Microsoft deals strengthen digital advertising

Pacific Northwest

Microsoft

Microsoft strengthened its position in digital advertising with two significant deals Wednesday.

The company will sell and serve display and contextual advertising on Digg, a Web site that allows users to vote on the Web's best content and has 17 million visitors a month. Previously, Microsoft archrival and advertising juggernaut Google provided the advertising service to Digg. The Microsoft deal is for three years.

In addition, five of video-game publisher EA Sports' titles will be incorporated into Microsoft's in-game advertising network. Advertisements will be placed in the games via the Massive Network, which Microsoft acquired last year.

The titles are: "Madden NFL 08," "NASCAR 08," "NHL 08," "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08," and "Skate." Two EA games, "Need for Speed Carbon" and "Def Jam Icon," are already part of the network.

Targeted Genetics

Stock falls after clinical testing

Targeted Genetics stock fell 20.2 percent Wednesday after the company interrupted clinical testing of its lead arthritis drug because of a patient's illness.

The Seattle company's shares closed at $2.10, down 53 cents.

The company said late Tuesday that it had stopped trials of its tgAAC94 therapy after a patient became seriously ill. It's unclear whether the adverse effects are related to the drug.

Amazon.com

Announcement spurs stock gains

Amazon.com's second-quarter profit announcement Tuesday surprised Wall Street analysts, prompting at least six on Wednesday to raise their rating on shares of the biggest online retailer.

Shares of Amazon.com closed up $16.93, or 24.4 percent, at $86.18 Wednesday, the highest level in seven years. They have more than doubled over the past year.

Amazon shares jumped 27 percent April 25 when the company boosted its sales and profit forecasts, spurring at least four analysts to remove "sell" ratings.

On Wednesday, Bear Stearns & Co., Credit Suisse Group, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, RBC Capital Markets and ThinkEquity Partners boosted their ratings after Amazon beat analysts' profit estimates and lifted its sales forecast for the second time since April. Citi Investment Research, Deutsche Bank Securities and Goldman, Sachs & Co. increased their share-price forecasts.

Amazon said Tuesday that net income more than tripled as revenue surged 35 percent.

Nordstrom

Lebanese company buying Façonnable

Nordstrom agreed to sell its Façonnable clothing unit to Lebanese buyout firm M1 Group for $210 million to focus on its own stores.

The Seattle-based retailer will still sell the clothing, the company said in a statement today.

Façonnable sells $145 men's shirts and $250 women's jackets through other retailers while operating four of its own boutiques in the U.S. and 37 in Europe.

Nordstrom bought Façonnable for $169 million in 2000, 11 years after it began selling the products in its stores. The Nice, France-based company makes clothes for men, women and boys, as well as accessories.

"Façonnable was a very successful brand for Nordstrom," Dorothy Lakner, an analyst with CIBC World Markets, wrote in a July 2 report. "But the brand has floundered in recent years as its women's product became stale and fell out of favor with customers."

Starbucks

Growth ahead in South America

Starbucks and its Mexican partner Alsea said Wednesday they have agreed to expand into Argentina and increase the number of their coffee shops in Chile.

The announcement underscores the growing popularity of the U.S.-based coffee chain in Latin America, where a $4 chai latte is roughly the same as Mexico's daily minimum wage.

Alsea operates several U.S.-based restaurants in Mexico, including Domino's Pizza, Burger King Holdings and Chili's Grill & Bar.

Facebook.com

Judge delays ruling on suit

A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday delayed ruling on whether to throw out a lawsuit filed against the founder of Facebook.com, saying he needed more information about allegations Mark Zuckerberg stole the ideas of the creators of a rival social-networking Web site.

Judge Douglas Woodlock gave ConnectU founders Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss and Divya Narendra until Aug. 8 to flesh out their allegations against Zuckerberg, which include fraud, copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets.

Symantec

Software sales propel results

Symantec reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit Wednesday on strong sales of backup software and cost cuts, sending its shares soaring 10 percent.

Analysts say the strong results show the world's biggest maker of security software is succeeding on two fronts — cutting costs and also resolving issues that have hurt sales in its various business units over the past few years.

Qualcomm

Numbers climb past forecasts

Qualcomm reported third-quarter profit and sales that topped analysts' estimates after selling more chips that help users surf the Internet.

Net income in the period ended July 1 rose to $798 million, or 47 cents a share, from $643 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier, the company said Wednesday.

Sales climbed 19 percent to $2.33 billion.

Qualcomm may have won the top spot in total mobile-phone chip sales from rival Texas Instruments, which this week reported a bigger drop in quarterly sales than analysts expected.

Compiled from Seattle Times staff, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and Los Angeles Times