Disney completes $4.24 billion purchase of Marvel - Yahoo! News

Disney completes $4.24 billion purchase of Marvel - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK – The Walt Disney Co. completed its $4.24 billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Inc. on Thursday, bringing Spider-Man, Iron Man and 5,000 other characters under the same roof as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Marvel shareholders approved the acquisition earlier Thursday as expected.

Marvel Chief Executive Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, who owned 37 percent of Marvel stock, supported it. He will oversee the Marvel business and report to Disney CEO Robert Iger.

Iger said the deal can help Disney grow revenue and profits, saying in a statement, "the creative and business potential of this combination is substantial."

Marvel shareholders received $30 per share in cash, plus 0.7452 Disney shares for every Marvel share they owned. Disney shares closed Thursday at $32.25.

That valued Marvel shares at $54.03 each, and put the purchase price at $4.24 billion.

The deal is Disney's largest since it bought Pixar Animation Studios Inc., the maker of "Up" and "Cars," for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.

Separately, POW! Entertainment Inc., a company led by Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee, said it expanded a three-year relationship with Disney by giving Disney greater rights to its creative output and exclusive consulting services.

Disney, based in Burbank, Calif., will take a 10 percent stake in POW! for $2.5 million, it said.

Walt Disney Studios' president of worldwide distribution, Bob Chapek, said it made sense to extend the relationship with the company partly because of Lee's "knowledge and familiarity of the Marvel Universe."

Apple Stock Price Hits Record - BusinessWeek

Apple Stock Price Hits Record - BusinessWeek

Apple, maker of the iPhone and Macintosh computer, climbed to a record $211.61 on the Nasdaq following a report that sales of its devices may have surged over the Christmas holiday

By Kelly Riddell and Nick Turner

(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. (AAPL), maker of the iPhone and Macintosh computer, climbed to a record $211.61 on the Nasdaq Stock Market today, following a report that sales of its devices may have surged over the Christmas holiday.

Apple rose $2.57, or 1.2 percent, marking the sixth straight day of increases. The shares have more than doubled this year, compared with a 61 percent rise for the S&P 500 information-technology index.

Software downloads for Apple's devices grew 51 percent in December from the previous month, according to research firm Flurry Inc. That signals that sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch jumped during the holiday season. The iPhone has less than 1 percent of the total global market, giving it plenty of room to grow, said Brian Marshall, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech Inc. in San Francisco.

"Despite the enormous success of the iPhone since inception in July '07, we strongly believe the device is still in its infancy," he said today in a report. Marshall, who recommends buying Apple stock, expects the shares to reach $260 within the next year.

Apple, based in Cupertino, California, offers more than 100,000 applications on its iTunes online store, giving its phones and media players an edge over rivals. Google Inc., whose Android operating system runs phones made by Motorola Inc. (MOT) and HTC Corp., has about 12,000 applications.

'STAGGERING RATES'
"Apple downloads continue to grow at staggering rates," said Peter Farago, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Flurry. "IPod Touch devices must have flooded the market over Christmas."

The 51 percent increase in downloads compares with 22 percent for Android, Flurry said. Downloads for the iPod Touch, a device that offers many of the iPhone's features without the phone, soared more than 1,000 percent on Christmas Day, compared with previous Fridays in December.

The download volume for Apple is more than 13 times larger than for Android, according to Flurry data. Android application downloads increased 93 percent on Christmas Day.

Google (GOOG), based in Mountain View, California, rose $4.39 to $622.87 on the Nasdaq. The shares have doubled this year.

An AT&T Mystery: Abrupt New York iPhone Shutdown - BusinessWeek

An AT&T Mystery: Abrupt New York iPhone Shutdown - BusinessWeek

A halt in iPhone sales around New York on AT&T's Web site stirs fresh concern that its network is too frail to support U.S. urban smartphone traffic

A brief halt in online sales of the Apple iPhone in the New York area kept alive concerns that AT&T's network isn't up to the task of handling smartphone traffic in some of the largest U.S. cities.

Customers who shopped for an iPhone on AT&T's Web site and gave ZIP codes for areas in and around New York City were told that the device was unavailable during a period starting on Dec. 27 and lasting until the afternoon of the following day. Sales of the iPhone through AT&T (T) and Apple (AAPL) retail stores in the New York area, as well as via Apple's Web site, were unaffected.

AT&T offered little explanation for the halt in sales, and Apple kept mum on the subject. "We periodically modify our promotions and distribution channels," AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook said in a message sent via e-mail. Some analysts speculated that the change, however short-lived, was further confirmation that AT&T's equipment is too flimsy to handle the heavy data use typically associated with the iPhone. "Clearly AT&T is struggling with quality-of-service concerns," says Rich Doherty, head of the Envisioneering Group, a research firm. "It's the first time I'm aware of this happening with any wireless product." AT&T representatives didn't return repeated requests for comment.

As the exclusive U.S. provider of iPhone service, AT&T has come under criticism for the quality of its network coverage. Verizon Wireless, jointly owned by Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD), has alleged that AT&T's network is ill-equipped to handle the demands of modern 3G smartphones such as the iPhone—which in addition to making voice calls, also run a selection of data applications, including video, Web-browsing, and games. Verizon Wireless carries competing smartphones, including the Droid, which includes the Android operating system backed by Google (GOOG).

BLOGGERS MINED AT&T WORKER COMMENTS
Even AT&T executives have acknowledged the problem publicly. At an investor conference earlier this month AT&T Mobility President Ralph de la Vega conceded network deficiencies in New York and San Francisco and that the company was trying to improve performance. He also said the company was looking for ways to get consumers to throttle back data use.

Lacking information about AT&T's sudden move, bloggers sought to tease out details from conversations with AT&T customer service reps. One AT&T employee told Consumerist.com, which first reported the change on Dec. 27, that "New York wasn't ready for the iPhone," and that it lacked a sufficient number of cell towers to meet the heavy data demands imposed upon the network by iPhone users. Later, Consumerist reported that AT&T employees were blaming the change on unspecified "fraudulent activity."

WILL LIL' WAYNE HAVE TO CUT HIS HAIR FOR JAIL? | The Spin

WILL LIL' WAYNE HAVE TO CUT HIS HAIR FOR JAIL? | The Spin

WILL LIL’ WAYNE HAVE TO CUT HIS HAIR FOR JAIL?






THE FACTS
There’s speculation as to what will come of Lil’ Wayne’s trademark hair once he begins his likely one-year jail sentence next year.

THE SPIN
Typically with New York State Law inmates aren’t allowed to have long hair – especially locs.

With Wayne heading to prison soon for gun possession many are asking what will come of his long locs that have become associated with Wayne almost as much as a Styrofoam cup?

The blog, Fly Style Life spoke with one attorney who shared the followed:

We reached out to a lawyer friend of ours to find out Wayne’s sentence means for his almost waist-length locks.

“Male prisoners are only allowed to wear their hair in cornrows, going straight back. And they can’t exceed the ‘natural hairline’ in length.”

Now of course our question is: what does ‘natural hairline’ mean?

“It means it can’t extend the neck.” But there is one loop-hole in the issue – though I’m not sure it’s going to help Wayne. “Prisoners who claim Rastafarri as their religion are allowed in most cases to keep their locks. But even then there’s a process to determine if it’s genuine.”

I know what you’re saying, Why does it matter to prison officials in the first place? Well the rules on personal grooming have everything to do with safety and control. Authorities argue that contraband can be hidden in the hair and that is can be shaved to quickly alter appearance in the event of escape.

So it doesn’t look good for Weezy. This will be one interesting mug shot.

I know, I know: It’s not [that] important, but it will make for an interesting mug shot at least, right?

Young Money – Bedrock f. Lloyd (Video)