Googling on mobile devices tops PCs in U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO » Google’s influential search engine has hit a tipping point in technology’s shift to smartphones. More search requests are now being made on mobile devices than on personal computers in the U.S. and many other parts of the world.
The milestone, announced at a digital advertising conference Tuesday, serves as another reminder of how dramatically online behavior has changed since 2007. That’s when Apple released the first iPhone, leading to a wave of similar devices that have made it easier for people to stay connected to the Internet wherever they go.
Freddie Mac’s profit narrows to $524M
WASHINGTON » Mortgage giant Freddie Mac reported net income of $524 million for the first quarter, down sharply from the same period of 2014, as it sustained losses on the investments it uses to hedge against swings in interest rates. The company earned $4 billion in the year-ago period.
The January-through-March results posted Tuesday marked the government-controlled company’s 14th straight profitable quarter. Freddie said that although earnings show volatility, its business fundamentals are strong and continued to improve during the quarter.
Freddie, based in McLean, Va., also said it will pay a dividend of $746 million to the U.S. Treasury next month. Freddie will have paid $92.6 billion in dividends, exceeding its government bailout of $71 billion.
The government rescued Freddie and larger sibling Fannie Mae at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008, after they suffered losses on risky mortgages in the housing market bust.
Together the companies received taxpayer aid totaling about $187 billion. The housing market’s gradual recovery has made Freddie and Fannie profitable again, and they have fully repaid their taxpayer aid.
Tech exec mourned by Silicon Valley leaders
PALO ALTO, Calif. » Tech industry luminaries and friends gathered Tuesday for a memorial service honoring David Goldberg, a popular business leader whose marriage to Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg made them one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent couples.
U2 vocalist Bono sang before an audience that included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, film director George Lucas and a host of tech company founders, executives and financiers.
Afterward, mourners emerged teary-eyed from Stanford University’s Memorial Auditorium, many wearing Minnesota Vikings paraphernalia to commemorate the NFL team loved by Goldberg, a Minneapolis native.
The 47-year-old Goldberg died Friday while on a family vacation at a villa near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He slipped while exercising on a treadmill in the villa’s gym and struck his head, Mexican officials said.
Occidental picks first female U.S. oil CEO
Occidental Petroleum Corp. named 33-year company veteran Vicki Hollub to become the first female chief executive officer of a major U.S. oil company.
Hollub, 55, will assume control of Occidental’s oil and natural gas business worldwide as an interim step to succeeding current CEO Stephen Chazen "after a thorough transition period," the Houston-based company said in a statement Tuesday.
Occidental said in March that Chazen, 68, would step down at the 2016 annual meeting.
Hollub is a University of Alabama-trained mineral engineer who’s seen the company evolve from the global conglomerate assembled by the late Armand Hammer to a slimmed-down explorer focused on the U.S. Great Plains, a handful of Persian Gulf countries and Latin America.
Occidental, which spun off its California oil business last year, has a market value of about $61 billion.
NYC home to Macy’s first off-price stores
NEW YORK » The outlet wars are heating up.
Macy’s Inc. has named its new discount stores Macy’s Backstage, and says the first four test stores will open this fall in New York and the surrounding area.
The details, announced Tuesday, come four months after the department store chain announced it was exploring an "off-price" retailing business, throwing down the gauntlet with the likes of T.J. Maxx, Ross and a Nordstrom Rack.
This would mark the first off-price business for the Macy’s brand.
ON THE MOVE
The Queen’s Medical Center has honored the following two physicians as the 2015 Ke Kauka Po‘okela Outstanding Physicians of the Year:
» Dr. Erlaine Bello received the award for Outstanding Community-Based Physician. She is Queen’s epidemiologist and medical director of infection prevention and control.
» Dr. Kuo-Chiang Lian received the award for Outstanding Hospital-Based Physician. He is medical director of Queen’s Hospitalist Program and the Queen’s Medical Group.
Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa has announced that Al Hikida has won the 2015 Hyatt Human Resources Leadership Award for the Americas. Hikida is an assistant human resources director and has been with the resort for 36 years.
