REDMOND, Wa. ? When's the last time you heard of a layoff at Microsoft? Well, you have now. The software maker said Thursday it will cut up to 5,000 jobs, or 5 percent of its workforce, over the next 18 months. About 1,400 jobs were eliminated immediately. Microsoft is also paring other expenses, such as
ANN ARBOR - Six Michigan technology companies split $12,500 in cash prizes awarded by the Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest in its fall 2008 business-plan writing contest. The grand prize of $5,000 went to Hygieia, a biotech start up in Ann Arbor. Hygieia was entered in the Emerging Company category; the other category is New Business
LANSING - While security advisers in Washington, D.C., grapple with the president's desire to use a Blackberry, in Michigan all four legislative caucuses are finding new ways to message by tapping into the power of technology. The explosion of technology, from Facebook and Twitter to podcasts and blogging, has made its own impression on the
LONDON, U.K - comScore reported that total global Internet audience (age 15 and older from home and work computers) has surpassed 1 billion visitors in December 2008, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 percent, followed by
LANSING - Crashing into statistical territory not seen in better than two decades, Michigan's unemployment rate hit 10.6 percent in December, statistics released by the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth showed Wednesday. The increase means that at the end of 2008 an estimated 519,000 workers were out of a job. And the news
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama was sworn in Tuesday as the 44th president under sunny skies and before an ocean of humanity, calling on the nation to put aside greed, irresponsibility and "our collective failure to make hard choices" - and turn back the "raging storms" of war and recession. In an ambitious, 20-minute address, Obama
DETROIT - Hallelujah, Chrysler has been saved - again! Fiat is going to take a 35 percent equity position in Chrysler, even though it will not fork over any cash. Instead, Fiat is going to immediately give Chrysler full access to its platforms, powertrains, components and distribution system, and that alone could be worth billions.
BURLINGAME, Calif.- Fund-raising by U.S. venture capitalists plunged 71 percent in the fourth quarter, squeezed by the global economic recession and a decreasing appetite for risk by big, institutional investors. Venture capitalists-who take stakes in start-up companies, hoping to profit later when they go public or are sold-raised just $3.4 billion from investors in the
SOUTHFIELD - Advanced propulsion technology is becoming a critical area in the automotive industry. In response to the demand for skilled professionals to fill job opportunities in that field, the Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD) along with General Motors Corporation and Michigan Technological University have teamed up to help Michigan's displaced automotive engineers re-train, re-tool
LANSING - Michigan's 15 public universities will continue efforts to train Michigan residents and provide them employment in Michigan, but they need more state funding to keep up those efforts, the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan said in an editorial Tuesday. Thomas Hass, president of Grand Valley State University and chair of the Presidents