Sources say Disney studying Twitter bid
Walt Disney Co. is working with a financial adviser to evaluate a possible bid for Twitter Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.
After receiving interest in discussing a deal, Twitter has started a process to evaluate a potential sale. Salesforce.com Inc. is also considering a bid and is working with Bank of America on the process, according to other people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.
Representatives for Twitter and Disney didn't respond to requests for comment.
Speculation that Twitter will be sold has been gathering steam in recent months, including last week's news of Salesforce's interest, given the social-media company's slumping stock and difficulties in attracting new users and advertising revenue. Disney, the owner of ABC and ESPN, could obtain a new online outlet for entertainment, sports and news. Jack Dorsey, chief executive officer of Twitter, is on the board of Disney.
-- Bloomberg News
Microsoft, Adobe form cloud alliance
Microsoft Corp. is joining with Adobe Systems Inc. to offer cloud-based products to their large mutual customer base, helping the software giant to better compete with Amazon.com Inc.
Adobe will make Microsoft's Azure platform the preferred vehicle for offering Adobe's business-software tools for marketing and creative services, the companies said in a statement. At the same time, Microsoft will make Adobe's marketing platform the favored service for its cloud-based customer software, Dynamics 365.
Both Microsoft and Adobe -- an early pioneer in the shift to online data storage and software -- are trying to increase sales of their cloud offerings, where subscription-based services can be more lucrative than traditional installed software.
-- Bloomberg News
Lands' End board axes CEO hired in '15
DODGEVILLE, Wis. -- The chief executive officer of Lands' End, recruited from the New York fashion house Dolce & Gabbana in a bit of a culture clash, has stepped down after less than two years on the job.
Federica Marchionni took over the Dodgeville company with its button-down shirts and casual clothing in February 2015. Her employment agreement specified that she would not have to move to the small southwestern Wisconsin city and that her primary workplace would be in New York.
The company said Monday that Marchionni's departure was effective immediately.
"The Board of Directors and I have agreed it is time for others to bring Lands' End into the future." Marchionni said in a printed statement.
The Lands' End board appointed Joseph Boitano, executive vice president and chief merchandising and design officer, and James Gooch, executive vice president and chief operating and financial officer, as co-interim chief executive officers.
-- The Associated Press
U.K.'s Labor Party: Would ban fracking
The U.K. opposition Labor Party would ban hydraulic fracturing for shale gas if it wins the next general election, according to its energy spokesman Barry Gardiner.
The Labor Party had previously supported only a moratorium on the process, known as fracking, until the industry met certain environmental safeguards. On Monday, Gardiner altered the policy, saying the need to tackle climate change makes emissions-free renewables a more viable energy option.
Fracking "locks us into an energy infrastructure that is based on fossil fuels long after our country needs to have moved to clean energy," he said in a speech at Labor's annual conference in Liverpool.
The policy shift adds more uncertainty to an industry that's struggled to get up and running despite tax breaks and the easing of planning restrictions since 2010. The U.K. estimated in 2013 that it may have as much as 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas locked in shale formations in northern England -- enough to supply Britain's needs for 47 years, based on a 10 percent extraction rate.
Third Energy U.K. Gas Ltd. was given the right to frack an existing U.K. natural gas well in May. That would be the first use of the practice since 2011, when Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. unknowingly drilled into an area with a fault, sparking earth tremors and a moratorium.
-- Bloomberg News
Ex-Verizon worker guilty; data leaked
ATLANTA -- Federal prosecutors in Alabama say a former Verizon Wireless technician used the company's computers to obtain customers' private call records -- plus data showing where customers' phones were -- and sold them to an unnamed private investigator.
Newly filed court records accuse Daniel Eugene Traeger of selling the confidential information for more than four years, from 2009 to 2014. Traeger worked in the Birmingham area.
The court records don't say how many customer records were sold, or how they may have been used.
Prosecutors say that shortly after the charges were filed last week, Traeger pleaded guilty to a felony count of unauthorized access to a protected computer as part of a plea deal.
-- The Associated Press
Italy warns Swiss after job-privilege OK
ROME -- Italian officials warned Monday that Switzerland could face consequences after voters in the border canton of Ticino approved a referendum calling on authorities to grant preference to Swiss workers over foreigners in employment.
Fifty-eight percent of Ticino voters on Sunday approved the measure, an outgrowth of the Swiss nationalist efforts to limit European Union workers in Switzerland.
While the referendum had no practical effect, "Swiss-EU relations are at risk without free circulation of people," Italy's foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, said on Twitter.
Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but it is part of the Schengen passport-free zone, and the ability of EU citizens to move freely in and around Switzerland is enshrined in a 1999 agreement.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 09/27/2016