Yahoo and Tumblr logo
Credit: Yahoo/Tumblr

According to earlier reports, Yahoo plans to buy Tumblr, which hosts 108.5 million blogs and 50.9 billion posts as of this Sunday. But it now appears that the rumors were true. Boards of both Yahoo and Tumblr reportedly agreed unanimously on the acquisition, people familiar with the matter told AllThingsD.

Tumblr Founder and CEO David Karp and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer have not yet released any official statement with regards to the deal. But AllThingsD‘’s sources noted that Karp, 27, will still stay at Yahoo for at least four more years at least and will still have the majority of control over the service.

On the other hand, Mayer allegedly decided that buying Tumblr was going to be “the stake in the ground of what her strategy is going forward for Yahoo” and that she quickly realized in her research that the site is something that Yahoo needed to make it both relevant and “cool” to new consumers – younger audiences.

As a business model, Tumblr already made $13 million in revenue as of 2012 and aims to make $100 million in 2013. So far, Tumblr has raised $125 million in funding, and among its investors include Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Insight Venture Partners.

Tumblr had 117 million visitors last April alone, according to comScore. A formal announcement from both companies announcing this business deal is being expected this Monday afternoon, which will be via a news conference from Yahoo in New York City, where Tumblr is based.

For a little less than a $6 bill, a waitress received $446 tip at the Steak ‘n Shake restaurant in Indianapolis on Wednesday, May 15, 2013.

Cece Bruce was “amazed” that one of her regular customers, whom they call Miss Jo, handed her the huge tip. According to Bruce, Miss Jo‘s bill is only worth $5.97. Bruce explained that previously, the usual tip she received from Miss Jo is half of her bill.

Bruce is reportedly a full-time student at the Martin University and has been working in the restaurant chain for two years. She said that what happened “restores your faith in humanity, makes you trust people, and shows you can never judge a book by its cover. You’ve got to treat everybody the same. I try to be friendly to everyone.”

In an interview with TODAY.com, Bruce said that Miss Jo “always tips me 50 percent of her bill, but her bill is usually only $5 and she leaves a $5 tip. She’s a very nice lady.” Bruce tried to return the tip, but the customer insisted on giving her the money.

The Steak ‘n Shake manager, Greer Gooley explained that he “was in the back on a food order, and Miss Jo wrote out the bill and then she ran out the door really quick. (Bruce) ran into the parking lot to thank her, and she just told her to take it and then spun off. (Bruce) is extremely deserving of that money. She works hard, and she will come in whenever you need her. She has more regulars than any of our other servers.”

Bill Gates
Image Credit: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg

As noted by Bloomberg, Bill Gates regained the world’s richest man title yesterday from Mexican investor and philanthropist Carlos Slim, who is the Chairman and CEO of of Telmex, Samsung Mexico, Grupo Cars, and America Movil. Slim, 73, was ranked by Forbes as the richest person in the world from 2010 to 2013.

But as Bloomberg reported, Slim‘s shares value at America Movil, dubbed as the largest cellphone carrier in the Americas, has declined 14% this year after Congress of Mexico passed a bill that could repeal his dominance in the market. This resulted to a $3 billion reduction from his net worth.

“When they’re talking about reform in a country that’s generally poor, and the guy shows up No. 1 on the list — not a good thing.” Greg Lesko, managing director at Deltec Asset Management, which keeps an eye on $750 million and has an “underweight” position at America Movil, was quoted in the report.

“He’s had a pretty good monopoly situation in Mexico, and the Mexican cellphone user has been paying more than he should. We applaud it for the country.” Lesko added. America Movil is Mr. Slim‘s flagship company and its headquarters are located in Mexico City, and has 246 million mobile subscribers in 18 countries.

Meanwhile, Gates, 57, has most of his wealth at Cascade Investment, and has donated $28 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, after establishing it in 2000. This year, Microsoft shares have climbed up 28 percent, and closed at a five-year high this Thursday for two times this week.

On the other hand, Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. ranked third in world’s richest people list in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with $59.7 billion net worth. Buffett, 82, is $3.7 billion richer than Spaniard Amancio Ortega, the richest person in Europe.

Sharp logo
Credit: Sharp-world.com

According to the report, most the 5,000 employees who will lose their jobs will come from overseas, including some of its directors and advisory positions. Sharp has now 51,000 employees worldwide, and plans to cut the number of it workforce at its main office in Osaka, Japan into half.

The Asahi Shimbun said that they obtained a copy of Sharp‘s midterm management plan, which states that the struggling Japanese technology giant will reduce the number of its directors from 12 to 6, and will also remove a significant number of advisers. This Sharp’s employment reduction is part of their 3-year recovery plan,

During the implementation of their plan, Sharp forecasts annual sales of more than 3 trillion yen ($30 billion) until March 2016, along with a net profit of 100 billion yen and an operating profit of 180 billion yen in fiscal year 2015. To achieve this, Sharp plans to refocus on business areas with huge potential for profit growth.

During the first year of the 3-year recovery period, Sharp purportedly promised its major creditor banks that it will implement cost cutting measures to achieve net profits in fiscal 2013,. In the second and the third years, the company will focus more on profitable products and sales areas to increase its revenue.

Allegedly, Sharp plans to start producing more 4K sets with clearer screens and 70-inch type or even bigger HDTVs for the US market, will also market local appliances, such as washing machines and refrigerators, in Southeast Asia depending on the on regional demand.

A rat-meat ring was believed to be broken by Chinese authorities. Over $1 million worth of rat meat and several other small mammal meat was sold by the ring over the years in China.

Based on the official website of the Ministry of Public Security, Chinese police have arrested 904 suspected members of the rat meat ring since the end of January. The report was published on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

The crackdown on the group was brought about by food safety concerns relative to bird flu outbreak, toxic food and environmental issues.

Police were able to uncover the operations of the rat meat ring in the markets of Shanghai and Jiangsu province. Authorities revealed that the suspects used spices to camouflage the rat, fox and mink meat as mutton.

Since 2009, authorities estimated that they were able to block the operations of the meat ring and denied them over 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) in sales. Over 20,000 metric tons (22.046 tons) of fake meat products were confiscated from illegal food plants nationwide.

Do you believe that Chinese authorities has done enough to address the public outcry on several environmental and animal concerns in China?

RaketMarket.ph, which was founded by brothers James and Cris Alejandro, aims to help Filipinos make money online through small services and referrals. Their tagline “Kita Tayo!” both invites the online Pinoys to join in and make use of the three different ways to make money on the site: “Kita sa Raket,” “Kita sa Referral,” and “Kita sa Benta.”

“We came up with this idea while formulating a show (with the same title) for AM Radio format.” James Alejandro, who is also a radio broadcaster, told this writer. “For the regular “rakets,” our plan is to let our members post them for free. We do not charge service fees or even commissions.”

The “Kita sa Raket” section is where sellers can post their particular service to offer, starting at P200. Sellers can write a short description service and they can post, and they can offer as many as jobs they can. Buyers can contact the seller via the site, and the seller will receive the using Paypal or even through other offline methods once the job is finished.

The offered services are arranged based on different categories, including Advertising, Marketing and Sales, Writing & Translation, Tech & Programming, Graphic Arts & Design, Videos & Production, Tips & Training, Music, Clothing & Fashion, Music & Lyrics & Editing, and many more.

RaketMarket members can also make money via the Philippines‘ first Refer2Earn online program – “Kita sa Referral.” Here, members can browse through RaketMarket‘s ‘Refer2Earn‘ advertisements and submit their referrals. A certain percentage will be given for every successful referral depending on how much the ad states. That member will receive the agreed amount after completing the advertiser’s terms as indicated.

The site’s third money-making method is “Kita sa Benta” – RaketMarket‘s Classified Ads section – where members can make unlimited ad postings. The seller will simply post the item for sale, include the details, location of the seller, and the price. Potential buyers and sellers can choose to make their deals online through delivery or offline through meet ups.

With the great opportunities being offered at RaketMarket.ph, the owners are also reminding its members to be generally cautious when making deals online. Members are advised to report to them directly any violation of the website’s policies.

Nowadays, more and more people are actively online, and RaketMarket.ph is capturing this opportunity to provide another venue for the Online Pinoy to be more productive – may you be a student, employee, business owner, or a freelancer – it’s now as easy as one-two-three to earn extra online.

For more information on how the website works, visit RaketMarket.ph.

RaketMarket.ph screenshot
Screenshot Credit: RaketMarket.ph

Bank of America logo
Credit: Bank of America

According to a report on Motley Fool‘s website this Friday, May 3, 2013, the idea of $60 billion loss of Bank of America came about after the huge loss from 22 investors, including big asset managers BlackRock and PIMCO, and giant life insurance company, Metlife. A $8.5 billion settlement was settled back in 2011.

Apparently, some investors were said to gathers evidence proving that the said bank placed its own interests first before theirs. As an example, mortgages contained within the MBSes were purportedly modified, and that they were not bought back from investors. An agreement was allegedly made between the parties involved.

“This is just speculation, of course, but the answer seems to be: A lot. One expert estimated earlier this year that the damage could come in at somewhere between $25 billion and $30 billion, while analyst Mark Palmer at BTIG Research figures it may hit more than $60 billion.” A statement reads at Fool.com, written by Amanda Alix.

“Palmer noted that the monoline insurer’s lawyers have estimated that 56% of the Countrywide MBSes MBIA insured had issues so odious that a lender would be too embarrassed not to repurchase them. Applying the same formula to $108 billion, the penalty comes in at $60.5 billion.” Alix added.

Meanwhile, a new hearing is being set in a New York court on Thursday, May 30, in front of Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick, wherein the argument will determine whether the $8.5 billion settlement should be approved or not.

Nissan logo
Image Credit: NissanUSA.com

According to the report at AutoNews.com this Wednesday, May 1, 2013, Nissan will cut the prices for their top-selling Altima, Armada, Sentra, Juke SUV, Rogue, Murano and the Maxima. This Nissan price cut represents two-thirds or around 65 percent of the brand’s U.S. sales volume.

As noted by Nissan, there will be a 2.7% price reduction or $580 on 2013 Altima, which was their best-selling car in the US last March, a 10.7% price discount or $4,400 for Armada big SUV, a $730 price off for the Sentra, $1,290 less for the high-end Juke, and $2,300 price off of the Rogue model.

In addition, Nissan also cuts $1,460 for the low-end model of the Murano and $2,410 for the high end version, and $2,270 for the low-end of the Maxima and $3,030 for the high-end, which includes a $700 tech package. The car company emphasized that the price cuts were not related to the recent depreciation of the Japanese yen.

“What we saw is that in some versions of some mobiles, we were not on the shopping list because we did not have the appropriate MSRP. We did an analysis across the car line and decided to make these adjustments.” Jose Munoz, senior vice president for sales and marketing for Nissan USA, was quoted in the report.

“We did an analysis across the car line and decided to make these adjustments. It’s not applied across the board. For the time being, we are applying it to seven models.” Munoz added, noting that the above price cuts will start this Friday, May 3, but only for cars and trucks that are not on dealer lots yet. Nevertheless, Nissan vehicles that are now in dealer inventories will also have price cuts, but only through an equipment allowance.

USPS Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe
Credit: Christopher Gregory/The New York Times

According to a press release at USPS.com that day, Donahoe told US Congress that the US Postal Service is now operating with a broken business model. He urged lawmakers to include delivery flexibility as part of a comprehensive legislation on postal reform to help USPS recover from financial crisis.

Donahoem, who became the Postmaster General on January 14, 2011, testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee this Wednesday. He said that their financial problems are caused by the restrictive laws that prevent them from fully coping with the changes of the consumers’ needs.

“In the past two years, the Postal Service recorded $21 billion dollars in losses, including the default of $11.1 billion dollars in payments to the United States Treasury. The Postal Service has exhausted its borrowing authority.” Postmaster General Donahoe was quoted telling to US Congress.

“It also continues to contend with a dangerous liquidity crisis. We are losing $25 million dollars every day and we are on an unsustainable path.” Donahoe added, emphasizing that the steep decline in USPS‘ most profitable product category is not the cause of their financial burden.

“Any private sector company could quickly adapt to the market changes we have experienced, and remain profitable. However, we do not have all of the flexibility we need to grow revenue, reduce costs, and adapt to a changing marketplace.” Donahoe said further.

Back in February, the USPS unveiled that they will launch its own clothing line called “Rain Heat & Snow,” in 2014, a joint venture with Wahconah Group, Inc. The same month, the US Postal Service also announced their plan to introduce a new national delivery schedule designed to reduce their costs by approximately $2 billion dollars yearly.

With this, Donahoe urged the US Congress not to block their new delivery schedule when it enacted the next continuing resolution to fund the government for the rest the fiscal year. He insisted that the flexibility under the law is very much needed to implement their new delivery schedule.

Dish Sprint logos
Credit: Dish and Sprint

According to press release at CompleteDishSolution.com that day, Dish is offering Sprint a $25.5 deal, or $17.3 billion in cash and $8.2 billion in stock. If the deal will be closed, Sprint shareholders would receive $7.00 per share, based upon DISH’s closing price on Friday, April 12, 2013.

The said amount is higher than the $20 billion offer made by Japanese phone company SoftBank last October,to buy 70 percent stake of Sprint. Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen said on his offer letter that the cash portion of their offer represents an 18% premium over the $4.03 per share proposed by SoftBank.

“It provides more cash and affords your shareholders the opportunity to participate more meaningfully in a combined Dish/Sprint, which will benefit from a significantly enhanced strategic position and substantial synergies that are not attainable through the pending SoftBank proposal.” Charlie Ergen wrote on his letter.

“We are offering an ownership interest in a combined company with a comprehensive product and services suite, a significantly enhanced subscriber base, considerable financial and operating scale, as well as a spectrum portfolio that would lead the industry.” Mr. Ergen added.

Mr. Ergen emphasized that the proposed Dish/Sprint merging would have low-band, big band and high band spectrum access and be able to provide twice as much bandwidth as AT&T and Verizon; and growth opportunities to be estimated at $37 billion in net present value.