必読記事・論考(IT)
WSJ 12/21/04 Washington Post to Acquire Web-Based Magazine Slate
The business operations of Slate will be run by Washingtonpost Newsweek Interactive, the online subsidiary that oversees the Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com Web sites. Financial terms of the sale weren't disclosed.
CNET 12/21/04 Torvalds: A Solaris skeptic
When Linus Torvalds successfully harnessed the talent of thousands of programmers to create Linux, the operating system that arguably suffered most was Sun Microsystems' Solaris.
Nikkei 12/21/04 小池良次の米国通信インサイド
スプリントが異端児ネクステルを買収、寡占化が進む米携帯業界
IAC and Expedia
WSJ 12/21/04 Diller to Break Up IAC
E-Commerce Firm Decides To Split Off Travel Business Into Publicly Traded Entity
Expedia will include businesses such as Expedia, Hotels.com and Hotwire, a discount online travel company. Together the businesses currently account for about 30% of IAC's revenue and about 55% of its operating income.
The breakup will leave behind a collection of businesses Mr. Diller has acquired since he launched what would become IAC in 1995, including HSN, the television shopping channel, Ticketmaster, Citysearch, a local search service, and LendingTree, an online finance company.
By creating a pure travel company, IAC hopes put an end to the chronic confusion surrounding the company's 42 separate businesses and ultimately boost the company's overall valuation. IAC now has a stock-market value of $18 billion, and Expedia likely will be valued at roughly half of that, based on estimates from several Wall Street analysts.
Based on recent performance, Expedia likely will be the faster growing of the two companies, while IAC will be a profit generator with a steady stream of cash flow that will enable it to grow through acquisitions and by nurturing young companies.
IAC's breakup comes in contrast to the strategy being pursued by Cendant Corp., which has added a series of travel acquisitions to a conglomerate that controls businesses as varied as real-estate brokerage firms and loyalty-marketing programs. In just the past few months, Cendant purchased travel Web site Orbitz for about $1 billion, U.K. travel Web site ebookers for $404 million and spent $1.1 billion for U.K. travel businesses Gullivers Travel Associates and Octopus Travel Group Ltd.
Giants Rotation
MLB.com (Giants) 12/22/04 Giants mailbag: Up in arms
If pieces fall into place, rotation could be formidable
Coincidentally, this could be the year. Imagine a Big 4 of Jason Schmidt, Brett Tomko, Jerome Williams and Noah Lowry, with the perplexing problems of veteran Kirk Rueter in the mix. It could be a sensational pitching year, if ... Schmidt is injury-free (those 200-plus innings cause a lot of wear and tear), Tomko avoids first-half blues and Rueter can stay away from the long winless stretches he's had the past two seasons.
Foppert underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2003, but unlike in the case of Jason Christiansen, who suffered a slow, deteriorating tear of his ligament, Foppert's "popped" on one pitch. That, along with his young age (24) spells out a relatively quick recovery time.
Foppert has pitched exceptionally well in Puerto Rico this offseason, and went six innings on one occasion. The Giants expect the 24-year-old right-hander to be the long man in the bullpen to begin the season, but the former USF star will likely be a spot starter as well.
