Ebay Sells 65 Percent of Skype for $1.9 Billion Cash

cash is king

(VRNM) Verenium receives $5.4 million grant from New Zealand for research on cellulosic ethanol from softwoods In Massachusetts, Verenium said that the company, in partnership with Scion and AgResearch, has received a three-year, $5.4 million grant from the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science and Technology for a new stage in the New Zealand Lignocellulosic Bioethanol Initiative, a trans-Pacific research collaboration. The three partners will evaluate the production of cellulosic ethanol from New Zealand’s softwood forest resource, including pilot-scale trials in pre-treatment and enzymatic processing. Verenium background In Thailand, Verenium and Japan’s Marubeni said that they have commenced operations at a 800,000 gallon per year cellulosic ethanol plant in Saraburi. The venture has licensed Verenium’s process technologies, and uses sugar cane bagasse as a feedstock. The plant is co-located with an existing, conventional, sugar cane ethanol plant. In Louisiana, Verenium said that it had received an unspecified award from the Department of Energy towards its 1.4 Mgy demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Jennings. The grant will assist Verenium to achieve cost and performance goals in support of its move towards commercial scale deployment. Verenium Chairman Carlos Riva said that the new Farm Law did not provide sufficient loan guarantee support for the needs of the cellulosic ethanol industry, although he praised the new Law as a good start. Riva said that the $320 million earmarked in loan guarantees represented just over the cost of two cellulosic ethanol plants, which have an approximate price tag of $150 million each. Riva said that, although another $150 million may be added to the fund, the US needed to do more to support the development of the 21 billion gallon capacity of the cellulosic ethanol industry by 2022. Verenium Corporation reported quarterly revenues of $15.2 million in the 1st quarter of 2008, up from $11.3 million in the first quarter of 2007, as it commences start-up at a 1.4 Mgy demonstration scale facility in Louisiana for its cellulosic ethanol from wood waste.

Beware of the Dragon Lady! The Dragon Lady is an evil creature who EATS HUMAN BRAINS. Have no dealings with the Dragon Lady! She’ll have your brain on the barbie before you can blink. Curse you, Dragon Lady! Be away from us, you wretched beast!

Although a bit too repetitive for my taste, Chuck is otherwise right on - stop spending and you will send a real message to the politicians. Your dollar is your real vote!

Oh jeez dude, it's called tech ticker. By it's nature if it's talking about banks it's off topic

Ebay needs to do something I guess to make up for the sellers that are leaving are planning to leave. Ebay has changed from it's core and looks to be trying to become an Amazon.com, which will not happen to my opinion. Ebay adds new rules for sellers every couple of months it seems, if not every couple of weeks. Sellers now have more rules to remember than if they worked for the Federal Government. Ebay has also created an anger between sellers and buyers. Sellers are forced to use media mail in some cases to stay within ebays price guidelines on shipping, but yet buyers are demanding there item sooner. Media mail is one of the slowest services the postal service offers. No they are taking away the insurance option and forcing the seller to either pay for insurance themselves or be responsible for the item until it reaches the buyer. Wow, can't wait to see all the request for a replacement on a whole bunch of items or negative feedback will surely follow. Especially since buyers know that sellers cannot leave negative or even nuetral, not even if they never pay for the item or they outright lie about a sell. Ebay should sell skype and ebay itself, to some people that know what they are doing and care about both the buyers and the sellers. Someone whom does not set around making new regulations and rules every week and can actually make ebay fun again for everyone.

Netbook selling cell/mobile phone companies really want this stock so their users can use their linux/windows netbooks like a phone! Believe it or not we've found a real world use for Skype, LOL. :D

Ebay needs to do something I guess to make up for the sellers that are leaving are planning to leave. Ebay has changed from it's core and looks to be trying to become an Amazon.com, which will not happen to my opinion. Ebay adds new rules for sellers every couple of months it seems, if not every couple of weeks. Sellers now have more rules to remember than if they worked for the Federal Government. Ebay has also created an anger between sellers and buyers. Sellers are forced to use media mail in some cases to stay within ebays price guidelines on shipping, but yet buyers are demanding there item sooner. Media mail is one of the slowest services the postal service offers. No they are taking away the insurance option and forcing the seller to either pay for insurance themselves or be responsible for the item until it reaches the buyer. Wow, can't wait to see all the request for a replacement on a whole bunch of items or negative feedback will surely follow. Especially since buyers know that sellers cannot leave negative or even nuetral, not even if they never pay for the item or they outright lie about a sell. Ebay should sell skype and ebay itself, to some people that know what they are doing and care about both the buyers and the sellers. Someone whom does not set around making new regulations and rules every week and can actually make ebay fun again for everyone.

EBAY is a terribly badly run company. They think way too highly of themselves and their "value" to buyers. This is a short term fix to boost their profit. Their stock price collapse is coming...

"GO ONNNN, Take the money and RUN!! Ooooooh yeah!" BTW, I've been an eBayer since 1997, when you could buy GUNS and ROCKET LAUNCHERS. I slowly watched them monopolize the OA (Online Auctions) killing Yahoo! Auctions, then Amazon's auction and uBid... I think it's time the USA Congress step in and break this monopoly up!!

The problem with ebay is they protect scamming buyers at the expense of sellers. I hate to tell ebay how their own business works, but it's the seller who pays the bills! Don't bite the hand that feeds you springs to mind.

Info - for your consideration Good review info : www.prnewschannel.com/absolutenm/... www.finance.yahoo.com/news/BP-and-Ver... www.finance.yahoo.com/news/Geranium-a... www.finance.yahoo.com/news/Geranium-a... Greening thru Bio-Mass--BP and Geranium Corporation (Nasdaq: VRNM) today announced. (BP) British Petroleum(153) Billion Dollar company & Vercipia plans to break ground on its first commercial plant in Highlands County, Florida in 2010. For more information on Vercipia, please visit www.vercipia.com. On 32,000acres. Why Verenium? 1. Pioneer in the process since 1995 2. US Patent for their biofuel process 3. Has already sold millions in licenses 4. Has a demo plant in La. 5. Has already received govnt funding 6. Friendly with Chu from the DOE 7. Partnership with BP 8. Building a new plant in Florida with BP 9. Getting a loan guarantee from the DOE 10. Can apply for millions in new grants 11. Govnt offering money to auto manufacturers to produce cars that use renewable energy. 12. Govnt offering money to service stations to add E85 pumps and sell more renewable fuel 13. Govnt has mandated the increased use of cellulosic biofuels starting next year. 15,600% increase by 2022 That its 50-50 joint venture company will operate under the name Vercipia Biofuels, and plan BP and Verenium Announce Vercipia Biofuels to Advance the Commercialization of Cellulosic Ethanol 7/31/09 BP and Verenium Corporation (Nasdaq: VRNM) today announced that its 50-50 joint venture company will operate under the name Vercipia Biofuels, and plan to relocate its corporate headquarters to Florida. Vercipia continues to focus on the development of one of the nation's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities, located in Highlands County, Florida. The company is also developing a second commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol site in the Gulf Coast region. "I continue to be pleased and enthusiastic with the progress our joint venture - Vercipia - has made in only a few short months, and I look forward to a highly productive and successful next two years as we move toward bringing a first commercial facility into production," said Carlos Riva, President and Chief Executive Officer at Verenium. "BP's 'all of the above' approach to meeting America's future energy needs includes a significant investment in biofuels development, as this project demonstrates," said Susan Ellerbusch, President of BP Biofuels North America. "We believe Vercipia will be a key player in the biofuels supply chain in the coming years." Since announcing the formation of the joint venture company in February, Vercipia has applied for and been selected to move forward with due diligence on a Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee for the Highlands project, which is now underway. In addition, the team has continued to advance development activity in Florida and on a second site in the Gulf Coast region. BP is of one of the world's largest energy companies, providing its customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemicals products for everyday items. It is the largest oil and gas producer in the U.S. and one of the largest refiners. BP is also a leading player in the global biofuels market. Since 2006, BP has announced investments of more than $1.5 billion in biofuels research, development and operations. This includes partnerships with other companies to develop the technologies, feedstocks and processes required to produce advanced biofuels and $500 million over 10 years in the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), at which biotechnologists are investigating applications of biotechnology to energy.

so is eBay ahead after the write down?

Yeeeeeah, biofuels