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Filmmaker Lucas Purchases $10 Million in Starbucks Shares

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By Miles Weiss

George Lucas, the “Star Wars” creator who reaped $4 billion selling his company to Walt Disney Co. last year, invested a fraction of his fortune in Starbucks Corp. (SBUX), the world’s largest chain of coffee shops.

A trust controlled by Lucas bought almost $10 million of Starbucks shares, according to a filing yesterday by Mellody Hobson, the billionaire’s wife and a member of the Starbucks board. The couple married in June at Lucas’s Skywalker ranch in Marin County, California, and announced the birth of their daughter, Everest Hobson Lucas, this month.

Lucas, 69, in December sold Lucasfilm Ltd., whose movie franchises include “Indiana Jones” as well as “Star Wars,” to Disney for about $4 billion of cash and stock. The next month, he announced his engagement to Hobson, the president of Ariel Investments LLC, a Chicago-based money-management firm with $6.3 billion in assets as of June 30.

Hobson, 44, didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Connie Wethington, a Lucas representative, said in an e-mail that “no comments or statements will be issued with regard to stock inquiries.”

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Steve Ballmer’s Mixed Legacy

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Gates’s Successor Helped Build Behemoth, but Missteps Leave Microsoft Vulnerable

By DON CLARK and SHIRA OVIDE

MSFT +7.29% Steve Ballmer tried new operating systems, new gadgets and new management structures. But the times caught up with a man who helped build one of the greatest companies of the 20th century.

Mr. Ballmer’s surprise retirement announcement Friday follows years of criticism about the waning growth and stagnant stock price of Microsoft, a force in the personal-computer era whose power was once so great that U.S. regulators sought to break up the company.

PC sales—the lifeblood of Microsoft’s business—are on a steady decline. Business and casual users alike are switching to devices and services offered by Apple Inc. AAPL -0.39% and Google Inc. GOOG -0.40%

Investors cheered the news, pushing Microsoft shares up 7%, or $2.36, to $34.75, in 4 p.m. trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

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Read Steve Ballmer’s Retirement Announcement to Microsoft Staff

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By Tim Molloy

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement Friday. Here is his email to employees:

I am writing to let you know that I will retire as CEO of Microsoft within the next 12 months, after a successor is chosen. There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our transformation to a devices and services company focused on empowering customers in the activities they value most. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction. You can read the press release on Microsoft News Center.

I am proud of what we have achieved. We have grown from $7.5 million to nearly $78 billion since I joined Microsoft, and we have grown from employing just over 30 people to almost 100,000. I feel good about playing a role in that success and having committed 100 percent emotionally all the way. We have more than 1 billion users and earn a great profit for our shareholders.

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Ben Affleck to Play Batman in Man of Steel Sequel

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Warner Bros. has announced Affleck is the new Dark Knight.

August 22, 2013

Ben Affleck is set to star as Batman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel sequel, Warner Bros. has announced.

“We knew we needed an extraordinary actor to take on one of DC Comics’ most enduringly popular Super Heroes, and Ben Affleck certainly fits that bill, and then some” said Greg Silverman, President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production at Warner Bros. earlier today. “His outstanding career is a testament to his talent and we know he and Zack will bring new dimension to the duality of this character.”

“Ben provides an interesting counter-balance to Henry’s Superman,” added director Snyder. He has the acting chops to create a layered portrayal of a man who is older and wiser than Clark Kent and bears the scars of a seasoned crime fighter, but retain the charm that the world sees in billionaire Bruce Wayne. I can’t wait to work with him.”


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Sorry, iPad Mini Fans–Once Again, Google Has The Better Tablet Than Apple

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Robert Hof

*Update: On reflection and the reasonable comment of a reader, I changed the headline to say Google has the “better” tablet, not the “hotter” tablet. In contrast to a year ago, when Google’s new Nexus 7 got attention for its smaller form factor and sold out (admittedly on an undisclosed level of sales), we can’t yet say the new Nexus 7 is “hotter.” But most reviewers seem to lean toward calling it the better one at this point in time.

As soon as Google GOOG -0.26% announced its new Nexus 7 small tablet on July 24, the natural question emerged: How does it stack up against the Apple AAPL +0.55%‘s industry-leading iPad mini?

The answer, according to a number of reviewers: Pretty darn well. In fact, several reviewers place the Nexus 7 ahead of the iPad mini, and at least one recommends it over the iPad mini thanks to a combination of features that beat its rivals’:

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Superman to battle Batman in Man of Steel sequel

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Sunday, Jul 21, 2013, 8:56 IST | Place: SAN DIEGO | Agency: Reuters

After announcing the plan to bring the two superheroes together, Snyder issued a statement via Warner Bros. saying the two would be fighting each other, and conceded this might surprise some.

A sequel to last month’s hit Superman film Man of Steel is not only in the works, but will feature two of DC Comic’s best-known caped crusaders – Superman and Batman – facing off against each other, director Zack Snyder said on Saturday.

Snyder, who directed British actor Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent, was a surprise addition to the end of the Warner Bros. film panel at San Diego’s Comic-Con, an annual comics convention, and received thunderous applause from the 6,000-plus in attendance.

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Weekend Report: ‘Man of Steel’ Soars, Scores New June Record

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by Ray Subers

Man of Steel was one of the most-anticipated movie events of the year, and from a box office perspective it did not disappoint.

Through Sunday, Man of Steel earned a fantastic $128.6 million—$116.6 million during the traditional Friday-to-Sunday period, and another $12 million from Thursday night group sales. That’s the second-best opening of 2013 so far behind Iron Man 3, and it’s a new record for highest opening ever in June ahead of Toy Story 3 ($110.3 million). The official three-day figure of $116.6 million ranks second all-time among non-sequels behind The Hunger Games.

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Netflix, DreamWorks Team in Huge Original Content Deal

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By Peter Suciu

Netflix may have just lost kid-friendly Nickelodeon content to Amazon Prime Instant Video, but now it’s got a new partnership with DreamWorks to fill that void. The result, apparently, will be more than 300 hours of brand-new programming inspired by characters from DreamWorks franchises including Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon.

Video streaming service Netflix on Monday announced a new, multiyear partnership with DreamWorks Animation whereby it will bring many of the studio’s beloved characters to the TV market via a branded collection of shows.

Marking the largest deal for original first-run content in Netflix’s history, the partnership will include more than 300 hours of new programming and give DreamWorks Animation a way to greatly expand its TV production and distribution. In fact, this will be the first time DreamWorks Animation’s characters will be introduced into the television market in this way.

The new shows will be inspired by characters from DreamWorks Animation’s hit franchises — including Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon — as well upcoming feature films. It will also incorporate the vast Classic Media library that DreamWorks acquired in 2012.

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Mozilla Readies Major Firefox Redesign As It Ponders What The Browser Of The Future Should Look Like

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Frederic Lardinois

“Maybe we shouldn’t even call it a browser anymore,” Mozilla’s VP of Firefox engineering Jonathan Nightingale told me a few days ago. “‘Browser’ is really an antiquated word. People don’t really browse all that much anymore.” Instead, he argues, we now mostly use our browsers to access sophisticated web apps, web-based productivity tools and social networks.

For browser developers, this means they have to start to rethink what their browsers should look like now that usage patterns have changed and that the majority of users have become pretty experienced Internet (and browser) users.

Australis: Simplicity Through Curvy Tabs

The project that has been guiding Mozilla’s exploration of what a modern browser should look like is Australis (because Mozilla apparently likes to name projects after star systems) and the fruits of this project will soon find their way into the Firefox release channels, starting with Nightly once it hits version 25 soon. After that, it will make its way through the usual release channels, though Nightingale told me that the team may hold it back from the stable channel a bit longer to ensure that everything works smoothly.

If you feel really adventurous, you can already install a version of Firefox from Mozilla’s relatively obscure UX branch and test it in its current state (but don’t blame us if it crashes a lot or shreds your hard drive).


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