Advertising
Search deal backed
Major advertising and marketing agencies are urging antitrust reviewers to approve a proposed online search partnership by Yahoo and Microsoft. The American Association of Advertising Agencies says the deal would enhance competition and benefit advertisers, Web sites and consumers. Joining the trade group in a letter to the Justice Department are four major ad agencies: Publicis Group, WPP, Interpublic Group and Omnicom Group. Under the 10-year agreement announced in July, Microsoft’s Bing search engine would process all search requests and steer search-related ads on Yahoo’s Web site. The companies want to team up to compete with Google, which dominates the online search marketplace.
— Associated Press
TI
Beats expectations
Texas Instruments’ third-quarter profit and sales Monday inched past the improved expectations the chip maker gave last month, and its largest division, which makes analog chips used in digital music players and other gadgets, saw 20 percent growth for the second quarter in a row. The Dallas company also forecast results above Wall Street expectations, and its stock rose 2 percent in after-hours trading. Texas Instruments’ results come amid signs in the technology industry that a recovery may be on its way. Earlier Monday, Gartner said technology spending is expected to return to growth in 2010 after a dismal 2009.
— Associated Press
NYSE
Belfast tech center
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange unveiled plans Monday to open a new software and product-development center in Belfast following years of lobbying by local authorities in Northern Ireland. The planned technology development center for NYSE Euronext, which operates several European stock exchanges and provides trading platforms for European brokers, will be its third in Europe alongside existing operations in London and Paris.
— Associated Press
