The Fly Or Die Commerce Report: The E-Book Takeover?

Book retailers are reporting a sharp decline in revenue. Borders bookstore has filed for bankruptcy, and Barnes & Noble has reported a 25% drop in net profits in its last accounting quarter.

The emergence of e-books is noted as the main contributing factor for the drop in tangible book sales.

According to the BBC, Barnes & Noble has made a vertical integration move by "investing heavily in its Nook electronic book reader." The famous book retailer is hoping that its move into selling e-books will help them eventually regain their position in the marketplace.

[SIDEBAR: I'm not a fan of e-books. Also, thinking a bit further I fear a world where all information is transmitted digitally.]

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report: YouTube Expands Into Video Rentals

By the end of the week, the Google-owned video website- YouTube- plans to introduce their visitors to a new video rental service.

According to CNN, YouTube has joined with the Sundance Film Festival to release a handful of films to their users for paid rentals. The currently chosen films will be available until the end of the month.

CNN states that YouTube "is on the hunt for additional independent film makers...Allowing those it selects to [:] Keep their rights, decide where they want their content to be available, the price of their video and the rental duration."

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

According to CNN, General Electric is in negotiations to sell a majority stake of its holding- NBC Universal to Comcast.

CNN states that NBC Universal is one of the world's largest media companies. It is reportedly valued at approximately $30 billion.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

According to Forbes, China has a surprising new burgeoning asset- Garlic.

Forbes states that the wholesale price of garlic has multiplied 40 times since March; causing it to surpass gold as the "best-performing asset in China."

The rise in the value of garlic is being attributed to its decline in supply.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce

According to The BBC, Linn Products will be the first manufacturer to cease producing CD players. The company has stated that they will switch their focus to manufacturing digital streaming equipment.

Although the company will terminate compact disc production, they will also continue to make vinyl record players. Music recorded on vinyl and their associated products has recently seen a re-emergence of popularity. However, with the declining sales of CDs, more CD player manufacturers may begin to follow Linn Product's lead.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

Converting the United States' electrical grid so it is compatible with "digital age" technology is a multi-billion dollar undertaking. President Obama recently revealed his plan to disperse $3.4 billion in stimulus grants to help facilitate the conversion.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "about 100 companies and communities in 45 states and territories will receive federal subsidies to modernize the electric grid. The administration promised the projects would create 'tens of thousands of jobs.'"

The Wall Street Journal also reports that companies and regions in Florida received more than $267 million in grant money; and North Carolina received more than $400 million.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

The utilization of alternative energy sources has quickly turned into a billion dollar business in the U.S.

The New York Times is reporting that a $1.5 billion wind farm will be built in Texas. Construction is to begin in March.

According to The New York Times, the wind farm "will be financed largely by Chinese banks, with the help of loan guarantees and cash grants from the United States government...The wind farm will be the first instance of a Chinese manufacturer exporting wind turbines to the United States."

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway, just made its biggest purchase in the company's history.

According to CNN, Berkshire Hathaway brought Burlington Northern Sante Fe for $44 billion.

Burlington Northern is a railroad operation. However, they also own other businesses such as: Fruit of the Loom, and Geico.

CNN states that news of the acquisition caused Burlington Northern's stocks to rise 28% on the morning of the announcement.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

The internet is about to go through a transformation that The BBC says has been described as: "the biggest change to the way the internet works since it was created 40 years ago." The change is expected to narrow language barriers amongst internet users.

Internet domain names in languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and Russian will soon be implemented (likely by next year). The plan for the use of "non-Latin script" in website addresses was approved by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) in 2008. However, since the approval, the system has been going through testing.

The BBC states that the objective of the new domain name systems is "to create a universal internet address code that will work in any language and every place so all the world's computers can connect with each other."

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

Earlier this month McGraw Hill entered into negotiations to sell their entity Business Week to Bloomberg L.P.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the magazine will likely be renamed "Bloomberg Business Week." The Wall Street Journal also states that "Bloomberg has moved aggressively in the past couple of years to bulk up its news organizations."

[It Doesn't Take A Rocket Scientist To Figure This Out SIDEBAR: I wonder if this is why Bloomberg is getting so many endorsements by the press for his mayoral campaign.]

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

Google has reportedly struck a licensing deal with the 4 major record labels (Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony, and Universal), which will allow them to permit Google-users to buy and listen to music from the Google search results page. The deal is said to be a maneuver by Google to stay relevant and competitive with new search engines- namely Microsoft's Bing.

According to The Wall Street Journal, while Google is the clear leader in the search engine market (they had 64.9% of the online queries in the U.S.); Microsoft's Bing is slowly increasing in popularity. Bing had 9.4% of the queries in the United States in September 2009. This is a 1.4% increase from their May 2009 stats.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

Are you in the market to purchase a home? If so, CNN is reporting that:

"Home values are predicted to drop in 342 out of 381 markets during the next year...Overall, the national median home price is predicted to drop 11.3% by June 30, 2010."

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

According to Money magazine's November 2009 issue, top universities are now posting lectures online for free download. Right now, obtaining college credits are not associated with the free lecture downloads. However, you can imagine the implications.

Will this new trend eventually revolutionize how people can earn their college, and advanced education, degrees? Will it make education monetarily less expensive? [SIDEBAR: Can excessive student loans cease to be, or is that wishful thinking?]

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report: Will Live Nation & Ticket Master Merge?

According to The Wall Street Journal, a proposed merger between Live Nation and Ticket Master is facing strict restrictions from the Justice Department. Insiders close to the negotiations allege that the Justice Department has threatened to sue to block the deal if it goes through as proposed.

The attempted joining of "the world's largest concert promoter" and the ticket retailing giant is under review by antitrust officials. The vertical integration of these companies could create a huge monopoly.

The Wall Street Journal states that Live Nation's shares closed at $7.96 yesterday; while Ticket Master's closed at $11.31.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report: Home Warranty Plans

"Sellers will often pay for a home warranty protection plan. These plans provide that if certain problems occur in the home, the insurance company (rather than the seller) will automatically cover them...

The warranty plan requires the seller to sign a statement acknowledging that, as of the close of escrow, the property is in good condition with no defects. If there are known defects, the warranty plan will usually exclude them from coverage.

Hence, while the warranty plan is very useful for covering smaller problems that may later turn up (such as a leaking water heater or a broken furnace), it may provide little of no protection against more serious defects, such as a broken foundation or bad roof, particularly those disclosed or discovered prior to the close of sale." -From, "Tips & Traps When Buying A Condo, Co-Op, or Townhouse" By: Robert Irwin

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

Last week, General Motors agreed to sell its Hummer Trucks division to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Company, a Chinese car manufacturer. The $150 million deal is reportedly the first time that a Chinese company has brought into the American car industry on a major level.

General motors will continue to manufacture Hummers until 2012- at the latest. After that the brand will be manufactured and marketed by its new owners.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

IBM (International Business Machines) Corp. Is attempting to expand its business by selling its wares on the continent of Africa.

According to The Wall Street Journal, although the African market for information technology is currently relatively small, it is growing- even during the recession. That makes it an attractive market. The Wall Street Journal states that the information technology market in Africa is predicted to grow by 2.3% this year to $22.1 billion.

IBM will be competing with Microsoft, and other internet providers, for African customers. Microsoft has already struck licensing deals with several African governments, including Egypt and Libya.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

For quite a few weeks, financial news outlets have been reporting on Kraft Inc's desire to purchase Cadbury (the company that is popular for its chocolate products) in a multi-billion dollar deal.

The United Kingdom based Cadbury has issued an ultimatum to Kraft Foods. They have states that they will give the United States food giant a month-and-a-half to make a formal bid, or all negotiations will be shut down.

According to The Wall Street Journal, there is speculation that Nestle or Hershey may also have an interest in bidding for Cadbury in the near future.

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report: The Billion Dollar Vaccine Business

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Vaccine sales are growing faster than sales of other prescription medicines...Government agencies both in the U.S. and around the world are increasingly reliable buyers of the vaccines." With the on slaught of news reports warning of a "flu epidemic," drug companies are eager to do business with vaccine manufacturers.

The Wall Street Journal reveals that Johnson & Johnson has brought. 18% of a Dutch biotech company for $441 million. This purchase will allow the companies to collaborate on creating vaccines. Other companies are also making similar deals.

Merck & Company has purchased the rights to market a seasonal flu vaccine from the Australian-based company CSL Ltd. Abbott Laboratories is negotiating a multi-billion dollar deal that reportedly "includes a vaccine-making business." Also, Pfizer Inc. purchased a drug company that specializes in vaccines earlier this year.

The Wall Street Journal" has quoted one of the leading vaccine makers as saying, "Vaccines are expected to generate $21.5 billion in sales by 2012."

Today's Fly Or Die Commerce Report

Two-time Presidential Candidate, Ross Perot, is reportedly in negotiations to sell his internet service provider company (Perot Systems) to Dell Computers in an all-cash deal. The sale of Perot Systems, which was founded in 1988, will reportedly result in an approximately $3.9 billion windfall (collectively) for the company's shareholders. The deal is expected to be finalized by January 2010.