Dropbox raises $250 million in new funding
* Has 45 million usersOct 18 (Reuters) - Dropbox, the company behind the virtual
file cabinet that allows users to access documents, photos and
videos from different devices, said it had raised $250 million
in funding.Index Ventures led the series B round from participants
that also included Benchmark Capital, Goldman Sachs ,
Greylock Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, RIT Capital
Partners, and Valiant Capital Partners.Dropbox plans to tap the money for expansion —through
acquisitions and partnerships — as well as for new hires.The San Francisco-based company said it had 45 million
users who access 1 billion files every three days. It provides
a certain amount of storage for free before charging people for
extra capacity.Dropbox, which has not disclosed its revenue, competes with
other services like Google Inc’s free Docs.So far, Dropbox raised $257.2 million that includes early
investors Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, and Hadi and Ali
Partovi.
UPDATE 3-Canadian insurers sag on Sun Life’s loss warning
* Shares drop 9.2 percent; Manulife, Great-West also down* Analyst does not expect warnings from ManulifeBy Cameron FrenchTORONTO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Shares of Canadian insurers
sank on Monday after Sun Life Financial warned it will
post a loss in its third quarter due to falling bond yields and
stock markets.Sun Life, Canada’s No. 3 insurer, was down more than 9
percent just after midday, after it said it expects to report a
loss of C$621 million ($615 million) in the quarter. On an
operating basis, the company said the loss would be C$572
million.The forecast - which also weighed on shares of rivals
Manulife Financial and Great-West Lifeco -
contrasted with analysts’ expectations of a net loss of C$49
million and an operating profit of C$259 million, according to
Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.”September was a gruesome month,” Caldwell Securities
portfolio manager John Kinsey said of the 9 percent drop in
Canadian stocks, which hit Sun Life’s bottom line.”We weren’t expecting too much (from Sun Life).”Life insurers hold stocks and bonds to guarantee they’ll be
able to pay future investment and insurance policy obligations.
When the value of their portfolios fall on a quarterly basis,
they use profits to bulk up reserves.”Losses from equity market and interest rate movements were
at the high end of the ranges previously disclosed,” Sun Life
said in a statement.The Toronto Stock Exchange’s benchmark S&P/TSX composite
index fell 12.6 percent in the third quarter, while
bond yields retreated due to economic uncertainty in Europe and
the United States.Volatile markets have played havoc with insurers’ results
over the past few years, and the difficulty of projecting the
impact of the market gyrations has led to surprises during
earnings disclosure periods.For instance, Sun Life surprised the market in the second
quarter by recording a gain from its bond portfolio, despite
declining yields.But a company official said last month that the decline in
yields during the third quarter had a bigger impact because it
was tilted towards the longer-term debt that insurers hold.The Toronto-based insurer said it remained well capitalized
despite the loss. The company plans to release third-quarter
results on Nov. 2.Manulife, meanwhile, is expected to post a net loss of just
over C$1 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, with an
operating profit of C$543 million.Manulife took more than C$3 billion in losses during the
second and third quarters of 2010 due to weak markets, but has
since hedged much of its equity and bond exposure to reduce its
earnings volatility.BMO Capital Markets analyst Tom MacKinnon said in a note he
does not expect a similar negative warning from Manulife, due
its more detailed disclosure of market impacts.Great-West Life has considerably less market exposure than
either Sun Life or Manulife.Sun Life stock was down 9.2 percent at C$24.02, while
Manulife sank 5.4 percent to C$12.24, and Great-West slid 2.6
percent to C$21.47.
Iran says happy to examine U.S. plot allegations
“We are prepared to examine any issue, even if fabricated, seriously and patiently, and we have called on America to submit to us any information in regard to this scenario,” Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.U.S. authorities said last week they had foiled a plot to kill Saudi’s ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir, and had arrested an Iranian-U.S. joint national — news that raised tensions between Tehran, its Arab neighbors and the West.President Barack Obama said the foiled plot should lead to tighter sanctions against Iran — already under several rounds of U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program — and repeated that all options are on the table to deal with the Islamic republic, a tacit threat of possible military action.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday he had passed correspondence about the U.S. suspicions of Iran’s involvement in the alleged plot to the U.N. Security Council.Tehran says Washington fabricated the plot to divert attention from its own economic problems and increase pressure on Iran, which it has long considered a supporter of “terrorist” groups with nuclear weapons ambitions.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned the West Iran will counter any “inappropriate measure” taken against it and said he had no fear of military or sanctions threats.”Despite the high military, security, propaganda and sanctions pressure, the Islamic Republic is proud not to back down even an iota during the past 32 years,” he said in a televised speech during a tour of Kermanshah province.”The Iranian nation and its officials will not yield to the enemies’ blackmailing and pressure.”NUCLEAR ADVANCESThe plot furor appears to have killed any chance of a rapid return to talks between Tehran and world powers concerned about its nuclear program, but Salehi said Iran continued to make strides in the technology it says is for purely peaceful ends.Salehi conceded Iran had initially feared the assassination of a nuclear scientist in Tehran last November — which it blamed on Israel — had dealt a severe blow to a key part of its atomic work.”When (Majid) Shahriyari was martyred we were worried because he was the only person who knew about this professional field (enriching uranium to 20 percent purity),” he said.”But after our trip to (the nuclear plant in the city of) Isfahan, I understood that the graceful martyr had trained about 20 people in his workshops. Right now we have several thousand nuclear engineers and there is almost nothing in the nuclear issue that we want to achieve but cannot.”Iran’s announcement last year that it had escalated uranium enrichment from the low level needed for electricity production to 20 percent, alarmed many countries that feared it was a key step toward making material potent enough for a nuclear bomb.Tehran says the fuel is needed to make isotopes for cancer treatment and previous nuclear talks focused on a deal to deliver ready-made fuel for its medical reactor in exchange for some of Iran’s stock of low-enriched uranium.Salehi said in January — ahead of the last round of nuclear talks that then stalled — that such a fuel swap deal was becoming less relevant as Iran would be able to produce its own fuel plates for the reactor in the first half of the Iranian year, which began in March.With that deadline already passed, Salehi said on Monday Iran would be producing the medical reactor fuel within the next four to five months. He said Iran had produced almost 70 kg (150 lb) of 20 percent enriched uranium, up from an estimated 40 kg in January.
Zambia’s Sata wants new constitution in 90 days
* Zambia to encourage joint ventures with foreignersBy Chris MfulaLUSAKA, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Zambia’s new President Michael
Sata announced plans to overhaul the constitution on Friday, the
latest step in his top-to-bottom review of the way Africa’s top
copper producer is run.Sata did not give details about what he wanted to change
although much of his September election victory was built on a
platform of re-balancing the economy in favour of local
investors rather than foreigners.He said the government would appoint a committee to come up
with a new nationally acceptable constitution for Zambia within
90 days.Foreign investors, especially in the key mining sector,
have been nervous about what policies Sata would introduce but
he said any changes would be preceded by consultations.At the opening of parliament on Friday, Sata criticised the
policies of the previous government for stifling local
enterprise.”This has been largely due to lopsided policies of the
previous government, which tended to favour foreigners at the
expense of local investors,” he said, adding he would encourage
joint ventures between foreigners and locals.”While Zambia will continue to welcome foreign direct
investment, it must be understood that the most sustainable and
lasting investment must come from Zambian people,” he said.Sata won the presidency largely supported by the youth and
said he owed young people jobs and would introduce programmes
that empowered them.Part of his plan is to lower interest rates at commercial
banks, although he did not give a time-frame.Currently, Zambia does not use a key lending rate as a
monetary policy tool but has been talking about introducing it
since 2009.
US SMALL/MIDCAPS-Stocks flat after run-up, earnings eyed
Both indexes have risen more than 11 percent in the past
week on signs of progress in tackling the euro zone debt crisis
and on stronger-than-expected U.S. economic data.”After a gain of better than 3 percent yesterday, people
are going to take a little off the table — but we are still
buying these stocks. We think they are too cheap,” said Gary
Bradshaw, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in
Dallas, Texas.”You are going to get a little noise out of Greece, a
little noise out of Slovakia and other places, but it’s just a
bump in the long-term upward trend.”Investor focus is expected to shift from macro to micro as
earnings season gets under way when Alcoa Inc posts
quarterly results after Tuesday’s stock market close.”There are just too many pessimistic folks out there, even
on the large caps on down and that earnings are going to pan
out … these stocks should do well,” said Bradshaw.The S&P MidCap 400 index rose 0.2 percent, while the
S&P SmallCap 600 index added 0.1 percent. The benchmark
Standard & Poor’s 500 index , in comparison, gained
0.2 percent.Midcap 99 Cents Only Stores climbed 4.4 percent to
$21.40 after Ares Management LLC and Canada Pension Plan
Investment Board agreed to buy the discount retailer for about
$1.6 billion in cash, topping a rival offer by private equity
firm Leonard Green & Partners.
