500强今日要闻：谷歌和苹果手机的定位跟踪，PG&E首席执行官退休以及美泰败诉贝兹案
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智能手机可能暴露你的行踪。苹果(Apple)和谷歌(Google)生产的手机会把手机定位信息传回到公司。这些信息对于正在努力增强手机定位能力的苹果和谷歌而言具有很大价值，它们希望基于定位功能提供更多服务。安全专家和政府官员们对此表示担忧。[《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)] PG&E首席执行官退休。公用事业公司PG&E的首席执行官彼得•达彼将于4月底离职。过去一年PG&E面临的重大问题包括导致8人死亡的旧金山郊区管道爆炸事件，以及安装“智能”气表导致的用户不满等。[《华尔街日报》] 贝兹案判决。美泰(Mattel)在围绕芭比之后最受欢迎的塑料娃娃贝兹的一场近十年诉讼案中落败。加利福尼亚州圣安娜的一家法庭判定，MGA Entertainment并未窃取商业秘密，美泰提起的贝兹知识产权主张也不成立。[CNNMoney] 求发展，而不是求生存。花旗集团(Citigroup)首席执行官潘伟迪告诉股东，公司不会囿于原有形象，满足于勉强渡过金融危机。这可能是一个困难的转变——目前花旗集团的营收仍在萎缩，而投资者认为该公司应出售更多问题资产。[路透社] 其他银行的转变。摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)继2011年一季度利润下降后，表示将进行重组。该公司不得不承担与三菱UFJ (Mitsubishi UFJ)金融集团合资企业的6.55亿美元亏损。[《华尔街日报》] 化工行业的重要消息。陶氏化学(Dow Chemical)宣布将增产乙烯和丙烯，以充分利用美国页岩气田天然气凝析液产量增加的大好机会。这些化工品能用于生产泳池胶膜、连裤袜和尿不湿。[路透社] |
YOUR SMARTPHONE TRACKS YOU, probably. Phones made by Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) send location data from the devices back to the companies. That information is valuable to Apple and Google since they're trying to build the capability to offer users more location-based services. Security experts and government officials are concerned. [Wall Street Journal] PG&E CEO RETIRES Peter Darbee, the Chief Executive Officer of utility company PG&E will leave at the end of April. PG&E (PCG) faced major problems in the past year including a pipeline explosion in a San Francisco suburb that killed eight people and a backlash against its rollout of "smart" meters. [Wall Street Journal] BRATZ CASE SETTLED Mattel (MAT) lost a nearly decade-long battle over the rights to Bratz, the most popular plastic dolls to hit the market since Barbie. A court in Santa Ana, California ruled that MGA Entertainment did not steal trade secrets, nor did Mattel have a valid copyright claim on the Bratz franchise. [CNNMoney] THRIVE NOT SURVIVE Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit told shareholders that his company will move beyond its image of the bank that barely scraped through the financial crisis. That may be a tough makeover--Citigroup's (C) revenue is still shrinking, and investors say it needs to shed more of its troubled assets. [Reuters] IN OTHER BANK MAKEOVERS Morgan Stanley (MS) said it's going to restructure itself, following a drop in profit for the first quarter of 2011. The company had to absorb $655 million in losses from its joint venture with Mitsubishi UFJ financial group. [Wall Street Journal] CHEMICAL PUSH Dow Chemical (DOW) announced that it was going to make more ethylene and propylene so that it can profit from the increasing amount of natural gas liquids being produced from shale fields in the United States. The chemicals can be used to make products including swimming pool liners, pantyhose and diapers. [Reuters] |
