Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging service Tumblr will be a test of her ability to revive the aging Web portal. Luckily for her, her performance may be graded generously. Mayer faces plenty of challenges in her efforts to turn six-year-old Tumblr into a money-spinner, not least among them retaining users while devising new types of non-intrusive online ads outside of Yahoo's traditional area of expertise. And then there is Tumblr's hefty price tag: a sum that equates to a fifth of Yahoo's cash. But some investors and analysts say that Wall Street is more focused on the rising value of Yahoo's Asian assets, such as its 24-percent slice of China's Alibaba, than on actual business operations. That means the 37-year-old executive faces less immediate pressure to prove that Yahoo's biggest acquisition in years is a profitable one. More»

The Middle East and North Africa represents the fastest growing e-commerce region worldwide with an estimated 45 per cent year-on-year growth in its value which soared to $15 billion in 2012 from $10 billion the previous year, said a study conducted by Visa, one of the world’s leading payment solutions providers. Announcing the launch of an in-depth study of the rapidly-growing e-commerce market across the Mena region, Visa said this comes as part of its ongoing e-commerce drive and is the first-of-its-kind report in the region that provides a worldwide comparison of key markets. It is set to play a major part in benchmarking the e-commerce performance and the future growth potential across Mena region, the company stated. The data for the study has been provided by the UK body for e-Retail, the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), supported by commentary from the International Omni Retailing Members Association (IORMA) and Dubai-based online shopping mall Tejuri.com. A lack of available information and market data has prevented businesses and government from effectively evaluating the potential for e-commerce growth and development in the region, said a statement from Visa. More»

Yahoo Inc's board will meet on Sunday to vote on whether to offer $1.1 billion in cash for New York-based blogging service Tumblr, tech blog AllThingsD cited sources close to the situation as saying on Friday. Such an acquisition would be CEO Marissa Mayer's largest deal since taking the helm of the once-iconic Internet company in July 2012. Yahoo is keen on Tumblr because its younger user base would enhance the older website's "cool factor," the technology blog cited the sources as saying. The news could be announced as soon as Monday, it said. Yahoo has invited press to an event in Manhattan at which it promised to "share something special," without elaborating. Mayer, who spent 13 years at Google Inc, is trying to revitalize a former Internet powerhouse that in recent years has struggled with declining business. On its home page, Tumblr says it hosts 108 million blogs, with 50.7 billion posts between them. Yahoo declined to comment, while Tumblr did not respond to requests for comment. More»

Google Inc's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is due to meet British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday as a participant of an advisory group just days after UK lawmakers lambasted the Internet company's tax affairs. The meeting is a routine one and has been long-planned, will include other high-profile business people, and tax evasion is not on the agenda, a government source told Reuters. Google faced angry questions on Thursday from British lawmakers investigating its tax affairs over whether it had misled parliament in testimony last year, adding fuel to a debate on taxation that has risen to the top of Britain's political agenda. Google's Northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, was called back to testify to parliament's Public Accounts Committee after a Reuters investigation showed the company employed staff in sales roles in London, even though he had told the committee in November its British staff were not "selling" to UK clients. Prominent parliamentarians have questioned Schmidt's continued status as a member of Cameron's Business Advisory Group given what some of them have classed as his company's "amoral" attitude towards paying tax. More»

To mark the Cinco de Mayo holiday this year, Domino's Pizza festooned its Facebook page with a string of posts, including an image of a Mexican-themed guacamole pizza that garnered over 2,000 "likes". But visitors to Domino's companion Google+ page on that day found less festive fare: The most recent post was from October 2012. Two years after introducing its social network, Google Inc is struggling to win over the brands and businesses that have been its most loyal customers in the Internet search market. For Google+ to thrive, it is vital to draw in household names, not just to lay the groundwork for potential future business, but also because users of the site have come to expect being able to follow, comment on or even vent about their favorite brands. Progress has been slow. Rival services from Twitter to Amazon.com Inc are increasingly competitive in vying for corporate attention and marketing budgets, while technical shortcomings of Google+ have put off some companies accustomed to the flexibility of Facebook, marketing and corporate executives say. More»

Google has celebrated the occasion of International Labour Day with a doodle on its home page. This day is observed by workers' unions and their members to mark the 'eight-hour day', which called for eight hours each for work, recreation and rest in a day. India is among the many countries that celebrate Labour Day annually on May 1. The first Labour Day in the country was organised by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan in Madras on May 1, 1923. On this day, banks and other public organisations in Assam, Bihar, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, West Bengal and Orissa observe a holiday various. On the same day, Maharashtra and Gujarat also celebrate a holiday as well as the two attained statehood in 1960. Internationally, over 80 countries celebrate Labour Day, while many others observe it unofficially. Germany, France, Portugal, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America, Iran, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South America, United States, Canada and Australia do not celebrate Labour Day on May 1. The doodle shows men and women doing various jobs around the redesigned Google logo. Men and women can be seen painting, gardening, doing computer work and fixing leaks in this doodle. More»

Verizon Communications Inc's chances of buying the 45-percent stake in Verizon Wireless owned by the UK's Vodafone Group Plc will hinge, at least in part, on the quality of tax advice it is getting. Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. telecommunications company, may have found a way to structure a purchase of the stake so that Vodafone can avoid a multi-billion dollar U.S. capital gains tax bill, sources familiar with Verizon's plans said. The possibility of a huge tax bill has previously been regarded by analysts as a big hurdle to any such deal. Reuters reported last Wednesday that Verizon was preparing a bid worth about $100 billion to take full control of Verizon Wireless - it already owns the other 55 percent - by buying the stake, according to people familiar with the matter. There are no guarantees that Vodafone will want to sell its stake or that Verizon will pursue the plan. More»

Facebook FB +2.72% Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has cut his annual pay to $1, according to a filing with the SEC late Friday. The social networking giant made the move effective Jan. 1.Zuckerberg’s compensation, excluding stock grants, was $2 million in 2012. His base pay was $503,000. He retains a controlling stake in the company, with nearly 486 million shares worth more than $13 billion. He exercised options on 60 million shares at the time of the IPO last year and sold about 30 million shares to cover taxes on the gains. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s total compensation leaned in to $26.2 million in 2012 from $31 million the previous year. According to the filing, Facebook’s compensation committee compares the company’s pay policies with a peer group that includes: More»

Google has been fined 145,000 euros (£125,000) by German data regulators for illegally recording information from unsecured wi-fi networks. The country's data chief called it "one of the biggest known data protection violations in history". But the regulator admitted the amount was "totally inadequate" as a deterrent to the company. The search giant said it unintentionally collected data including emails, passwords and photos. Google has said it never intended to store the personal data, which had been captured in 2008-10, while the company gathered material for its Street View service. The information has since been deleted, the data protection agency said. More»

Yahoo is still doing better as an investment house than as an Internet company. Its first-quarter earnings beat analysts’ expectations, but much of the gain was from its investments abroad. Since Marissa Mayer left Google to lead Yahoo nine months ago, the company’s stock is up more than 50 percent, buoyed less by optimism in Yahoo than Wall Street’s giddiness over Alibaba, the Chinese Internet company in which Yahoo retains a 20 percent stake. Alibaba has signaled that it is preparing for an initial public offering that analysts predict could value it at $55 billion to more than $120 billion, double to five times more than Yahoo’s $26.2 billion market capitalization. “If you own Yahoo for Alibaba, you’re doing just great,” said Colin Gillis, an Internet analyst at BGC Partners. “But if you own it for the core business, you’ve got some speed bumps.” More»