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| Huffington Post Bergabung dengan AOL Posted: 07 Feb 2011 10:03 PM PST
Akuisisi tersebut diumumkan Senin (7/2/2011) waktu AS. Meski dilanda kerugian 780 juta dollar AS tahun lalu, AOL menggelontorkan 315 juta dollar AS dalam bentuk tunai sebesar 300 juta dollar AS dan saham AOL sebesar 15 juta dollar AS untuk menguasai Huffington Post. Sejauh ini, nilai akuisisi tersebut merupakan yang terbesar dilakukan AOL di bawah CEO Tim Amstrong. Namun, Amstrong dalam sebuah wawancara yakin akusisi tersebut memberikan kesempatan besar bagi AOL untuk menarik lebih banyak lagi pengunjung dan pengiklan. Satu hal yang membuatnya sangat mengincar Huffington Post adalah kualitas berita, pembaca, dan kontributornya yang terdiri dari para pebisnis, doktor, dan rektor universitas.  Huffington Post yang tumbuh dari nol sejak tahun 2005 sebagai jaringan blog kini telah menarik 25 juta pengunjung di AS saja belum di dunia. Kontennya luas dari soal politik hingga gaya hidup dan dilengkapi video hasil tulisan sekitar 6000 kontributornya yang menulis secara cuma-cuma tanpa bayaran. Tokoh-tokoh terkemuka pernah menulis di situs ini termasuk Bill Gates dan Barack Obama. Sementara proses akuisisi tengah diselesaikan sampai akhir tahun ini, pendiri Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington akan masuk ke dalam manajemen AOL. Arianna akan menangani beragam konten yang dimiliki perusahaan tersebut seperti situs teknologi Engadget dan TechCrunch, situs lokal Patch.com, dan layanan peta MapQuest. Chief Financial Officer (CFO) AOL Arthur Minson berharap pihaknya dapat meraup 50 juta dollar AS dari Huffington Post tahun ini. AOL sendiri sepanjang tahun 2010 lalu memperoleh pendapatan 2,42 miliar dollar AS dengan 53 persen pendapatAn dari iklan. Dengan mengakuisisi Huffington Post, kata Minson, kedua pihak dapat menghemat 20 juta dollar AS dengan penggunaan sumber daya yang sama. Sumber : AP  |
| Asian Currencies Hit Multi-Year Highs As Risk Appetite Revives Posted: 07 Feb 2011 10:01 PM PST
 Several Asian currencies hit multi-year highs against the dollar Tuesday as revived risk appetite encouraged investors to plough money back into the region. A rally in regional share prices, triggered in part by strength on Wall Street overnight and a decline in crude oil prices, set a bullish tone in Asia. Investors appear to be buying into the notion Asian central banks will use a combination of stronger currencies and higher interest rates this year to temper inflation. The Malaysian ringgit and Taiwan dollar rose to their highest levels since October 1997, when the Asian financial crisis sent those and other regional currencies into a tailspin. The South Korean won, which has lagged in the broad Asian currency appreciation last year, struck levels not seen since the Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008 clobbered Asian currencies. The Indonesia rupiah added to gains it has made since Friday, when the country's central bank raised interest rates and signaled it would use a stronger local currency to rein in inflation that has surged above its target band. The rupiah had been hurt by concerns that Jakarta was falling behind the curve in containing inflation, but has now nearly recovered the losses it had logged since mid-November when such worries began to escalate. Inflation has been picking up in Asia, fueled by fast economic growth, loose monetary policies and soaring prices of food and commodities on global markets. Central banks across the region have increased interest rates and taken steps to soak up liquidity that has gushed into the region as investors hunted for higher returns that were available in low interest-rate environments in the U.S. and Europe. "The final tool in the armory of the region's authorities is FX appreciation," Fiona Lake, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a research note. "Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan have shown greater desire for currency appreciation to help tackle inflation." The won has some catching up to do with Asia's strongest currencies of the past year: the Singapore dollar, the Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht. The Bank of Korea has also turned more hawkish in its comments on tackling rising inflation. Economists at Nomura expect the BOK to deliver its first back-to-back 25 basis-point hike at its next meeting Friday, followed by 25 basis points of moves in April and June, lifting the official rate to 3.50% by the end of the year. What's more, the U.S. has put the won on its list of currencies for which "there is room for a greater degree of exchange-rate stability and less intervention." The Treasury Department, in its annual foreign exchange report Friday, cited International Monetary Fund calculations that the won is 5%-20% undervalued. The U.S. likely has more leverage with Korea than with China on currency matters. Sean Callow, a strategist at Westpac, points out that Congress hasn't ratified the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Lee Myung-bak in December. The dollar fell to KRW1,102.50 from KRW1,107.50 late Monday. It was last at KRW1,104.20. Against the Taiwan dollar, the U.S. currency was at NT$28.9180 at 0800 GMT, after earlier touching NT$28.900, its lowest intraday level since October 1997, on foreign capital flows into Taipei stocks on the first trading day after the Lunar New Year holidays. A trader said the market is on the lookout for the Taiwan central bank, which is thought to intervene regularly near the close of trading to smooth out moves in the currency. Against the rupiah, the dollar was around IDR8,910, back near the IDR8,890 level at which it traded in mid-November, before concerns over inflation started to permeate the market. The dollar carved out a fresh 13-year low against the ringgit, last trading at MYR3.0330. That was down from MYR3.0360 late Monday, when traders said the Malaysian central bank intervened in the market to temper the local currency's rise. Dealers were on the alert for the possibility of further intervention Tuesday to curb the ringgit. Against the Singapore dollar, which has recently logged record highs, the U.S. currency was at SGD1.2734, down from SGD1.2746 late Monday as risk appetite gathers momentum, especially for regional currencies, said a trader with a foreign bank. "Flows are coming back into Asia mainly because investors are betting on the strong (economic) fundamentals in the region," he said. The baht and Philippine peso were also higher Tuesday, helped by the broader rally in Asian currencies. Sumber :Dow Jones  |
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