Yahoo to Buy Back Shares From Third Point

Three Yahoo board directors appointed by Third Point, including Daniel Loeb, the hedge fund's chief, will resign from Yahoo's board. Third Point will still own about 20 million shares, less than 2 percent of the Internet media company's common stock.

Third Point's decision to sell shares of Yahoo comes as the struggling Internet's company's stock has surged more than 80 percent during the past 12 months, due largely to aggressive share buybacks and the value of Yahoo's Asian assets.

It was not immediately clear why Third Point was selling its shares now. Third Point declined to comment, but Loeb expressed his confidence in Yahoo's prospects in a statement on Monday.

Given the gains in Yahoo's shares, Third Point may have decided it was prudent to sell some of its holdings, said JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey.

But Loeb's move may be prompting other shareholders to similarly re-evaluate their investment, he said.

"Probably a lot of investors are saying 'We had a pretty good run here, it makes sense to take some off the table,'" Josey said, adding, "Much like a lot of investors followed Third Point in, a lot will follow Third Point out."

Yahoo, which plans to fund the Third Point transaction primarily with cash, said it would increase earnings per share.

After the deal, about $700 million will remain under a $5 billion overall buyback authorization that Yahoo announced last year.

Third Point settled a bitter proxy battle with Yahoo last year after months of criticising the company. Loeb was instrumental in selecting former Google Inc executive Marissa Mayer to join Yahoo as CEO.

The resignations of directors Loeb, Harry J. Wilson, and Michael J. Wolf were part of Yahoo's settlement with Third Point in May 2012, Yahoo said.

Yahoo shares fell 4.3 percent, or $1.25, to $27.86 on Nasdaq in midday trading.

(This story adds "per share" to first paragraph)

(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Gevirtz)

Foxconn Profit Surges in Third Quarter

TAIPEI — Shares of Hon Hai Precision Industry of Taiwan jumped Wednesday after Hon Hai, the main manufacturer of Apple products, posted a sharp increase in quarterly net profit, lifted by Apple’s new products.

But strong early gains were later tempered by investors’ caution about Apple’s prospects for long-term growth, analysts said.

Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, the assembler of both the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini, started mass production for the products in late August. Hon Hai also provides electronics to other companies, including Cisco, Dell, Nokia and Sony.

The company reported late Tuesday a nine-month profit through September of 57.8 billion Taiwan dollars, or $1.98 billion, 24 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier.

Net profit in the July-to-September period was 30.3 billion dollars, according to Reuters and analysts’ calculations, up 58 percent from a year earlier. Profits in the quarter were 140 percent higher than in the previous three months.

Hon Hai said in a brief statement that it had achieved a notable market share gain “in the midst of the European-led global economic uncertainty and potential industry shrinkage.” It did not give further details in a statement late Tuesday to the Taiwan stock exchange or in a subsequent statement Wednesday.

Shares of Hon Hai finished Wednesday up 0.7 percent after quickly rising 3.4 percent at the opening of trading.

“The rise we saw this morning was not much, given the strong Q3 figures; in fact many foreign investors have been selling Hon Hai shares recently,” said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Securities. “Many foreign investors who bought Hon Hai were buying into Apple’s future, but they’re now showing concerns over Apple’s growth.”

Last week, Apple delivered a second consecutive quarter of disappointing results and iPad sales fell well short of Wall Street’s targets, but investors said they would focus on the year-end holiday quarter.

Analysts have generally expected Hon Hai’s shipments to Apple to increase in the fourth quarter as the production of the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini becomes more efficient than in the initial production period.

Hon Hai’s results in the third quarter were also helped by higher subsidies from Apple and a reversed charge of 4.5 billion dollars from investment in Sharp. Hon Hai had agreed to buy 9.9 percent of Sharp in March, but said in August that the two companies had agreed Hon Hai did not have to honor the purchase deal because Sharp’s shares had plunged after the March agreement.

Although neither Apple nor Foxconn has said what the cost-sharing arrangements, if any, are between the two companies, some analysts assumed that Apple was paying higher fees for the iPhone 5 and also covering part of the cost of rising wages.

Foxconn Technology Group, the trading name of Hon Hai, announced in mid-February that it had raised wages for workers in a range of 16 percent to 25 percent. In late March, it reached an agreement with Apple to hire tens of thousands of new workers to reduce overtime work as it fought perceptions that its plants in China were sweatshops.

“Foxconn’s margin improved owing to Apple’s subsidies,” said Mr. Chen, the analyst at Yuanta Securities, “but the subsidy level is hard to predict in nature and it may vary each quarter.”

In a trading note, Kirk Yang, an analyst with Barclays Capital, said he expected fourth-quarter consolidated sales to grow 14 percent from the level of a year ago because of strong shipments of Apple products.

Taiwan trims outlook

Taiwan cut its growth forecast for 2012 for a ninth time in a year Wednesday as Europe’s problems, concerns about the U.S. economy and mainland China’s slowdown kept third-quarter growth below forecasts, but bright spots indicated the economy might have bottomed out, Reuters reported in Taipei.

The economy grew a preliminary 1.02 percent in the third quarter of 2012 from the same time the previous year, the statistics agency said in a preliminary reading, below the median forecast in a Reuters poll for 1.55 percent growth. But the agency cut its full-year forecast to 1.05 percent from 1.66 percent.

Sony's Third Mystery PlayStation Ad: The Aftermath

This morning, Sony has released a third mysterious video on YouTube, this one called The Aftermath. You can view it below.

In this ad, which runs for 19 seconds, the same woman from the first two videos (and from the Michael ad as well) walks down a corridor with keys in hand. As soon as you see her, you can see Sly Cooper’s staff hanging from the jail door on the left. One of the keys on the keyring she’s holding has a skull on it, perhaps a reference to MediEvil and its protagonist, Sir Daniel Fortesque.

Eventually, you see the ground in a room ahead, littered with bullets and a lone ice cream cone. The cone is no doubt a reference to Sweet Tooth. The bullets -- if this is indeed a PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale ad -- could be from Nathan Drake or, more likely, Colonel Radec from Killzone.

At the end, a man is sweeping up the bullets (this appears to be the barkeep from the Michael ad). He then picks up a large blade that appears to be the one Sweet Tooth uses. The same date that ended the last two videos -- 10.23.12 -- ends this one as well. That date , October 23rd, is this Tuesday.

With references to Sly Cooper, Sir Daniel Fortesque, Sweet Tooth and Colonel Radec, it seems clear now that these ads are aimed at PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, Sony’s biggest first party release of the fall for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

For reference, watch the video released this weekend, called The Arrival. In it, Ratchet & Clank, Jak & Daxter and Uncharted are referenced, with what appears to be Nathan Drake himself driving a jeep:

And feel free to watch the first of the three teaser videos -- The Reload -- which references Ape Escape and more:

And of course, let the speculation flow in the comments below, including what you've taken from these three videos. Perhaps most importantly though, what does the date signify? Does it have to do with PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale's beta, or is it something else?

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.

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