Metrics 2.0 Trends by the Numbers: January 08, 2007

Google is No.1, This Time on Fortune Best Places to Work for 2007

Google tops the Fortune Best Places to Work for 2007. Other than working for the most successful company around and the most preferred gateway to the information age, Google's perks include free meals, swimming spa, and free doctors onsite. Engineers can spend 20% of time on independent projects.

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January 8, 2007 4:41 PM | Permalink

Hedge Funds Finish 2006 with Best Performance 3 Years, But Fall Short of S&P

Hedge Funds
2006

Hedge funds returned 13% globally in 2006, compared with a 15.8% increase (including dividends) by the S&P 500 Index, according to to Hedge Fund Research report today. It was the biggest gain for hedge funds since the 19.6% gain in 2003.

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January 8, 2007 4:05 PM | Permalink

U.S. Consumer Borrowing Jumps at 6.2% in November

U.S. consumer borrowing in November rose at an annual rate of 6.2%, the biggest increase since a 6.8% rise in August, according to the Federal Reserve.

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January 8, 2007 3:37 PM | Permalink

“Plutoed” Voted 2006 Word of the Year; YouTube Most Likely to Succeed as a Verb

The American Dialect Society voted “plutoed” as the word of the year, in a run-off against climate canary. To pluto is to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto when the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided Pluto no longer met its definition of a planet.

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January 8, 2007 3:21 PM | Permalink

Private Equity Investments in India Jumped Threefold to $7.46B in 2006

Private equity and venture capital investments in India surged more than threefold to a record $7.46 billion in 2006, compared to $2.3 billion in 2005, according to Venture Intelligence data, reports Dow Jones.

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January 8, 2007 1:58 PM | Permalink

TNS: U.S. Ad Spend to Surpass $150B in 2007; Internet Ads to Grow 13.4%

Total U.S. advertising spending is expected to grow at a tepid 2.6% in 2007 to $153.7 billion, following the 3.8% growth in 2006, and the smallest increase since 2001, according to the full-year forecast released today by TNS Media Intelligence.

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January 8, 2007 1:08 PM | Permalink

Buyouts to Produce Big IPOs in 2007; Global IPOs Surpass $250B in 2006

Corporate buyouts by private-equity firms in the U.S. has been on a steady rise during the past several years, with record setting deals in 2006. This could set up 2007 and beyond for some megasize IPO activity as these new owners look to exit from their investments, reports WSJ.

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January 8, 2007 12:38 PM | Permalink

Yahoo! Aims 1 billion Mobile Users with Yahoo! Go 2.0

Worldwide cellphone subscribers are estimated at over 2 billion while the global internet users stand at around 1.2 billion. Yahoo! is placing big bets on mobile phone search, and announced Yahoo! Go for Mobile 2.0 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007 in Las Vegas today.

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January 8, 2007 11:19 AM | Permalink

IT Services M&A activity Surged 24% in 2006, Driven by PE and India

While the global M&A activity set for a record $4 trillion value in 2006, the IT services sector also enjoyed bumper year in M&A activity with 319 deals, a jump of 24% over 2005, according to data tracked by Computer Business Review.

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January 8, 2007 10:34 AM | Permalink

CEO Ivory Tower Razed as 2006 Saw Six Departures Per Business Day: Challenger

CEO
Turnover

CEO turnover jumped 12% last year as 1,478 chief executive departures were announced in 2006, surpassing the 2005 record 1,322 CEO departures, according to the year-end CEO Turnover Report released Monday by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the global outplacement consultancy.

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January 8, 2007 10:09 AM | Permalink

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