Cablevision Systems Corp. rose to its highest level in four years after French billionaire Patrick Drahi said he was interested in acquiring U.S. cable companies.
Shares of Cablevision climbed 7.3 percent to close at $26.67 Friday in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the highest price since July 2011. The stock had gained 20 percent this year through Thursday.
Drahi said he is interested in companies like Cablevision and Cox Communications Inc., according to an interview July 10 with the Wall Street Journal. His focus on U.S. cable companies isn't new.
Drahi's Luxembourg-based Altice SA previously pursued Time Warner Cable Inc. before the second-largest U.S. cable provider struck a deal in May to merge with Charter Communications Inc. That month, Altice agreed to acquire control of smaller cable player Suddenlink Communications in a $9.1 billion transaction.
Cablevision spokesman Lisa Anselmo declined to comment. Todd Smith, a spokesman for closely held, Atlanta-based Cox, said the company isn't for sale.
"We've been clear in the past that we're not for sale and that remains our position," Smith said in an email. "We will, of course, continue to explore any growth opportunities that align with our business strategy."
Personal computer shipments fall 9.5%
Worldwide personal-computer shipments fell 9.5 percent in the second quarter, hurt by restrained corporate technology spending and the strength of the U.S. dollar, market researcher Gartner Inc. said.
Manufacturers shipped 68.4 million units, compared with 75.6 million a year earlier, the steepest quarterly decline since the third quarter of 2013. U.S. unit sales fell to 15.1 million, down 5.8 percent, with desktop PCs hit particularly hard, Gartner said Thursday in a report.
The second quarter's decline, after a 5.2 percent drop in the prior period, underscores the persistent challenges for PC makers in an increasingly mobile world dominated by smartphones and tablets. Consumers in emerging economies are buying fewer PCs, and corporations have moderated spending on technology following a slight bump in the middle of last year. PC shipments are forecast to post their fourth straight consecutive annual decline this year.
The slump last quarter took a toll on some PC-dependent companies, with microprocessor provider Advanced Micro Devices Inc. lowering its quarterly sales forecast last week, and memory-chip maker Micron Technologies Inc. doing the same in June. Companies such as Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. will release results in the coming weeks.
Lenovo Group Ltd. widened its lead as the top global supplier, with a 19.7 percent share of the market, Gartner said. The company shipped 13.5 million PCs, down 6.8 percent from a year earlier. Hewlett-Packard Co.'s shipments fell by 9.5 percent to 11.9 million, followed by Dell Inc., whose shipments shrank by 4.9 percent.
China solar firm plans Mississippi plant
JACKSON, Miss. -- Chinese solar panel maker Seraphim Solar says it will invest $50 million to open its first American factory in Jackson.
The company says it will hire 250 workers over its first five years.
City and state officials didn't immediately respond to questions about whether Seraphim would receive incentives or tax breaks.
The city of Jackson said Seraphim would have an annual payroll of up to $7.3 million and has agreed to try to recruit Jackson residents and construction firms for work.
The company is supposed to complete the first phase of its project by year's end, with a second phase to follow in 2016.
Some Chinese solar firms have sought to open factories elsewhere because of anti-dumping import duties that the United States imposes on Chinese-made panels.
-- The Associated Press
Video clip-sharing app raises $40 million
SAN FRANCISCO -- Investors are betting big on video audiences sharing clips online -- in a way that benefits both watchers and the producers of that content.
Whipclip, the maker of a video clipping-and-sharing app, said on last week that it had raised $40 million in a new round of financing, led by Eminence Capital, a $6.4 billion hedge fund.
The investment is a vote of confidence in the not-quite-two-year-old Whipclip, which aims to make it easier to share clips from TV shows.
One differentiator, according to the company's chief executive, the serial entrepreneur Richard Rosenblatt, is that Whipclip is working with content providers.
Among its current backers are the Raine Group, whose investment banking arm has worked on scores of media deals; the talent agency mogul Ari Emanuel; and Ziffren Brittenham, one of the top legal advisers to media companies.
Rosenblatt pointed to the growing prevalence of video sharing on social networks, contending that Americans post more than 70 million messages about TV on Twitter each month, and that a majority of TV viewers have a second screen online when they watch.
At the moment, Whipclip is not trying to make money from its service. But at some point in the future, the company could offer paid promoted clips, advertising and other ways of drawing revenue, according to a person close to the company.
The round remains open, as Whipclip begins talking with content partners about participating in the financing, people briefed on the matter said. The company is expected to close the investment in about two months.
-- The New York Times
Uber said to seek $1B for China business
Uber Technologies Inc., the car-booking company, is seeking to raise as much as $1 billion in funding for its Chinese business, people familiar with the matter said.
Uber China has been discussing a valuation of about $7 billion to $8 billion with potential backers, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are confidential. Baidu Inc., the Beijing-based Internet firm that's already an investor in Uber's global operations, plans to buy a new stake in the local unit, according to two of the people.
The deal marks the first time the San Francisco-based startup is separating operations in a specific country to introduce outside investors. Uber is spending to gain customers as it competes with larger rival Didi Kuaidi, which is backed by local Internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. and said Wednesday it had raised $2 billion in new funding.
"Uber has been burning through cash by providing subsidies," Mark Tanner, founder of Shanghai-based research and marketing agency China Skinny, said by phone last week. "Didi is a very strong competitor."
Uber plans to invest more than $1 billion in China this year, according to a June letter to investors from Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick. Users of the Uber app complete almost 1 million rides daily in the country, with business doubling in the past month, Kalanick said at the time.
Google testing driverless cars in Austin
AUSTIN, Texas -- Google Inc. has selected Texas as the latest testing site for its self-driving car project, the company announced recently.
A modified Lexus SUV has already been seen on Austin roads, with safety drivers on board, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
The driverless car will operate a few square miles north and northeast of downtown Austin, Google said in a statement. Google did not say exactly where the driverless cars would be tested. The company is also testing several dozen self-driving cars on streets in Mountain View, Calif., where Google is based.
Google in 2013 announced the company had picked tech-savvy Austin for wiring homes with ultra-fast Internet connections as part of Google Fiber.
"We loved how much Austin embraces innovation -- from technology to music to food," said Jennifer Haroon, head of business operations for Google's self-driving unit. "We feel like that matches the spirit of both Google and the self-driving car project."
All of the vehicles use special software and sensors, which can detect objects as far as two football fields away in all directions.
The testing fleet in California includes Lexus SUVs and also prototype vehicles. All self-driving vehicles in California and Texas have safety drivers on board. Google has "self-driven" more than 1 million miles, according to the company's website.
-- Austin American-Statesman
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