Google lost yet more of its shine this week after a senior executive admitted growth at the company was slowing. Shares in Google fell 13% in early trading on Wall Street after chief financial officer George Reyes told an investor conference in New York that ”growth will slow”, although he added: ”Will it be precipitous? I doubt it.”
Vodafone wiped £28-billion off the value of its business recently as it warned that tough competition in its core European markets, regulatory price cuts and the effect of new technology, such as free calls on the Internet, will hurt profits. The news, the company’s third warning about tough trading in four months, sent its shares into reverse, increasing pressure on embattled chief executive Arun Sarin.
BP was forced to defend its environmental policy last week after it admitted its production of greenhouse gases increased last year. The world’s second-biggest quoted oil producer produced more than 85-million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2004, up from 83,4-million tonnes in the previous year, according to the company’s green report published last week.
The US government ”remains concerned” that Microsoft is making it difficult for rivals to access Windows despite being ordered to open up its software to competitors last year.