“NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is unveiling a new Android product Thursday, a move that comes as a fast-growing number of its 1.06 billion users access it on smartphones and tablet computers.

Advertisers are not far behind. Though mobile ads have been a big concern for Facebook’s investors since before the company’s initial public offering last May, some of that worry has subsided as Facebook began muscling its way into the market.

Last year, the company began showing ads to its mobile audience by splicing corporate sponsorships and content into users’ news feeds, which also includes updates from friends and brands they follow. Among the challenges Facebook faces now is showing people mobile ads without annoying or alienating them.

The mobile advertisement market is growing quickly. That’s thanks in large part to Facebook and Twitter, which also entered the space in 2012. Research firm eMarketer expects U.S. mobile ad spending to grow 77 percent this year to $7.29 billion, from $4.11 billion last year.

As for Thursday’s event at the company’s Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, speculation has centered on a mobile phone, made by HTC Corp., that deeply integrates Facebook into the Android operating system. The move comes as Facebook works to evolve from its Web-based roots to a “mobile-first”company, as its mantra goes.

“What Facebook wants is to put itself at the front of the Android user experience for as many Facebook users as possible and make Facebook more elemental to their customers’ experience,” said Forrester analyst Charles Golvin.

EMarketer said Wednesday that it expects Facebook Inc. to reap $965 million in U.S. mobile ad revenue in 2013. That’s about 2.5 times the $391 million in 2012, the first year that Facebook started showing mobile ads…..”

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“(Reuters) – General Motors Co Chief Executive Dan Akerson said on Thursday the U.S. auto industry will see strong demand for the next four or five years as more drivers continue to replace their aging vehicles.

U.S. industry executives have repeatedly said pent-up demand is helping to drive sales as customers are forced to replace cars and trucks whose average age tops an all-time high of 11 years.

“There’s this underlying strength that may go for the next four or five years until we get it back to eight, nine (year) range of average age of the car …” in the United States, Akerson said on the CNBC cable news channel.

He also said GM is closely watching the tensions between North Korea and South Korea and making contingency plans for employee safety there. The No. 1 U.S. automaker has five plants in South Korea and exports thousands of cars to other markets from there….”

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“PALO ALTO, CA–(Marketwire – Apr 1, 2013) – Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA) announced today that sales of its Model S vehicle exceeded the target provided in the mid February shareholder letter. As customers who note their Model S serial number this weekend will realize, vehicle deliveries (sales) exceeded 4,750 units vs. the 4,500 unit prior outlook. As a result, Tesla is amending its Q1 guidance to full profitability, both GAAP and non-GAAP.

“I am incredibly proud of the Tesla team for their outstanding work. There have been many car startups over the past several decades, but profitability is what makes a company real. Tesla is here to stay and keep fighting for the electric car revolution,” said Elon Musk, Tesla Motors co-founder and CEO. “I would also like to thank our customers for their passionate support of the company and the car. Without them, we would not be here.” …”

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“Wall Street pay, while lucrative, isn’t what it used to be — unless you are a board member.

Since the financial crisis, compensation for the directors of the nation’s biggest banks has continued to rise even as the banks themselves, facing difficult markets and regulatory pressures, are reining in bonuses and pay.

Take Goldman Sachs, where the average annual compensation for a director — essentially a part-time job — was $488,709 in 2011, the last year for which data is available, up more than 50 percent from 2008, according to Equilar, a compensation data firm. Some of the firm’s 13 directors make more than $500,000 because they have extra responsibilities.

And those numbers are likely to skyrocket for 2012 because the firm’s shares rose more than 35 percent last year and its directors are paid in stock. Goldman Sachs is expected to release fresh pay data in the coming weeks.

Goldman’s board is the best compensated of any big American bank and the fifth-highest paid of any company in the country, according to Equilar. Some of its rivals are not that far behind. The nation’s biggest banks paid their directors over $95,000 a year more on average in 2011 than what other large corporations paid.

Goldman defends the board’s pay, saying that the bulk of the compensation is in stock that directors cannot touch until after they have left the board.

That arrangement, the firm says, aligns directors’ interests with those of shareholders.

“The board’s pay is set at a level that reflects the firm’s long-term performance as well as directors’ substantial time commitment and the increased demands placed on them in recent years by new laws and regulations,” said David Wells, a Goldman spokesman.

More broadly, banks and compensation experts say, financial firms must now pay a premium to entice and keep qualified directors.

After the financial crisis, some financial firms’ boards were criticized for being asleep at the wheel and not understanding the risks being taken. Recruiters say banks are redoubling efforts to recruit directors with more financial expertise who can exercise better oversight….”

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“(Reuters) – Chesapeake Energy Corp appointed Chief Operating Officer Steven Dixon as interim chief executive officer on Friday and made him part of a three-person committee to search for a replacement for Aubrey McClendon.

McClendon is expected to step down on Monday.

In a statement Chesapeake, the second-largest producer of natural gas, said its board has established an Office of Chairman to steer the company after McClendon leaves. The three-man team will also include Chesapeake’s non-executive Chairman Archie Dunham and Chief Financial Officer Domenic Dell’osso.

McClendon’s departure was announced in late January, following a governance crisis and a liquidity crunch caused by heavy spending on oil and gas properties, and a collapse in the price of natural gas.

Chesapeake’s board is considering both internal and external candidates for the job they had initially said would be filled by April 1….”

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“Banks including Bank of America Corp., Barclays Plc (BARC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) won dismissal of antitrust claims in lawsuits alleging they rigged the London interbank offered rate.

More than two dozen interrelated lawsuits are before U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in New York alleging the banks conspired to depress Libor by understating their borrowing costs, thereby lowering their interest expenses on products tied to the rates. Potential damages were estimated to be in the billions of dollars.

Buchwald yesterday issued a 161-page ruling dismissing antitrust allegations against the banks while allowing some commodities-manipulations claims to proceed to a trial.

“We recognize that it might be unexpected that we are dismissing a substantial portion of plaintiffs’ claims, given that several of the defendants here have already paid penalties to government regulatory agencies reaching into the billions of dollars,” Buchwald wrote. “There are many requirements that private plaintiffs must satisfy but which government agencies need not.”

Libor is a key metric for setting interest rates for trillions of dollars in financial instruments. It fixes the rates under which banks lend money to one another for as little as a day and as long as a year. Rates for 10 different currencies including the U.S. dollar, Japanese yen and British pound are computed daily after canvassing banks that comprise membership panels for each type of money.

Global Probes…”

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“Gary Kain spent 20 years at Freddie Mac managing as much as $800 billion of bonds before the U.S. took over the company. Since 2009, he’s used his knowledge of the home-loan market to help turn American Capital Agency Corp. (AGNC) into the fastest growing mortgage debt investor.

American Capital’s assets grew to $100.5 billion at the end of last year from less than $5 billion three years earlier, making the Bethesda, Maryland-based real estate investment trust the largest after Annaly Capital Management Inc. (NLY), in an industry that’s drawing attention from investors and the Federal Reserve for its double-digit yields and rapid expansion.

REITs bought more than $100 billion of government-backed mortgage securities in 2012, the most since at least the credit crisis, and will purchase another $60 billion in 2013, JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimated this month. Fed Governor Jeremy Steinpointed to the expansion of mortgage REITs, which have amassed almost $400 billion of the debt, during a speech last month on risky behavior in credit markets influenced by the central bank holding borrowing costs near zero for a fifth year and investors searching for high-yielding assets.

“Agency mortgage REITs deserve attention in particular because they have exploded in size,” said John Gilbert, chief investment officer at General Re-New England Asset Management, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) that oversees $64 billion. “We’ve been dealing with the unintended consequences of monetary policy for a long time. We have to be on the lookout for the downside.”

Best Returns…”

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“Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world’s biggest online retailer, and discount Internet sellerOverstock.com Inc. (OSTK) lost a challenge to New York’s Internet sales tax law as the state’s highest court rejected their arguments that it was unconstitutional.

Amazon, based in Seattle, and Overstock.com, based in Salt Lake City, sued the state’s Department of Taxation and Finance separately in 2008, seeking to overturn a law requiring retailers to pay taxes if they solicit business in New York through a link to a website.

The companies argued that the law violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution by subjecting online retailers without a physical presence in the state to sales and compensating use taxes. It violated the Due Process Clause by “creating an irrational, irrebuttable presumption of solicitation of business within the state,” they said.

Justice Eileen Bransten dismissed the suits in January 2009. An appeals court in Manhattan affirmed her rulings in 2010, and the state Court of Appeals agreed today, saying the companies “established an in-state sales force” through agreements with affiliates who received commissions for posting links on their websites directing users to Amazon.com or Overstock.com.

‘Appropriate’ Burden…”

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“Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, said it expects to continue incurring costs related to its investigations of possible bribery in its international operations.

The cost related to the probes was $157 million in the year ended Jan. 31, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said yesterday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission….”

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“Long stuck in fourth place, T-Mobile made itself a relevant mobile player in the United States again on Tuesday, with plans to rapidly roll out its 4G LTE network and offer bargain plans with no contracts to entice potential customers.

Oh, and it now offers that quaint little device called the iPhone 5.

Though T-Mobile has only activated the 4G network in Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Jose, and Washington D.C. for now, the company plans to gradually expand coverage to 200 million people by the end of the year.

T-Mobile’s rollout will run on its existing HSPA+ network, which has theoretical data download speeds that are faster than the LTE networks of AT&T andVerizon (VZ, Fortune 500).

T-Mobile also claims it has 50 percent more bandwidth than AT&T (T, Fortune 500), which in a perfect world would mean that it could handle more people and suffer less of a performance hit. All of this, mind you, is apparently without the added spectrum it is going to get from its pending acquisition of MetroPCS.

But technical touts aside, T-Mobile is pairing this rollout with an aggressive pricing plan for consumers which tosses contracts to the side but requires consumers to pay full price for their phone.

Phones can be paid in full up front. Eligible consumers can also put $99 down, and pay $20 a month over two years. Once that phone is fully paid for, T-Mobile will unlock the phone with no questions asked, allowing users to select any carrier they wish…..”

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“(Reuters) – As Boeing works to regain permission for its 787 Dreamliner to resume flights, the company faces what could be a costly new challenge: a temporary ban on some of the long-distance, trans-ocean journeys that the jet was intended to fly.

Aviation experts and government officials say the Federal Aviation Administration may shorten the permitted flying time of the 787 on certain routes when it approves a revamped battery system. The plane was grounded worldwide two months ago after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two separate aircraft.

Losing extended operations, or ETOPS, would deal a blow to Boeing and its airline customers by limiting use of the fuel-saving jet, designed to lower costs on long-distance routes that don’t require the capacity of the larger Boeing 777. Such a loss could even lead to cancellation of some routes.

“If the FAA approves (only) over-land operations it would be a very damaging blow to the 787 program,” said Scott Hamilton, an aviation analyst with Leeham Co in Seattle.

“Depending on how long that restriction remains in place, it would completely undermine the business case for the airplane, which was to be able to do these long, thin intercontinental routes” over water, he said.

Grounding the 787 already has cost Boeing an estimated $450 million in lost income and compensation payments to airlines. Further restrictions on the 787’s range could send the airlines’ claims – and Boeing’s costs – higher…..”

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“Ericsson AB (ERICB) is in talks to buy Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s IPTV business, which makes software used by phone companies such as AT&T Inc. (T) to deliver television over the Internet, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The transaction could be announced in a few weeks, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Ericsson, the largest maker of wireless networks, is seeking to cater to phone companies that are competing with cable, satellite and Web-based providers. The move will also help Ericsson step up its emphasis on software and services amid accelerating competition in hardware. Microsoft, the biggest software maker, intends to focus on delivering TV through its Xbox game console, a person familiar with its plans said….”

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“Intel Corp. (INTC) is making progress in talks with Time Warner Inc. (TWX), NBC Universal andViacom Inc. (VIAB) to obtain TV shows and films for a first-of-its kind online pay-TV service, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, is negotiating financial terms with the companies, according to the people, who sought anonymity because the talks are private. The media companies have signed off on the broad outlines of the proposed service, they said, with some aspects still to be settled. Other network owners aren’t as far along, the people said….”

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“MADRID (Reuters) – A Spanish association representing open-source software users has filed a complaint against Microsoft Corp to the European Commission, in a new challenge to the Windows developer following a hefty fine earlier this month.

The 8,000 member-strong Hispalinux, which represents users of the Linux operating system, said Microsoft had made it difficult for users of computers sold with its Windows 8 platform to switch to Linux and other operating systems.

Lawyer and Hispalinux head Jose Maria Lancho said he delivered the complaint to the Madrid office of the European Commission at 5.00 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

In its 14-page complaint, Hispalinux said Windows 8 contains an “obstruction mechanism” called UEFI Secure Boot that controls the start-up of the computer and means users must seek keys from Microsoft to boot up another operating system…”

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