (£2.5bn) to develop electric cars and the two companies are seen to be among the leaders in this field.

Nissan's Leaf electric car was recently launched in the US and Japan.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk

Apple shares rise as analysts tip price to top $425

Apple received a big vote of confidence as analysts raised their price target for the company's shares a day after it unveiled record profits and revenues.

Putting aside worries about Apple boss Steve Jobs' health, six brokerages tipped shares in the world's largest technology firm to hit at least $425.

On Wall Street Apple shares were 2% up at $347.44, reversing a fall that followed news about Mr Jobs' health.

Apple's co-founder said on Monday that he was taking indefinite medical leave.

The brokerages, including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, issued a new share price target for Apple of between $425 and $465.

"While the news of Steve Jobs' medical leave may continue to add some headwinds to the share price momentum in the near term, we continue to believe improving underlying fundamentals and the strength of Apple's overall management team will counter this uncertainty," said Goldman analyst Bill Shoppe.
Record

On Tuesday, Apple announced record first quarter profits of $6bn (£3.7bn) and record revenues of $26.74bn after sales of Macs, iPhones and iPads surpassed analysts' forecasts.

Apple's first-quarter profit, for the three months to 25 December, was a 71% jump on the same period last year.

Analysts said that a strong product line-up and a planned tie-up with Verizon Communications, the leading US wireless operator, should ensure that sales continue to grow.

Apple reported gross margins of 38.5%, but JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said he expects margins to reach about 40%.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk

Two lawsuits target Apple, app makers over privacy concerns

(CNN) -- Although Apple gadgets sat under many a Christmas tree this year, the computer company is receiving some unwanted holiday-season attention.

Two separate class-action lawsuits filed last week in federal court allege that Apple and as many as eight makers of popular applications for the iPhone facilitated the sharing of private information about their customers to advertisers.

Though a recent news report claimed that many apps are sharing this personal data, the lawsuits together target just eight: Dictionary.com, the Weather Channel, internet radio service Pandora, the messaging app textPlus 4, as well as the makers of entertainment or game apps Talking Tom Cat, Paper Toss, Pumpkin Maker and Pimple Popper Lite.

The plaintiff leading one of the suits, Los Angeles County resident Jonathan Lalo, has been using four of those apps on his iPhone, said Dave Stampley, a partner at KamberLaw, which is bringing the case in a San Jose, California, district court.

"Mr. Lalo has had some of these apps since they were first issued -- in some cases, years," Stampley told CNN.

A copy of Lalo's suit, obtained by CNN, claims many iPhone and iPad owners have been "the victims of privacy violations and unfair business practices."

Both cases are seeking class-action status in the hopes of covering all Americans that are allegedly affected. More app developers could be added to the suits, or sued separately, as more plaintiffs join the case, Stampley said.

Lawyers filed the suits in U.S. District Court on behalf of the named plaintiffs and an unspecified number of unnamed plaintiffs.

The other suit was filed Thursday on behalf of three Texas men and a California woman, all of them iPhone owners. It states that "their personal, private information was obtained without their knowledge or consent ... their personal property -- their computer -- was hijacked by Defendants and turned into a device capable of spying on their every online move."

The plaintiffs seek an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages.

An Apple spokesperson could not be reached for comment because its press department is closed for the holidays, said a company message.

Apple recently launched an ad network of its own, though that does not seem to be a target in the suits. Apple has said app makers must obtain users' permission before transmitting data.

The suits follow a December 17 Wall Street Journal article highlighting dozens of apps that reportedly collect usage data and send personal info to advertisers without the user's consent or knowledge.

"I think it was through the Journal," that Lalo discovered the issue and decided to connect with KamberLaw, said Stampley. That investigation by the newspaper claimed that Android apps were also sharing personal info but that the Android platform was less intrusive.

Mobile app data-sharing differs from websites, which commonly use small files called cookies to track users, because smartphone apps can access a device's UDID, an unchangeable string that's embedded in each Apple device.

People can generally delete cookies on most browsers, but they can't change or hide a UDID. This allows advertisers to more reliably tie behaviors to a single iPhone user, for example.

Source: CNN

http://edition.cnn.com

KPPU: Multinational Companies More Compliant

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Tresna Soemardi, chief of the Business Competition Oversight Commission (KPPU), said he had received notification of six future acquisitions, four of which involved multinational companies.

“Multinational companies pay attention to acquisition reports because in advanced countries such reports are the norm,” Tresna said in a seminar on business competition in Jakarta yesterday.

The six reports included PT Komatsu Indonesia’s plans to acquire PT Pandu Dayatama Patria, the Meadown Asia Company Limited’s planned acquisition of PT Matahari, Prudential Plc’s plans to buy AIA Group Limited, and Unilever Indonesia’s plans to acquire BV Sara Lee Body Care.

Local companies that reported their acquisition plans included PT Tuah Turangga Agung in relation to PT Agung Bara Prima, and PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia’s plans to acquire PT Bank Agroniaga.
The KPPU said there were no problems with any of the acquisition plans.


Source: http://www.tempointeractive.com

Report: Google TV devices delayed as Google tweaks software

(Mashable) -- We won't be seeing too many Google TV-powered devices at the next CES, which takes place in Las Vegas in January, because Google needs more time to work on the software, reports the New York Times citing unnamed sources.

Right now, Google's original partners for Google TV -- Sony and Logitech -- are the only ones actually selling the devices.

Samsung and Vizio are still supposed to reveal their Google TV devices at CES, but we'll have to wait a little longer for devices from Toshiba, Sharp and LG.

We can expect more Google TV devices after the software is updated, which will probably mean the addition of the Android Market. It should happen sometime next year, NYT's sources claim.

This is another in a series of obstacles for Google's foray into TV space; after receiving some lackluster initial reviews, Google TV suffered another blow when it got blocked by several U.S. major broadcast and cable networks.

By Stan Schroeder, Mashable

Source: CNN
http://edition.cnn.com

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook named Time's person of 2010

Time magazine has picked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as its annual Person of the Year, the figure it believes had the most influence on events in 2010.

Yahoo cutting its workforce by 4%

Yahoo has confirmed that it is cutting its workforce by 4% or 600 people.

The internet firm has now announced redundancies four times in three years, as it cuts costs to try to lift profits that trail bigger rival Google.

The redundancies also follow after Google recently announced a 10% pay increase for every member of staff.

In 2008 Yahoo rejected a $47.5bn (£30bn) bid from Microsoft. Today its market capitalisation - the combined value of its shares - totals $21.68bn.

Yahoo said in a statement: "Today's personnel changes are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo for revenue growth and margin expansion, and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace."

The company's revenues have risen by less than 2% so far this year, compared with growth of 23% at Google.

Maggie Shiels, the BBC's technology reporter in Silicon Valley, said: "The Yahoo job cuts come in stark contrast to what is happening in Silicon Valley as a whole, where companies like Google and Facebook have embarked on an aggressive hiring spree.

"Undoubtedly some of those employees who have been given pink slips are likely to see job offers landing in their email boxes amid a fierce battle for talent in the Valley.

"As for the prospects of Yahoo's CEO Carol Bartz, these cuts are only likely to intensify pressure on her and increase criticism of her role in failing to improve the fortunes of the once mighty internet company."

Yahoo had 14,100 employees at the end of September.

Was BP grossly negligent?

Robert Peston

The significance of the Obama administration's decision to sue BP and four other business over the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill is that the US Justice Department may try to prove gross negligence on the part of BP.

Because if BP were found to be grossly negligent, the costs for BP of the debacle could rise very significantly indeed, for two reasons.

First, it could potentially add almost $16bn or more than £10bn to the civil penalties BP would have to pay under the US Clean Water Act.

Second, it would make it much harder (perhaps impossible) for BP to recover costs it is incurring in the clean up and restitution from its co-owners of the Macondo Well, Anadarko and Mitsui.

BP says it remains confident that it was not guilty of gross negligence. But if it is wrong, the $39.9bn or £25bn it has set aside to cover the costs stemming from the disaster will prove to be too little.

A further source of uneasiness for BP's shareholders is the statement by the US Attorney General Eric Holder that under the Oil Pollution Act he is intending to prove "that these defendants are responsible for government removal costs, economic losses and environmental damages without limitation."

For once, the verdict of the market in a few minutes may be instructive.

Update 0838: Investors plainly believe that the nature of the Department of Justice's case against BP hasn't increased potential liabilities for the company in a fundamental way.

BP's shares have fallen 2.5% this morning to 465p - which takes the edge off a recent strong run in BP shares.

Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk

Npower to raise gas and electricity prices by 5%

Customers of energy company Npower will see their gas and electricity bills rise by 5.1% from 4 January.

The change will mean the typical dual-fuel customer with Npower will see their annual bill rise by £54, the firm said.

The announcement comes on the day that British Gas customers started paying more for their energy.

Meanwhile, E.On said it was still monitoring the market but would not raise prices before January.

Wholesale costs

Npower, which said it would leave its social tariff for vulnerable customers unchanged until April 2011, blamed a 50% rise in wholesale prices in the past 12 months for the increase - its first for domestic customers in two years.

"When wholesale costs are driving prices up it is a good time to review the way you manage your energy," said Kevin Miles, chief executive of Npower retail.

The move is the latest in a string of price rise announcements made by the major energy suppliers in the UK.

In the last week of November, Scottish Power increased electricity bills by an average of 8.9% and prices for gas customers increased by an average of 2%.

Scottish and Southern Energy followed by putting up its domestic gas tariffs by 9.4% at the start of December. The 7% rise in gas and electricity bills for British Gas customers has now also kicked in.

EDF Energy said that it was keeping its prices on hold during the winter, with no change before March 2011.

E.On said it was monitoring the wholesale markets before making any decision, but would not raise prices before January.
Future

Earlier this week, the bosses of five of the big six energy companies told a committee of MPs that bills were likely to rise in years to come.

They told the Energy Committee that the "inevitable direction of wholesale prices" meant domestic bills would get more expensive over the next decade.

Prices quoted when bills are changed are an average for customers across the UK. However, issues such as transportation costs mean a different amount can be charged depending on where customers live.

Figures from watchdog Consumer Focus show that people in different parts of the UK - with the same energy supplier - have bills that vary by up to £59 a year.

Reacting to the latest price rises, Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: "Npower customers will have been bracing themselves for this bad news after the increases from other firms, but that will not make them any less worried about affording their bills this winter.

"With four of the big six suppliers having now announced price rises averaging 6%, the focus on [regulator] Ofgem's review of whether energy prices are justified will be even sharper."

In November, Ofgem announced that it would conduct a review into the domestic energy market after figures showed a sharp rise in suppliers' profit margins to £90 per typical customer.

Dell profits more than double on company upgrades

Dell has reported a 144% rise in third quarter net income to $822m (£511m), thanks to falling costs and a post-recession wave of IT upgrades.

Revenues in the three months to September rose 19% from a year ago, driven by corporate orders.

In contrast, the computer manufacturer reported only a 4% rise in takings from consumer clients, as household spending on laptops and PCs remained weak.

The US firm also said profit margins widened on a drop in component prices.
'Muted' consumer demand

"Dell is growing in the right areas, and I'm very excited about out momentum," said the company's founder, chairman and chief executive, Michael Dell, commenting on the company's third quarter results.

Regionally, revenue growth was strongest in the big emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which together rose 30% on a year ago, led by India which was up 55%.

Dell said revenues had also been helped partly by its refusal to be drawn into price wars, claiming to have turned down some contracts that would have been insufficiently profitable.

Sales to public sector clients were buoyant - up 20% - despite a recent warning from peer Cisco that its sales to the US government sector would suffer because of fiscal cutbacks.

Dell said that it expected "to see continued strength from the ongoing client refresh among large corporate accounts and strong growth in enterprise products and services".

However, it thought that demand from consumer clients would remain "muted", and expected its full year profits to remain in the mid-range of its previously indicated 14%-19% growth forecast.
Fatter margins

The company's share price rose 4.8% on the results in trading after the official close of the New York markets, reversing much of a 6% drop in the share price following Cisco's warning last week.

While the strong revenue growth was actually slightly weaker than bullish market expectations, Dell also reported a surprisingly strong improvement in its operating profit margins.

The company attributed its stronger margins to lower component costs, as well as improvements in its supply chain.

Dell makes more than half of its revenues from the relatively low-margin PC sales business.

However, this area of business is expected to continue to do well as corporate clients upgrade their IT systems for Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7.

Source:
BBC
www.bbc.co.uk

Heinz grows in developing world

Heinz has reported higher-than-expected quarterly profits thanks to strong demand for ketchup and sales growth in developing countries.

The US food manufacturer's net income was $251m (£157m) in the three months to October, up 9% from a year ago.

Sales in developing countries - which represent 15% of the company's business - were up 10%, led by Latin America, while global ketchup sales rose 3.3%.

But revenues fell as the strong dollar depressed the value of foreign sales.

Total revenues were down 1.2% to $2.61bn. But stripping out the effect of the dollar, so-called organic sales were up 0.9%, the company said in its results announcement.

Although the revenue figure fell slightly short of expectations, Heinz's profits still surprised analysts, delivering 78 cents earnings per share, versus expectations of 76 cents.

Heinz is concentrating on growing its developing markets business, and wants the unit to account for 20% of the company's overall sales by 2013.

Meanwhile, its sales in other markets continue to struggle, with sales volumes in North America up 1.6%, while in Europe they rose just 0.7%.

The company was reporting the results for the second quarter of its operating year. It said it was still targeting revenue growth of 3-4% and earnings growth of 7-10% for the year as a whole.

Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk

BP board to exert tougher control

(FT) -- BP's board will tighten its oversight of the company's day-to-day operations in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, its chairman has said in his first big interview since the accident.

Carl-Henric Svanberg, app­oint­ed chairman in January, said he did not consider resigning following the oil spill in April, in spite of criticism from some investors for not taking a more public role at the height of the crisis.

He said he had formed an early impression, "coming from the outside . . . how much was delegated to the executive" at BP.

"One of the key changes after the tragedy is that this is a time when logically you can review that delegation," he told the Financial Times. "We will have a higher degree of disclosure and a higher degree of discussion going forward than we have seen in the past between the executive and the board."

BP's executive team was seen as extremely powerful within the organisation, according to other industry executives. Shareholders also believe the company needed to strengthen the board in the wake of the disaster.

"If the view is that [former chief executive] Tony [Hayward] has borne the responsibility that the safety culture had not improved sufficiently, then the board was perhaps not probing enough and further change is probably still required," one UK investor in BP said.

Mr Svanberg said he and Bob Dudley, who took over as chief executive from Mr Hayward in October, were "eager to see if the board can be even more effective".

"We need to ensure that the checks and balances remain good with strong oversight and disclosure, particularly in safety," he said.

Mr Svanberg has appointed two new non-executive directors in recent weeks, Brendan Nelson and Frank L. "Skip" Bowman. Mr Nelson will succeed Douglas Flint as chairman of BP's audit committee when Mr Flint retires next year. Mr Bowman will replace DeAnne Julius, who is due to step down next year as well. BP is looking for one or two additional directors. Byron Grote, its long-serving finance director, has agreed to stay on "for a little bit longer", Mr Svanberg said.

The accident on April 20 has battered BP's reputation. One of Mr Svanberg's few moments of public exposure was an unfortunate gaffe when he said "we care about the small people" following a deal to set up a $20bn compensation fund.

Mr Svanberg defended his mostly behind-the-scenes role, saying having two spokesmen would not have helped resolve the crisis.

The focus of the board is now on "rebuilding trust and safeguarding our licence to operate -- that is what this is all about", he said.

Source: CNN
www.cnn.com

Holiday camp firm Pontin's goes into administration

Holiday camp company Pontin's has been placed into administration, the accountancy firm KPMG has said.

The company runs five parks, all of which will keep trading as normal, KPMG added. No redundancies have been made among Pontin's 850 staff.

In February 2009 Pontin's announced a £50m plan to redevelop its centres and create 2,000 jobs but eventually closed Blackpool Park, in Lancashire.

KPMG said it was optimistic the "iconic British brand" still had a future.
'Strong business'

Pontin's chairman Graham Parr said the business was profitable but had been a victim of the credit crunch and had gone into administration because its bank had withdrawn its support.

"The business is strong, it's going really well - we have 3,000 holidaymakers staying with us this weekend," he said.

"But the bank has simply said it is not prepared to support our credit facilities any more. It's very annoying and the most nonsensical business situation I have ever been involved in."

Mr Parr, who has been involved with Pontin's on and off since the 1960s, said he and his partners fully intended to "get back in [to the business] and get it sorted."

Meanwhile, sources have told the BBC that it was the owners of Pontin's and not its bank which placed the company into administration.

BBC business correspondent Joe Lynam said it is understood that Santander had provided a year-long credit facility to Pontin's to allow it time to find a new buyer or further sources of money.

The company had suffered in a very competitive market place, with operators such as Butlins and Havens more successful in taking advantage of UK holidaymakers' desire for budget getaways during the downturn, he said.

Former Pontin's employee Warren Cooper, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, said he was not surprised the company had been placed into administration because there were "less and less customers" over the period he worked at the centre in Pakefield.

Mrs Janette Sellick, from East Ham, London, told the BBC she was worried because she had just paid for her family's Christmas holiday.

"I've been going every Christmas for 32 years and all my family goes too.

"My sister's panicking. I am upset because the cheque has only just cleared from the bank for around £2,200," she said.

But the administrators say they are planning to find an "experienced leisure operator" to help them run the company until a buyer can be found and all reservations will be honoured.

Joint administrator Jane Moriarty said: "Pontin's is an iconic British brand which forms the backdrop to thousands of treasured family holiday memories.

"It has unfortunately struggled in the current economic environment but, with some support from new management, we are optimistic that it will be part of thousands of family memories in the years to come."

Pontin's, known for its Bluecoats entertainers, was established in 1946 and at its height owned more than 30 parks. It was founded by Fred Pontin, who was well ahead of his rivals when he spotted the trend for self-catering holiday villages.

It was bought by Oceans Park for £46m in 2008.

The five sites left are at Brean Sands, in Somerset; Camber Sands, in Sussex; Pakefield, in Suffolk; Prestatyn Sands, in Denbighshire; and Southport, in Merseyside.

Source: BBC
www.bbc.co.uk

Rolls-Royce: Plane engine failed because of oil fire

(CNN) -- Rolls-Royce said Friday that the failure of a specific component of its Trent 900 engine caused an oil fire that then forced a Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing.

"The failure was confined to a specific component in the turbine area of the engine," the engine maker said. "This caused an oil fire, which led to the release of the intermediate pressure turbine disc. "

The incident will cause the company's full year profit growth to be slightly lower than "guided," Rolls-Royce said Friday. In July, the company had predicted its underlying profits would grow between four and five percent compared to 2009.

On Monday, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told reporters the planes will not return to service until the airline is "100 percent sure" about their safety.

Oil leaks have been discovered in engines on three planes, and investigations continue, Joyce added. The leaks were beyond normal tolerances, he said.

On November 4, a Qantas flight was forced to return to Singapore's Changi Airport after one of its engines shut down and the engine's covering, or cowling, tore off above the western Indonesian island of Batam.

The Australia-bound flight was carrying 440 passengers and 26 crew members.

By the CNN Wire Staff
Source: CNN
www.cnn.com

Chrysler ups profit forecast as market share recovers

US carmaker Chrysler has raised its annual profit forecast to $700m (£435m), after third-quarter results showed market share recovering.

The US carmaker previously expected to make only $200m in the current year.

Chrysler made a loss of $84m during the past three months, down by half from a $172m loss in the previous quarter.

Total revenues rose 5% to $11bn, helped by a 40% jump in sales for its new Jeep Grand Cherokee, pushing its US market share up to 9.6%.

At the time of its bankruptcy its market shares had been 7%.

"We are committed to ensuring that every new vehicle this company launches has the same high quality and technological advances as the Jeep Grand Cherokee," said the company's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, commenting on the financial results.

Management of Chrysler was taken over by Fiat of Italy last year after the US company entered government-sponsored bankruptcy.

Fiat is helping the US company to bring a range of new cars to the US market over the coming months.

"Our 2010 accomplishments are just the beginning of building Chrysler Group into a vibrant and competitive automaker," added Mr Marchionne.


Source:BBC
www.bbc.com

Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer in sale of shares

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has sold $1.3bn (£800m) worth of shares in the firm, the first time he has sold its stock in seven years.

"Even though this is a personal financial matter, I want to be clear about this to avoid any confusion," Mr Ballmer said in a statement.

Mr Ballmer said he was "fully committed to Microsoft and its success".

According to SEC filings he sold 49.3 million Microsoft shares at prices between $26 and $28 per share.
Sell-off continues

Mr Ballmer still holds 359 million shares, worth $9.6bn at Microsoft's current share price, which closed down 1.36% at $26.77 in US trading on Friday.

He said the sale of shares was made to diversify his investments and help his year-end tax planning.

His statement, published on Microsoft's website, also says that he hopes to "sell up to 75 million shares by year-end".

Microsoft's share price has been hit this year as investors worry about its ability to adapt to new ways of computing.

However, last month the firm announced a 51% rise in first-quarter profit, thanks to higher sales of its flagship Windows and Office software.