Today in business: 5 things you need to know
BlackBerry's shares get hosed, Russia's Gazprom struggles, and more
1. BLACKBERRY'S SHARES GET HOSED
BlackBerry's shares fell almost 25 percent by midday Friday, after the company reported less-than-expected shipments of the BB10 model BlackBerry, as well as a higher-than-expected drop in subscribers. The company said it would probably post a loss for the first fiscal quarter. Analysts had expected a gain. "This is a marathon,"said BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins. And "with the financials that we have under our belt, we are ready to run that marathon, and that's what we're doing. So I'm not looking at this as short-term."[MarketWatch]
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2. GEORGE ZIMMER WILL GET $1 MILLION FOR HIS VOICE
Before Men's Wearhouse founder George Zimmer was fired, his contract entitled him to $10,000 a year for appearing in TV commercials to guarantee that "you'll like the way you look." Now that he's fired, the company will pay him $1 million for the right to use his face and voice for the next four years. "They have hundreds of hours of footage of him," said Paul Kranhold, a spokesman for Zimmer. The company spent $38.2 million on television ads that featured Zimmer in 2012 alone. [CNN]
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3. REPORT: GOOGLE IS BUILDING AN ANDROID GAME CONSOLE AND WRISTWATCH
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Google is working on three new products: a game console, a digital wristwatch and an Android-powered media-streaming device called Nexus Q, a source told The Wall Street Journal. The search giant is competing with Apple, which is also reportedly working on a console and wristwatch, and a startup called Ouya Inc., which just this week released a game console for Android to less-than-enthusiastic reviews. Google plans to release one of the devices this fall, said the source. [The Wall Street Journal]
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4. RUSSIA'S GAZPROM IS STRUGGLING
While Russia's Gazprom is still the largest gas company in the world — responsible for 15 percent of global gas reserves — it's now worth just $77 billion, down from $360 billion in 2007. The top reason for the fall is the rise of the shale gas industry in the U.S., which has closed America as a potential market for Gazprom. The company must instead export to Europe, which won't cooperate with contracts that tie gas prices to higher oil prices and forced Gazprom to pay billions in "rebates"to European customers. "There have been much better days, when tables were served with black and red caviar," a shareholder said at the annual general meeting in Moscow. [Reuters]
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5. ITALIAN POLICE ARREST 3 IN VATICAN BANK SCANDAL
On Friday, Italian police arrested a cleric, a broker, and an Italian Secret Service agent for colluding to move 20 million euros on an airplane from Switzerland to Italy. A Vatican spokesman said the Holy See hasn't received any requests from the police yet, but promised "full cooperation." The famously secretive bank has been trying to clean up its image after years of rumors that its accounts are used as fronts for organized crime and Italian politicians. [The New York Times]
Carmel Lobello is the business editor at TheWeek.com. Previously, she was an editor at DeathandTaxesMag.com.
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