Facebook has become the most-visited site in the US after beating former title holder Google.
The popular social networking page toppled the search giant after accounting for 7.07 per cent of all US web traffic compared to Google’s 7.03 per cent, web analysts Hitwise revealed.
“It’s definitely a big moment for Facebook, even though they beat by a small margin,” News.com.au quoted Hitwise’s Matt Tatham as telling CNN.
He added, “People want information from friends they trust, versus the anonymity of a search engine.” The research did not include other Google services such as Gmail and YouTube.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Microsoft to launch Office 2010 by June
Global software giant Microsoft Corp. will launch the latest version of its popular application suite MS Office 2010 for Indian users in June, a top official said here Thursday.
“The Office 2010 will be available for both businesses and consumers in June,” Microsoft Corp.’s India Chairman Ravi Venkatesan told reporters here on the sidelines of an seminar on social inclusion here.
The latest version features office web applications which will include online versions of MS Word, Excel, Power Point and OneNot. It will allow sharing and collaboration of documents and files.
Microsoft had already released the beta version, a soft launch, of MS Office 2010 and related web applications in November 2009.
Early this month, the company also unveiled in India its latest offering in the area of cloud computing called Windows Azure that will help companies share software and storage facilities and bring down their total IT spend by as much as 50 per cent.
In cloud computing, companies share computer resources, such as servers, software and data storage, through the internet, instead of setting up such infrastructure at their own end.
World Bank provides $1.05 bn to improve education in India
The World Bank has approved two projects worth $ 1.05 billion (over Rs 4,800 crore) for India, aimed at expanding the reach of primary schools and the quality of engineering education in the country.
“The World Bank today approved two education projects worth USD 1.05 billion for India, designed to boost the number of children enrolling in and completing elementary school, and to improve quality of engineering education across the country,” it said in a statement.
It further said India has made significant progress in meeting its education goals, especially at the primary level.
Through its 86th constitutional amendment in 2002, India mandated elementary education as a fundamental right of every child.
The same year, the government also launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), a nationwide program to take quality elementary education to all children.
The Bank has supported the SSA with total grants of USD 1.1 billion since 2003, it added.
“SSA -- now the largest ongoing Education for All (EFA) program in the world -- has been remarkably successful, particularly in achieving greater access to elementary education,” said Roberto Zagha, World Bank Country Director for India.
Between 2003 and 2009, the number of children reportedly enrolled in elementary education in India increased by 57 million to 192 million.
Billionaires in ‘Cricket-Mad’ India Seek Market-Beating Teams
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Cricket has proven a better investment than the stock market for India’s billionaires, prompting tycoons to line up this weekend to buy new franchises.
The Indian Premier League, playing a three-hour version of the traditional five-day game, has set a March 21 deadline for prospective owners to bid for its ninth and 10th teams. The $225 million minimum is more than double the highest bid submitted for an original team.
The eight teams’ owners include Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fourth-richest man and chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.; billionaire Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB Group; Rupert Murdoch’s son, Lachlan; and movie megastar Shah Rukh Khan. The league’s appreciation outpaced last year’s 81 percent gain in India’s benchmark Sensitive Index, the most in 18 years.
“The speed with which the IPL has been able to generate value in a very short span of time is astonishing,” said Unni Krishnan, managing director of Brand Finance in India. “I would bet that there is no comparable brand in the world.”
Growth was fueled by a $1.8 billion TV contract with a Sony Corp. unit and a deal with Google Inc. to show matches on YouTube. Now IPL founder and chairman Lalit Modi, 46, wants to bring the fast-paced version of the game, called Twenty20, to the U.S. Modi met USA Cricket Association Chief Executive Officer Donald Lockerbie in Dubai last month to discuss holding IPL matches on American fields, or pitches, by 2011.
Brand Value Doubled
The IPL has more than doubled its brand value to $4.13 billion now from $2.01 billion in 2009, according to Brand Finance Plc.
“The IPL is a powerful new product in the sports industry and we will work hard to see USA Cricket and the IPL succeed together and energize the growth of cricket in our country,” Lockerbie said after the initial meeting.
The two organizations will meet again in May.
The bidders this weekend will include billionaire Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon Industries Ltd., which makes mobile phones and other consumer durables.
“It’s a good business proposal and I was also the captain of a college team and know how to handle the cricketers,” he said yesterday.
$1 Billion Net Worth
This will be the second attempt at an auction, initially scheduled for March 7. Bidders originally were required to have a net worth of at least $1 billion and to pay an advance bank guarantee of $100 million if they won. Modi dropped those requirements after several companies complained, he said on Twitter. He didn’t identify them.
Bids submitted before the auction’s original date included Dhoot; Gautam Adani, whose Adani Group owns ports and power plants; and Jaiprakash Gaur’s construction company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd., the Hindu Business Line reported.
Jaiprakash Associates spokeswoman Sunita Joshi and Adani Enterprises Ltd. spokesman Devendra Amin didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.
The IPL is fortified by the world’s second-fastest growing major economy, where gross domestic product may expand 8.2 percent in the fiscal year starting April 1, the Finance Ministry said Feb. 25. That’s up from an estimated 7.2 percent this year.
TV Revenue
It is modeled after major American sports leagues, where teams maintain membership regardless of performance -- unlike soccer’s English Premier League -- and share TV revenue, said Stefan Szymanski, a professor at Cass Business School in London. The IPL’s growth has come even as the league played last season in South Africa because of security concerns after the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.
“The IPL is structured in a way that should work economically for the owners,” Szymanski said. “The incentive structure of football encourages teams to invest beyond their means.”
The first IPL champion, the Rajasthan Royals, cost $67 million in 2008. Last year, actress Shilpa Shetty and her husband bought an 11.7 percent stake that valued the club at $140 million.
“This is probably the highest appreciation for any franchise in the history of modern-day sports,” Modi said.
Brand Finance, of London, increased the IPL’s valuation after Multi Screen Media Pvt., a unit of Tokyo-based Sony Corp., signed a nine-year broadcast deal before the 2009 season for a total of 82 billion rupees.
Fashion Show
The IPL generated $200 million in revenue in its inaugural year from streams including ticket sales, uniform advertisements and merchandising. Modi sold title sponsorships, named an official drinks maker and organized a fashion show.
The league’s YouTube page generated about 10 million views since its third season started March 12, according to the Web site. Advertisers include HSBC Holdings Plc, Hewlett-Packard Co., Coca-Cola Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Teams use that money to pay some of cricket’s highest salaries. In a January auction, Ambani bid $2.5 million for Trinidadian Kieron Pollard, the NDTV 24X7 channel reported.
Former England national team captains Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were acquired for $1.55 million each last year.
Ownership is more than about money, Szymanski and owners said. It brings increased brand awareness and membership in a display of the nation’s No. 1 sport.
“Everybody knew that India was cricket-mad and there was a potential for a commercial cricket competition in India,” Szymanski said. “The question was: Could you pull it off? Lalit Modi proved that you could.”
The Indian Premier League, playing a three-hour version of the traditional five-day game, has set a March 21 deadline for prospective owners to bid for its ninth and 10th teams. The $225 million minimum is more than double the highest bid submitted for an original team.
The eight teams’ owners include Mukesh Ambani, the world’s fourth-richest man and chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.; billionaire Vijay Mallya, chairman of UB Group; Rupert Murdoch’s son, Lachlan; and movie megastar Shah Rukh Khan. The league’s appreciation outpaced last year’s 81 percent gain in India’s benchmark Sensitive Index, the most in 18 years.
“The speed with which the IPL has been able to generate value in a very short span of time is astonishing,” said Unni Krishnan, managing director of Brand Finance in India. “I would bet that there is no comparable brand in the world.”
Growth was fueled by a $1.8 billion TV contract with a Sony Corp. unit and a deal with Google Inc. to show matches on YouTube. Now IPL founder and chairman Lalit Modi, 46, wants to bring the fast-paced version of the game, called Twenty20, to the U.S. Modi met USA Cricket Association Chief Executive Officer Donald Lockerbie in Dubai last month to discuss holding IPL matches on American fields, or pitches, by 2011.
Brand Value Doubled
The IPL has more than doubled its brand value to $4.13 billion now from $2.01 billion in 2009, according to Brand Finance Plc.
“The IPL is a powerful new product in the sports industry and we will work hard to see USA Cricket and the IPL succeed together and energize the growth of cricket in our country,” Lockerbie said after the initial meeting.
The two organizations will meet again in May.
The bidders this weekend will include billionaire Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon Industries Ltd., which makes mobile phones and other consumer durables.
“It’s a good business proposal and I was also the captain of a college team and know how to handle the cricketers,” he said yesterday.
$1 Billion Net Worth
This will be the second attempt at an auction, initially scheduled for March 7. Bidders originally were required to have a net worth of at least $1 billion and to pay an advance bank guarantee of $100 million if they won. Modi dropped those requirements after several companies complained, he said on Twitter. He didn’t identify them.
Bids submitted before the auction’s original date included Dhoot; Gautam Adani, whose Adani Group owns ports and power plants; and Jaiprakash Gaur’s construction company Jaiprakash Associates Ltd., the Hindu Business Line reported.
Jaiprakash Associates spokeswoman Sunita Joshi and Adani Enterprises Ltd. spokesman Devendra Amin didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.
The IPL is fortified by the world’s second-fastest growing major economy, where gross domestic product may expand 8.2 percent in the fiscal year starting April 1, the Finance Ministry said Feb. 25. That’s up from an estimated 7.2 percent this year.
TV Revenue
It is modeled after major American sports leagues, where teams maintain membership regardless of performance -- unlike soccer’s English Premier League -- and share TV revenue, said Stefan Szymanski, a professor at Cass Business School in London. The IPL’s growth has come even as the league played last season in South Africa because of security concerns after the November 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai.
“The IPL is structured in a way that should work economically for the owners,” Szymanski said. “The incentive structure of football encourages teams to invest beyond their means.”
The first IPL champion, the Rajasthan Royals, cost $67 million in 2008. Last year, actress Shilpa Shetty and her husband bought an 11.7 percent stake that valued the club at $140 million.
“This is probably the highest appreciation for any franchise in the history of modern-day sports,” Modi said.
Brand Finance, of London, increased the IPL’s valuation after Multi Screen Media Pvt., a unit of Tokyo-based Sony Corp., signed a nine-year broadcast deal before the 2009 season for a total of 82 billion rupees.
Fashion Show
The IPL generated $200 million in revenue in its inaugural year from streams including ticket sales, uniform advertisements and merchandising. Modi sold title sponsorships, named an official drinks maker and organized a fashion show.
The league’s YouTube page generated about 10 million views since its third season started March 12, according to the Web site. Advertisers include HSBC Holdings Plc, Hewlett-Packard Co., Coca-Cola Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Teams use that money to pay some of cricket’s highest salaries. In a January auction, Ambani bid $2.5 million for Trinidadian Kieron Pollard, the NDTV 24X7 channel reported.
Former England national team captains Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff were acquired for $1.55 million each last year.
Ownership is more than about money, Szymanski and owners said. It brings increased brand awareness and membership in a display of the nation’s No. 1 sport.
“Everybody knew that India was cricket-mad and there was a potential for a commercial cricket competition in India,” Szymanski said. “The question was: Could you pull it off? Lalit Modi proved that you could.”
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