CSR (Nasdaq: CSRE) Selling Mobile Phone Chip Unit To Samsung; Stock Soars

Orlando, FL 7/17/12 (StreetBeat) – Chip Maker CSR Plc (Nasdaq: CSRE) announced today its agreement to sell its development operations in handset chips to Samsung for $310 million in cash. This deal includes both the shift of 310 people and 21 U.S. patents to Samsung, which will be licensed back to CSR on a royalty free bases in perpetuity.

The deal, expected to close in Q4, will accretive to EPS in 2013. It will give CSR net proceeds at about $209 million after taxes, restructuring costs and other transaction-related expenses. Samsung will take a 4.9% equity stake in CSR with a $34.4 mil investment.

CSR said the deal will “will transform the profile of CSR’s business and its growth prospects, accelerate its strategy of focusing on high growth markets where it has leadership positions and the ability to deliver differentiated platforms and products, and strengthen earnings per share.”

Five high growth markets CSR will focus on includes Voice & Music, Automotive Infotainment, Indoors Location, Imaging and Bluetooth.

Meanwhile, CSR also said that it expects to report Q2 revenue at the top end of its previous guidance range of $260 million to $280 million. And the company said it is on track to hit consensus revenue estimates for the full year.

CSRE in U.S. trading is up $4.67, or 34.4%, to $18.23.

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Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to cut 10,000 jobs as Q2 weak

Northern, WI 6/14/12 (StreetBeat) – Nokia (NYSE:NOK) plans to cut one in five jobs at its global cellphone business as it loses market share to rivals Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and Samsung (OTCBB:SSNLF) and burns through cash, raising new fears over its future.

In a second profit warning in nine weeks, Nokia said on Thursday that its phone business would post a deeper-than-expected loss in the second quarter due to tougher competition.

Once the world's dominant mobile phone provider, Nokia was wrongfooted by the rise of smartphones and is struggling to keep up with Apple, Samsumg and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG). It is also losing market share in cheaper, more basic phones.

Chief Executive Stephen Elop is placing hopes of a turnaround on a new range of smartphones called Lumia, which use largely untried Microsoft Corp (Nasdaq: MSFT) software. But Lumia sales have so far been slow, disappointing investors.

"The job cuts and profit warning underline the seriousness of the challenges Nokia is facing, particularly in light of the eye-watering competition from Apple and Samsung," said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

Nokia, whose cash position is increasingly scrutinized by investors, also said restructuring-related cash outflows would be around 650 million euros in the remaining three quarters of 2012 and around 600 million in 2013.

Shares in Finland-based Nokia were down 10.5 percent to 1.99 euros, below the psychologically important 2 euros mark last, not seen since 1996. The stock has crashed more than 70 percent since it announced the switch to Microsoft's software in February 2011.

Analysts have said that even with the dramatic fall in the share price, the worsening outlook made it hard to judge how much lower the shares could go.

"I won't comment on the stock price anymore, since it's been seen over and over, that there is no definitive bottom," said Evli analyst Mikko Ervasti.

"People are worried over Lumia sales. I think expectations for the third quarter will be cut," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies.

The job cuts, which include the closure of Nokia's only plant in Finland, bring total planned cuts at the group since Elop took over as chief executive in 2010 to more than 40,000.

The move will result in additional restructuring charges of around 1 billion euros by the end of 2013.

The company said it expects its operating margin in the second quarter to be below the negative 3 percent level reported in the first quarter. It previously forecast it would be similar to or below that level.

Nokia also said it would sell luxury phone business Vertu to venture firm EQT and revamp its management team.

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Samsung's (Pinksheets: SNNLF) 'future-proof' voice-controlled television

Tallahassee, FL 1/10/12 (StreetBeat) --A "smart" internet-connected television that has the ability to have its hardware upgraded every year has been unveiled by Samsung (Pinksheets: SNNLF).

The device has a slot which allows new kit to be added to boost processing performance and add new features. The innovation may help reassure shoppers concerned about their screen becoming outdated. The move is aimed at helping the South Korean tech giant retain its lead as the world's best-selling TV maker.

Samsung's president of consumer electronics, Boo-keun Yoon, unveiled the firm's flagship LED television at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas noting that his firm currently sells two televisions every two seconds. In addition to its "smart evolution capability" Samsung has also added gesture, voice and face recognition features to the ES8000 model.

Familiar faces
A built-in camera allows users to browse the internet with a wave of their hand and to change channel by speaking in one of the more than 20 languages that the set can "understand". A facial recognition facility also allows the set to recognise users, pulling up the relevant selection of their favourite apps. The device is the latest in a run of so-called Smart TVs launched by the firm since 2008.

Samsung is on course to hit a milestone of 20 million global TV app downloads before the end of January, said its president of consumer electronics America Tim Baxter. New apps announced at the trade show included Rovio's Angry Birds video game. Samsung also announced its users would be given free access to a new Angry Birds on-demand animated television channel, marking the latest evolution of the hit title.

Smart TV surge
Connected televisions with built-in processors are tipped as one of the hottest trends at this year's CES. Event organizer, the US Consumer Electronics Association, has said it expects that about half of all shipped TVs would have internet capabilities in 2012. By contrast it said the figure was 12% of all units shipped in 2010.

While Samsung pursues its own software solution, its rival LG (NYSE: LPL) has announced a television with built-in Google TV facilities for the US market. The firm's chief technology officer, Scott Ahn, only briefly mentioned the move at his firm's CES press conference saying that the step "will form the basis of a strong future working relationship" with the US search giant. LG also promised voice-recognition via a new remote control.

Left unconnected
Meanwhile, Sony (NYSE: SNE) continues to hedge its bets. Its new HX850 LED TV shares the same connected features as its predecessor including access to the Sony Entertainment Network and its Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited streaming services. However, the firm also unveiled two new devices powered by the revised Google TV - a media streamer and a Blu-ray player.

Panasonic (NYSE: PC) and Haier are among several other companies also showing off new connected TV facilities at CES.

Although sales of internet capable TVs are on the rise, analysts said the trend can be explained by the fact that the facility is offered on most of the biggest and highest quality sets. "It's been the year of connected TV ever since 2008," said James McQuivery, television industry analyst at Forrester. "Every year you see these at CES. However, the manufacturers have struggled with the fact that around half of all people who buy connected TVs never put them on the internet. "So the challenge going forward is getting people to use the new functionality."

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Samsung (PINK:SSNLF): Samsung The Largest Pinksheet Company

When you think of a Pinksheet company you rarely think of a 172 Billion Dollar Electronic Giant who isn't filing. But Samsung is one of the best companies in the world and remains a Pinksheet Stock which never trades. Samsung Group plans to spend a record 43.1 trillion won ($38.4 billion) this year to consolidate its global leadership in electronics and shore up its charge into growing fields. Korea’s largest conglomerate on Wednesday announced its plan to increase investment by 18 percent year-on-year, which analysts say reflects its expectation of global demand recovery. The conglomerate also said that it would hire up to 25,000 new employees this year, up from 22,500 in 2010.

Of the 43.1 trillion won, an 18 percent increase from last year, 29.9 trillion will be spent on facilities and 12.1 trillion won will be used for research and development. Another 1.1 trillion won is allocated for capital increase of overseas branches and stock investment to secure overseas resources for Samsung C&T Corp. The announcement of the plan takes place shortly after Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee told reporters this week that the group expects to make bigger investments in 2011. The group also said earlier in May that it plans to inject 23.3 trillion won in five new areas like health care business and solar batteries by 2020.

When looking into the facility investment portfolio, the largest amount of 10.3 trillion won has been allotted for the group’s cash-cow semiconductors, while 5.4 trillion each has been assigned for liquid-crystal displays and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays. About 700 billion won and 800 billion won have been allocated for light-emitting diode displays and televisions, respectively.

Involving the hirings, the group claimed it would employ 9,000 college graduates, 5,000 experienced workers and 11,000 workers with technical skills. Up to 4,000 university students will also be hired as interns.

“Although uncertainties remain in the global economy, we decided on the largest-ever yearly investment and hiring in 2011 for the development of the local economy and to enhance global competitiveness of our core projects,” said a Samsung official.

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