Property prices fall in February

House prices fell in February by 0.5%, says the latest survey from Nationwide.

The fourth consecutive monthly fall in property prices pushed the cost of the average UK home down to £179,358.

The annual rate of house price inflation fell from 4.2% in January to 2.7% in February, the lowest since November 2005.

But the building society warned against gloomy predictions for the housing market, claiming that recession was "a remote risk for the UK economy".

Trend continues

It is the first time since 2000 that the Nationwide has recorded four monthly price falls in a row and the pace of decline seems to be speeding up.

It should not be surprising that we are entering a slower phase Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide

Prices in the December to February period were down 1% from the previous three months, a steeper decline than the previous three-month on three-month figure of -0.4%.

Various surveys have charted a decline in the housing market since last summer, with figures released on Thursday from the Land Registry also showing a slowing in the annual rate of house price inflation.

However, Nationwide said its own figures were overstating the situation because house price growth was particularly strong in January and February last year.

'Uncertain market'

Aggressive rate cuts in the coming months were unlikely, according to Nationwide's chief economist Fionnuala Earley, but the economy was much weaker than it was a year ago.

"It should not be surprising that we are entering a slower phase," she said.

"It is encouraging that the outlook is one of just that, slower economic growth rather than recession."

She added that the reluctance of buyers given the current uncertainty in the market was not a surprise, but conditions for the UK housing market were "perhaps less gloomy than some would have us believe".

Higher energy bills and food costs have put more pressure on household finances.

Meanwhile lenders have become more fussy about who they lend to because of the crisis in the banking industry.

No more so-called 125% mortgages are available and the 100% mortgage market has shrunk significantly in recent months.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee cut interest rates from 5.5% to 5.25% in February.

Read more!

My speaking schedule for early 2008

SES London was really fun last year, but in 2008 I’m mostly staying closer to home. If you’re attending SES London this week, please say hello to Adam Lasnik and Luisella Mazza. It also looks like Maile Ohye, Shuman Ghosemajumder, and several other Googlers will be speaking as well.

Here’s the places I plan on speaking in the first half of 2008:



February 26-28, 2008: Next week I will be doing a couple sessions for SMX West, including a Linking Q&A panel. What sounds even more fun is the trivia-quiz “Search Bowl” that I’m doing with fellow Googler Paul Haahr. It sounds like a fun, casual event to answer search trivia questions. Other search engines will field teams, plus an SEO team will play as well.

April 18-21, 2008: I’m speaking at the Domain Roundtable conference in San Francisco. I couldn’t pass up a chance to attend a conference about domain names when it’s so close to home. :)

April 22-25, 2008: I’ll speak or be on a panel in the Web 2.0 Expo, also in San Francisco. Maybe I’ll just stay in San Francisco that week and work from Google’s San Francisco’s office.

June 3-4, 2008: This is more tentative, but I’m hoping to make it to SMX Advanced in Seattle. Considering that until last year I’d never visited Seattle, I’ve enjoyed every time that I’ve gotten a chance to visit the city.

You’ll note that most of these conferences are nearby. The wonderful thing about ramping up new conference speakers in webspam is that if I want to ramp down on travel, newer speakers can more than handle the task. I’m really proud of the speakers that we send from Google. Read more!

Citi Announces Three Key Hires

Kelly Joins as President of Citi Alternative Investments;

Yordan Joins as Vice Chairman, Global Banking, Latin America;
Diaz Joins as Head of U.S. Institutional Cash Trading

New York – Citi today announced three key senior executive appointments in its Alternative Investments and Markets & Banking units that will help advance the company's growth opportunities in alternative investments, Latin America banking, and the U.S. cash equities business.

The company named Edward "Ned" Kelly President of Citi Alternative Investments (CAI), reporting to John Havens, CAI Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kelly will chair the CAI Management Committee and assume responsibility for the business and many of its investment centers. Mr. Kelly will help drive the growth of CAI, a leading alternative investments platform with more than $59 billion of assets under management.

Jaime E. Yordan joins Citi Markets & Banking as Vice Chairman, Global Banking, Latin America. Mr. Yordan will report to Manuel Medina Mora, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Citi Latin America and Mexico, and to Raymond J. McGuire and Alberto Verme, Co-Heads of Global Investment Banking. Mr. Yordan will join Citi's efforts to build on its successful global banking business in Latin America through senior coverage of key clients in the region, as well as capitalizing on significant opportunities in banking, fixed income, and equity markets.

Armando Diaz joins Citi's Global Equities business as Head of U.S. Institutional Cash Trading, reporting to Kevin Russell, Head of Americas Equities Trading. Mr. Diaz brings extensive trading experience and customer relationships to Citi's cash trading business. He joins Citi after spending 19 years at Goldman Sachs & Co., most recently as the Partner managing single stock cash and derivative trading.

"We are delighted to welcome these three well-respected, seasoned, and talented professionals to Citi," said Vikram Pandit, CEO, Citi. "Each will play a key role as we continue to move ahead in areas with significant growth opportunities for the company."

Mr. Kelly joins Citi from The Carlyle Group. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2007, Mr. Kelly served as Chairman, Chief Executive, and President of Mercantile Bankshares from 2001 through March 2007. Before Mercantile, Mr. Kelly was a Managing Director at JP Morgan Chase Co., where he was a Managing Director and head of Global Financial Institutions and co-head of Investment Banking Client Management. Mr. Kelly was previously a partner at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Mr. Yordan has had a distinguished 30-year career in Latin America. From 1976 to 1990, he worked for JP Morgan, at different times in the International Banking Department, the National Banking Department, and the Mergers and Acquisitions Department. In 1990 he joined Goldman Sachs, where he established a Latin America business for the firm. He was elected General Partner in 1992, and in 1999 he was named Chairman for Latin America. Upon his retirement from Goldman Sachs in 2005, he became Advisory Director at CDK Group LLC. Read more!

sneak peek early screen

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I attended an early screening 1/10/08 at Michigan State University. I've spoilerized in case anyone doesn't want to know anything about the film, but I will try to stay away from anything that'll be too overt.

Simply put, the film is an amazingly visceral experience. It's studio logo, production logo, film. No credits whatsoever, which just adds to the overall immediacy of it. If you've been following it to any degree whatsoever, you know that it's shot entirely with hand-held cameras. The characters also run. A lot. So immediately, I think this will be a love hate experience. My own reaction to it was that it again, added to the immersion, and I didn't find it to be really distracting at all. Many people I saw it with said they couldn't even watch the screen at times, so buyer beware. It also will anger those who need all the details, and need to have every loose end tied up (or even a majority of them). The entire film is the tape found after the events of the film are over. That's it. There is no set up, and no hold-your-hand-for-you resolution (or really, much of one at all). It's unconventional, and I enjoyed the ending TREMENDOUSLY. I definitely have to applaud the decision to not simply make a cookie cutter action film that is easy to watch. I think it will be interesting to watch how it does at the box office though.

After that...I feel like there isn't much that can be said about the acting, and that should be a credit to it. It absolutely feels like you are experiencing this with the characters, who feel more or less exactly like real people. After leaving the theater I was on edge for a good deal of time, as I tried to shake that level of immersion. The film is also surprisingly humorous, and I would say that our crowd laughed more than they screamed (although the screams were definitely there).

Cloverfield definitely will not be everybody's cup of tea, but if you're already excited about it, I have no doubt that you'll be satisfied. It was a relatively unique experience, and again I want to applaud the decision to make it in that manner. Read more!

Small Business Guide to Government Grants and Loans

We've all seen the headlines: "Millions in free government money for your business." Late-night infomercials, reference guides and websites promote the availability of grant money to entrepreneurs for starting and expanding businesses. Sound too good to be true? It is.

The truth is that federal and state governments do not provide grants for starting and expanding small businesses. However, the U.S. government does offer a wide-variety of low-interest loans and venture capital financing programs to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. In addition, some federal and state agencies award a limited number of grants for very specialized business activities such as scientific research and development.

The following guide provides an explanation of federal and state loan, grant and venture capital financing programs available for your small business.

Small Business Loans

SBA Loans

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) assists small business owners to start and expand their businesses by helping them get loans through private banks and financial institutions. SBA is the largest single financial backer for the nation's small businesses with a portfolio of business loans, loan guarantees and disaster loans worth more than $45 billion, in addition to a venture capital portfolio of $13 billion.

SBA offers a number of low-interest loan programs for new and expanding small businesses. SBA is not a lender, and does not grant loans directly to businesses. Rather, SBA is a guarantor of loans made by privately owned banks and other financial institutions that agree to follow SBA's guidelines.

To apply for an SBA loan, you need to visit your local participating bank or lending institution. When you apply for an SBA loan you are actually applying for a commercial loan, structured according to SBA requirements, which receives an SBA guaranty. This guaranty is portion of the loan the SBA will pay back to the lender should you default on your loan payments.

SBA's Financial Assistance Guide describes SBA loan programs, including eligibility requirements, and how to apply for them.

Remember, that you'll need to go through a local bank or financial institution to apply for an SBA loan. To get a list of SBA lenders in your area, contact your SBA District Office.

SBA Loans for Veterans

SBA offers a few loan programs to assist veterans and members of the military community:

• Patriot Express Loan Initiatve
  The SBA's Patriot Express program provides loans for veterans and members of the military community wanting to establish or expand small businesses.
• Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program
  Provides funds to eligible small businesses to meet its ordinary and necessary operating expenses that it could have met, but is unable to meet, because an essential employee was "called-up" to active duty in their role as a military reservist.

USDA Loans

If you operate a farm, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has a Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program that works in the same manner as SBA loans. The USDA provides guarantees of up to 80 percent of a loan made by a commercial lender. Loan proceeds may be used for working capital, machinery and equipment, buildings and real estate, and certain types of debt refinancing.

The B&I Loan Guarantee Program Fact Sheet provides all you need to know about obtaining one of these loans, including eligibility, loan terms and conditions, equity requirements, and interest rates. Like SBA loans, you need to go through your local bank or financial institution to apply for a B&I loan. If you have any questions about the B&I Loan Guarantee Program or other financial options available for small farms, contact your state's Rural Development Field Office.

Other Federal Loan Programs

Depending on your type of business, you may qualify for specialized federal loan programs. For example, if you are small and disadvantaged business engaged in federal transportation contracts, you may qualify the U.S. Department of Transportation's Short Term Lending Program.

If you are a small trucking company, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) SmartWay Transport Partnership has partnered with several lenders to make money available to small trucking companies to help pay for technologies that saves fuel while reducing pollution.

To find other federal loan programs serving small business concerns, visit GovLoans.gov, the U.S. government's central database of government loan programs.

State and Local Loan Programs

Many state and local governments also offer low-interest loan programs that they guarantee through commercial lenders. Contact your local Small Business Development Center to get assistance with locating state and local funding sources for your small business.

Venture Capital Financing

Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC)

In 1958, Congress created the Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC) program to help small U.S. companies raise capital. SBIC's are privately owned and managed investment firms that provide venture capital and start-up financing to small businesses. To be eligible for SBIC financing, your business must meet certain SBA size requirements for a small business. Generally, the SBIC Program defines a company as "small" when its net worth is $18.0 million or less and its average after tax net income for the prior two years does not exceed $6.0 million. When you contact an SBIC, you'll need to present a professional business plan that addresses your company's operations, management, financial condition and funding requirements.

The following resources will help you locate SBIC financing:

• SBA's Guide for Entrepreneurs Seeking Financing provides in-depth information about the SBIC financing and eligibility requirements.
• SBA's SBIC Directory provides a listing of licensed SBIC investment firms in your state.
• The National Association of Small Business Investment Companies (NASBIC) provides a Step-by-Step Guide to SBIC Financing. NASBIC is the trade organization for the SBIC industry, and also provides a directory of SBIC firms.

Active Capital (formerly Angel Capital Electronic Network - ACE-Net)

Active Capital is a nationwide listing service that connects entrepreneurs with angel investors. Potential investors can obtain information on start-ups and expanding small businesses seeking $250,000 to $5,000,000 in venture capital. Active Capital's main benefit is that it allows entrepreneurs to directly access a nationwide network of investors while complying with federal and state securities regulations.

Small Businesses in Economically Distressed Communities

If your business is located in a low-income geographic area, there are a couple of venture financing options available to you. First, there is a special type of SBIC called Specialized Small Business Investment Companies (SSBIC). SSBIC's provide assistance solely to small businesses owned by socially or economically disadvantaged persons. Secondly, you may be eligible for New Markets Venture Capital (NMVC) financing. Modeled after the SBIC program, the NMVC program makes equity investments in small businesses located in economically distressed communities in urban and rural areas. NMVC financing is available in limited areas, and available from these venture capital firms.

Federal and state grants are only available to support non-profit organizations, lending institutions, and state and local government programs that provide technical and financial assistance to small businesses. If your business is one of these organizations, Grants.gov provides grant opportunities available from federal agencies.

Again, federal and state government agencies do not award grants for starting, managing and expanding small businesses. However, state and local government grant opportunities may exist for small businesses engaged in very specialized activities. Many states provide job training grants to new and expanding firms. Other states provide grants to fund scientific research projects, and grants for agricultural development. For example, the New York State Dept. of Agriculture & Markets' Winery Website Improvement Grant Program provides money to state wineries and vineyards for improving their websites. The California Energy Commission's Energy Innovations Small Grant Program provides funds to small businesses to conduct research that establishes new, innovative energy concepts. Check with your state or local government to find these sorts of specialized grant opportunities.

Small Business Grants

A few federal programs provide grants to small firms engaged in scientific research and development (R&D). The Federal government's SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs award a specific percentage of Federal R&D funds to qualified small businesses. SBIR/STTR programs encourage small firms to undertake scientific research that helps meet Federal R&D objectives, and have high potential for commercialization if successful. The following agency award SBIR/STTR grants:

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• National Institute of Standards and Technology
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Transportation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• National Science Foundation

Read more!

Shadow victims of the mortgage crisis: renters

The Bush administration's announcement Tuesday that it would put the foreclosure process on hold for 30 days to rescue struggling homeowners came several weeks too late for Mike Salgado.
And he's not even a homeowner.

Salgado, 40, is one of many renters who have found themselves homeless after their cash-strapped landlords stopped making mortgage payments and their houses or apartment buildings were foreclosed upon.

The California Apartment Assn., the state's largest organization of rental property owners, estimates that as much as a quarter of all foreclosed single-family residences are occupied by renters. The number of renters ensnared in the foreclosure fiasco is even larger when duplexes and other multi-unit buildings are factored in.

And the evictions show no sign of abating. Total foreclosures of single-family homes statewide rose more than 400% to a record 31,676 in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

"It's definitely happening," said Phyllis Rockower, president of the 850-member Real Estate Investors Club of Los Angeles. "People e-mail me all the time with the saddest stories."

Rockower's own daughter is facing eviction from a rented home in Colorado. Eileen Bronchick, 39, said she received notice last month that the landlord of her town house had missed mortgage payments and that she might have to move if the property is foreclosed upon.

For many such people, this can mean even steeper rents because the wave of foreclosures has spurred greater demand for rental housing -- a blessing to landlords who don't have banks breathing down their necks.

Sixty percent of Los Angeles residents are already renters, according to the National Multi Housing Council, an industry group. That compares with a nationwide average of 32%.

State and local officials say that many evictions could be avoided if people knew the legal protections available to them. However, few lenders and property managers make such information available during the eviction process.

"The whole thing is terrifying," said Michaelyn Jones, general counsel to the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, which oversees some of California's toughest rent-control rules. "It's something a number of jurisdictions have been discussing because it's a growing problem."

Many now-foreclosed properties had been purchased by real estate speculators taking advantage of dirt-cheap loans, who rented the properties to tenants before falling behind on mortgage payments.

To help remedy the situation, the Bush administration and six major lenders said they would "pause" foreclosures for troubled homeowners. The plan, dubbed Project Lifeline, is intended to give lenders time to work out more-affordable terms for borrowers.

Delores Conway, director of USC's Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast, said it was difficult to measure the number of tenants affected by foreclosures because more people were renting directly from owners of houses and condos.

This "shadow market" of renters isn't being tracked by organizations that compile statistics on established rental properties, Conway said, adding that the number of such renters has grown in the Inland Empire.

Karen Fricke, executive director of the Apartment Assn. Greater Inland Empire, an organization of rental property owners, said it was no secret among landlords that many renters were getting caught up in the mortgage meltdown.

"I'm getting a lot of phone calls from members of our association saying they're going into foreclosure and asking what to do about their tenants," she said.

Salgado, who works as service manager for a San Bernardino boat dealer, returned to his rented Hesperia house Jan. 23 to find a notice from his property manager, Century 21 Fairway Realty, informing him that the property had been foreclosed upon.

The notice offered an "assistance check" in the amount of $1,250 if Salgado would agree to get out of the house by Feb. 5.

"It is to your benefit to accept this assistance check," it said. "Please keep in mind that the eviction process has started." Read more!

Business Travel

Helping you find air travel, hotel accommodations travel agencies and moreBooking business travel is a process fraught with rapid change and pitfalls for the unwary. Business owners often look to the Web for convenient ways to compare options and book quickly at the best rates. But there are many categories to consider – including air travel, ground transportation, limousines and shuttles, train travel and others – so you'll want solutions geared to business in general and your

business in particular.

"Some of the business travel solutions you'll find here include extended stay and corporate housing, train travel and charter buses for your business."

Need travel arrangements fast, on a budget? The Business Travel Channel can help you:

1. Find places to quickly book your own travel 24/7, or professional travel agencies who will do it for you. Many business owners are discovering that it's more efficient to use a travel professional. A good business travel agency can search for low fares and offer travel concierge services.
2. Navigate the maze of business travel choices, whether you need bus transportation, rental cars or frequent flyer program details.
3. Control your costs with travel expense management software, credit cards, online services and other tools you need to track your money and keep costs in line.

Bottom line: Targeted business travel resources, contacts and solutions can help you save money and get more out of your business travel dollars. Read more!

Berkeley MBA Curriculum Helped to Hone Business Plan

Both Richmond and Tobey, who met in the Berkeley MBA Program, had worked on school food service programs and arrived at Haas already interested in starting a school lunch venture. As they progressed through the MBA curriculum, weaving new-found knowledge into their business plan, they were better able to pinpoint their company's niche and to identify the principles by which it would operate.

"We might have started Revolution Foods anyway, but it would have been very different." Tobey says, noting that Haas Lecturer Will Rosenzweig was a key advisor and that many parts of the Revolution Foods business plan were written in his Social Entrepreneurship class. Tobey also credits Haas Senior Lecturer Sara Beckman's New Product Development course for helping Revolution Foods to conduct customer needs research and Adjunct Professor Mario Rosati's New Venture Finance Course for giving them the skills to structure venture financings and read term sheets. " Our guiding principles and the ways in which we conduct business are something we solidified in the Berkeley MBA Program," says Tobey.

Those principles include using environmentally responsible practices like composting, providing benefits to employees, and paying above-living wage compensation. Most importantly, they include helping kids incorporate healthy eating into everyday life.

Once a month Revolution Foods tries to serve something that kids may not have eaten before to inspire them to think in new ways about food. "There is a glimmer in a kid's eye when he realizes, 'Hey I like brown rice!' that shows us he is getting engaged with food," says Richmond. For both Richmond and Tobey that glimmer is the spark of a revolution. Read more!

google adsense trick

Google AdSense is fast becoming the preferred way for people to earn an income online. Forget eBay and multiple affiliate programs - Whether you are a work-at-home mom trying to make a little extra cash or an Internet entrepreneur with hundreds of monetized websites, AdSense is truly the easiest way to earn money.

Simply sign up for a free account, grab your ad code and paste it in your site. But here's the amazing thing - no matter how much money AdSense is making for you right now, a few simple tweaks can increase that amount considerably. And I should know, after learning about these tricks, I more than doubled my AdSense commissions!

The self-proclaimed AdSense gurus and experts are sharing this insider knowledge, for a fee. You can learn all these secrets from them, as long as you buy their e-book, sign up for their seminar or purchase their newsletter. But I'm going to share all their AdSense tricks for free. Here they are:


1) Color code your ads to match your web site palette *exactly*. Don't use frames around your ads. Instead, in the AdSense code generation interface, make sure you choose the same color as your page background for the ad frame and the ad background.

When choosing the ad heading colors, match them to the *exact* color of your page headings. Use the exact same ad background shade as your page background. Use the exact same ad text font and color as the text on your pages. You can see an example of this color-matching on my search engine advice blog notice the 4 link ad unit and skyscraper text ad unit on the left hand side under the headings Ads by Google as you scroll down the page? The link and text colors are identical to the color palette used throughout the rest of the page.

Near enough is NOT good enough. If you can't quite get the color matching right, use Google's built in color palette together with the RGB to HEX or vice versa color converter on this page. That handy little tool was a life saver for me.

This is probably the one single tweak that made the most difference to my commission levels.

2) Try not to use the traditional horizontal banner style or leaderboard image ads because people are blind to them.

3) Use Google's own AdSense optimization tips and visual heat map to assist you in deciding where on your page to place your AdSense ad code.

4) Research competitive keywords using a keyword research tool such as Keyword Discovery or grab a list of the most popular keywords from various sources and use them in your web site pages where relevant. This article is a good source of frequently searched keywords. Targeting popular keywords should trigger AdSense ads on your pages that utilize those keywords. The more popular the keyword or phrase, the higher AdWords advertisers are generally willing to pay per click for it so the higher your commission on those clicks.

5) Incorporate the AdSense code into your page so that the ads look like a regular part of your site. You can see an example of this on the Internet Dating Stories site where link ads are incorporated within the regular left hand navigation of the site under the heading "Feature Links".

6) Use Google's new 4 and 5 link ad units wherever possible. They seem to have a much higher Click Through Rate (CTR) than regular ad styles. You can view all the AdSense ad formats here.

7) Place arrows or images next to your ads to draw attention to them. You can see two different versions of on this search engine article library page at the top (where a pointing hand directs your eye to the ad) and the bottom where 3 images draw your attention to each of the three AdSense ads.

8) Use the full allowance of multiple AdSense ads on each of your pages - 3 regular AdSense ads, plus 1 link unit. Use careful placement of these ads so they blend into your site and don't distract from your content. Clever use of this allowance can be seen on this page about bad Internet dating stories where you see:

- 1 horizontal 4 link ad unit towards the top of the page under the first paragraph
- 1 vertical skyscraper text ad unit about halfway down the left hand side under "Sponsor Links"
- 1 vertical skyscraper image ad unit down the left hand side under "Sponsor Links"
- 1 horizontal text banner unit at the bottom of the page with images above each ad to draw attention to them.

You can also include 1 AdSense referral button in addition to the 3 other units.

9) Tailor your page content to a particular niche or focus. Page content that is tailored towards a specific theme is more likely to trigger AdWords ads that closely match the content and are therefore more likely to interest your visitors and inspire them to click. Don't create pages merely for the sake of placing AdSense ads. Visitors (and search engines) can see through this ruse in an instant.

10) Use custom Ad Channels for each of your ad placements, for example, "Top 5 Link Unit Blue Palette" or "Left Side Navigation Image Skyscraper" etc. Tweak, track and measure the success of each of these custom channels so you know what gives you the highest CTR. Some ad formats and colors will work better than others, but you won't know which until you test, test and test some more!

Discuss this article in the Small Business Ideas forum. Read more!

Rock debt payback 'to take years'

The new boss of Northern Rocks says it will take years for the bank to pay back its loans from the taxpayer.

Executive chairman Ron Sandler has been charged with finding a viable business plan for the lender and was speaking after meeting managers and staff.

When asked about the loans he said: "It is clearly unrealistic to talk about months. We are clearly talking about a period of some years."

He also said it was too early to say if Northern Rock would cut jobs.

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been defending the government's decision to nationalise Northern Rock.

At a Downing Street briefing he called it "the right move at the right time for the right reasons".

The government's move has been fiercely criticised by shareholders who face losing almost all of their investment.

Shadow chancellor George Osborne said the nationalisation plans were "catastrophic," and that they would be opposed by the Conservatives.

Read more!

AOL 'contemplates Yahoo approach'

US internet company AOL has become the latest firm to hold talks with Yahoo about a possible deal to fend off an approach from Microsoft, a report says.

Advisers from Time Warner-owned AOL have held talks with representatives of Yahoo to see if a deal is workable, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Microsoft has offered to buy Yahoo for more than $40bn (£20.5bn).

But AOL is thought to be keen on being the firm that helps Yahoo avoid falling into Microsoft's clutches.
Last week Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation was said to have taken an interest in merging its online interests - which include MySpace - with Yahoo.

'Walk away'

Yahoo has dismissed Microsoft's $31-a-share offer as undervaluing its brand, audience, investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential.

And according to a separate report, an influential Microsoft investor has called on the software giant to walk away from the Yahoo offer.

Robert Olstein, a fund manager with about one million Microsoft shares has written to the firm saying that it should "in no circumstances" raise its offer.

He, like many other investors, believes that buying Yahoo would prove a distraction to Microsoft, the Observer said.

Microsoft shares have fallen by about 10% since it made the Yahoo offer - wiping almost $35bn from its share value.

Microsoft wants to merge with Yahoo to increase its online presence and enable it to better compete with industry leader Google.

Read more!

Citi and Nikko Cordial Corporation Successfully Complete Share Exchange

TOKYO – Nikko Cordial Corporation has become a direct 100%-owned subsidiary of Citigroup Japan Holdings Ltd. following the successful completion of their share exchange, it was announced by Citi and Nikko Cordial Corporation today.

The share exchange, which became effective today, was approved by Nikko Cordial Corporation shareholders on December 19, 2007. As of today's effective date, Citigroup Japan Holdings exchanged approximately 174.7 million shares of common stock of Citigroup Inc. for approximately 290.1 million shares of common stock of Nikko Cordial Corporation. The share exchange was completed at the previously announced exchange ratio of 0.602 shares of Citigroup Inc. common stock for each share of Nikko Cordial Corporation common stock. All Citigroup Inc. common shares used in the share exchange were comprised of previously issued shares held in treasury by Citigroup Inc. The total value of Citigroup Inc. common shares exchanged for Nikko Cordial Corporation common shares, based on the January 28, 2008 closing price of Citi's common shares on the New York Stock Exchange, was approximately US$4.8 billion.

Read more!