Here’s the deal: AOL says it has agreed to sell 800 of its patents and their related applications to Microsoft and grant it a license for its remaining patents for a total of about $1.06 billion in cash. New York-based AOL Inc. also says it plans to return some of the sale proceeds to its shareholders. The company says it will still hold more than 300 patents and applications covering a variety of core and strategic technologies. AOL also received a license to the patents being sold to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. AOL says it will determine the best way to distribute some of the sale proceeds to shareholders before the sale closes, which is expected to happen by the end of this year.
On the TV screen: Japan’s Sony Corp. is cutting 10,000 jobs—or about 6% of its global work force—as new CEO Kazuo Hirai looks to steer the electronics and entertainment giant back to profit after four years in the red, according to several Japanese and American media reports. The job cuts would be the latest downsizing in Japan, where companies from cellphone maker NEC Corp to electronics firm Panasonic Corp. are trimming costs in the face of a strong yen and competition from rivals like Apple and Samsung Electronics. TV makers in particular have been hit hard by the tough business climate as well as by sharp price falls, with Sony, Panasonic and Sharp expecting to have lost a combined $17 billion in the fiscal year just ended. Investors will closely monitor a briefing on Thursday by Hirai, who formally took over this month as chief executive from Howard Stringer, for further clues on how Sony plans to revamp its business.
In the garden: Lakeside gardens, dining rooms hovering over water, grassy new amphitheaters and underground pavilions at the foot of the Washington Monument have emerged as finalists in a design competition to overhaul neglected sites on the National Mall. Designers and architects are dreaming big for a chance to improve what’s sometimes called America’s front yard. One vision calls for a garden “museum without walls” in part of the mall called Constitution Gardens. Another would “peel up” the landscape of the Washington Monument to reveal a large structure below ground with a theater and visitor amenities. The finalists’ concepts will go on display today through Sunday in Washington, D.C. Check out the full story, including some of the proposed design renderings, here.
Today’s poll question: How would you grade outgoing LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson’s performance during his four seasons leading the Tigers?
