Boston, MA 02/07/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has invited co-founder and former chief executive Bill Gates to once again play an active role at the company. Gates has of late turned to philanthropy with a lot of focus in polio eradication and combating hunger. Yet, under the new administration of the Satya Nadella who was appointed CEO recently, Gates will be product and technology advisor, a role that might turn him into a common fixture at Microsoft yet again. It is not quite clear what impact Gates stay away from active company activities over the past several years would have on his new assignment. But people close to him say that he gets regular briefings and thus, he remains at the cutting edge of the company’s technology. During his leadership as CEO, Gates helped Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) to scale great heights, perching at the top as a software gorilla. But a lot of those gains have been reversing of late as competition turns red-hot.
Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) said that to remain on top of its game, it is going to up its spending to acquire additional market share and to boost revenue. As such, the company is looking to expand spending in increasing its sales team and controlling the cost of music licensing. The company managed to reported increase in revenue and profit for the three months period ending December, yet spending in audience acquisition also grew. Pandora is looking to register EPS in the range of 13 – 17 cents, but this is below 19 cents that analysts are looking for this year. According to the company’s CEO Brian McAndrews, spending aggressively in 2014 will enable Pandora to acquire bigger market and stay ahead of rivals. Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) realized year-over-year listener increase of 12 percent. However, January was lackluster was listeners dropped to 73.4 million from December’s 76.2 million. A total of 1.5 billion hours were spent on the service in January.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) has announced promoting five of its executives with three of them in Oregon where the company has most of its advanced operations. The company’s president Renee James and chairman Andy Bryant are also based in Oregon, although the CEO Brian Krzanich has his office in California. The chipmaker elevated the position of its three executives to “corporate vice president.” Those promoted are Wen-Hann Wang who oversees the company’s computing and communications research. Aicha Evans who has been general manager of wireless research and development will help the company boost its entry into mobile communications and smartphone markets. Yet another Oregon executive promoted is Neil Tunmore, a director of corporate services who is mandated to oversee the company’s construction and safety. Note Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is in the process of building another research factory in Hillsboro after opening a new one just recently.
