Video – What Lessons Can New Tech Learn From Apple Success? – WSJ.com

Apple Inc. AAPL -0.21% surpassed Microsoft Corp. MSFT +0.62% Monday as the largest U.S. company ever, measured by stock-market value.

Apple hit the new milestone—$623.52 billion—at a time when its influence on the economy, on the stock market and on popular culture rivals that of some of the most powerful companies in U.S. history: General Motors Co., GM +0.82% whose Corvette and Impala typified a confident postwar manufacturing giant; Microsoft, whose technology heralded the arrival of the personal computer and the early Internet age; and International Business Machines Corp., IBM -0.14% whose buttoned-down rigor inspired rivals to reach for greatness.

“It is one of those iconic companies,” says Richard Sylla, professor of financial history at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “When I think about these companies, their products were used by all kinds of people and their leaders were considered geniuses.”

via Video – What Lessons Can New Tech Learn From Apple Success? – WSJ.com.

AMR Opens Door to a Merger – The Wall Street Journal.

I thought you would be interested in the following story on WSJ.com.

AMR Opens Door to a Merger

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303567704577518980624743426.html

The Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader for iPhoneTM delivers the latest global news, financial events, market insights and information to keep you ahead of the curve. Get the information you depend on plus entertainment, culture, and sports coverage when, where, and how you want it from the most credible source for news and information. Click below to download the WSJ Mobile Reader for free from the iTunes App Store.

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From iPod. Pls excuse brevity, typos.

As Nokia Teeters, What’s It Worth? – The Wall Street Journal.

As Nokia Teeters, What’s It Worth?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303822204577468251129110174.html

Nokia Corp.’s NOK1V.HE -2.49%latest profit warning and massive layoffs are raising an important question in the stock market: Just how much is the cellphone company’s business really worth?

Financial analysts have a disquieting answer for the Finnish company. Some say its path is so uncertain that they are starting to evaluate the 141-year-old company primarily on the value of its assets, patents and cash reserves, rather than as an operating business.

Akerson Struggles Against Ghosts of Old GM – The Wall Street Journal.

Akerson Struggles Against Ghosts of Old GM

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303296604577450744217559400.html

DETROIT—By some measures, General Motors Co. GM +5.62%is in the best shape it has been in since the tail fin glory days of the 1950s and ’60s, with record profits, competitive products and growing global markets.

So why is Chief Executive Dan Akerson gritting his teeth?

It is because of things like the intramural feud over the price of a new Chevy Cruze to be built in Korea and sold in Mexico. A GM finance executive in Korea wanted to drive up the price to improve his unit’s results; the counterpart in Mexico wanted the vehicle cheap and flew to Korea to press his case. Hard-nosed negotiations ensued.

“When I think about that, I get so…,” said Mr. Akerson in an interview, clenching his fists and grimacing before trailing off.

Nestlé Wins Pfizer Auction – The Wall Street Journal.

I thought you would be interested in the following story on WSJ.com.

Nestlé Wins Pfizer Auction

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303592404577361070078138812.html

Nestlé SA NESN.VX -0.09%muscled out rival Groupe Danone SA to buy Pfizer Inc.’s PFE -0.54%infant-nutrition business, but only after agreeing to pay $11.85 billion, as much as 20% more than many analysts had expected the business to fetch.

The hard-fought auction shows how Pfizer’s nutrition business was seen as a virtual must-have for the two European food giants, which both aspire to lead the fast-growing and economically resilient infant formula business. The Pfizer baby-food unit, while not core to the U.S.-based drug maker, is considered among the world’s most attractive given its outsized exposure to developing markets.

GE Net Falls 12%; Energy Unit Shines – The Wall Street Journal.

I thought you would be interested in the following story on WSJ.com.

GE Net Falls 12%; Energy Unit Shines

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303513404577355431016148156.html

General Electric Co. GE -0.29%said first-quarter earnings declined 12% but rose on an operating basis, fueled by renewed profit growth at its big energy-infrastructure division.

Overall margins at the conglomerate’s industrial businesses, which it has been counting on to drive results as it shrinks its GE Capital finance arm, continued to slip, however, even as revenue and profit increased. GE’s combined industrial profit margin came in at 13.8% in the first quarter, down from 14.3% in the year-earlier period.

Pfizer weighs plans for $3bn part-IPO – FT.com

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5be17b12-59a3-11e1-8d36-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1sM3AfXHu