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Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Media Digest 6/2/2006 Wall Street Journal, NYT, Reuters

Stocks: (PHG)(F)(GM)(DCX)(TM)(PD)(N)(VZ)(VOD)(C)(HBC)

According to the Wall Street Jounal, two large private equity firms, KKR and Silverlake, have agreed to purchase Philips Electronic's semiconductor business.

The WSJ also reports that Ford is launching a strategic review because of falling sales and rising loses. The move could lead to alliances with other car companies and the sales of assets like the company's Jaquar unit.

Reuters writes that GM will restate its second quarter earnings, adding about $200 million to is lose. The move is based largely on a tax law related to the sales of GMAC.

Reuters also reports that July auto sales dropped for the Big Three as gas prices hurt sales of their truck and SUV models and Toyota picked up more market share in North America. Chrylser Group lost 37% of its sales compared to July 2005. Ford lost 34% and GM was off 20%. Toyota's sales in the region were up 12%, passing Ford to become No. 2 in market share in North America.

According to the Wall Street Journal, ADP plans to spin-off its brokerage services business which could be valued as high as $3 billion.

The WSJ writes that Phelps Dodge will raise its bid in the war to buy Canadian nickel company Inco. Phelps Dodge my up the cash component of its offer by almost $6 billion.

The WSJ reports that Verizon is unlikely to take over Vodafone's 45% share in Verizon wireless in the near future. Verizon's earning report disappointed Wall Street.

HSBC has passed Citigroup as the No. 1 bank in terms of global financial assets.

Electronic Arts reported an increase in its quarterly lose. Revenue grew 13% to $413 million.

Loses at Kodak increase to $282 million in the last quarter. The company now plans to increase the number of jobs it will cut.

The New York Times reports that Wal-Mart's formula, which works well in the US, has had its setbacks overseas exposing a "rare vulnerability" in the company's business model in foreign countries.

The New York Times reports that earnings at Verizon and Qwest show that increased sales in broadband and wireless are being partially offset by competition from VOIP competitors.

Douglas A. McIntyre
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