Exclusive: Google to replace M&A chief

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc is replacing the head of its in-house mergers and acquisitions group, David Lawee, with one of its top lawyers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Don Harrison, a high-ranking lawyer at Google, will replace Lawee as head of the Internet search company‘s corporate development group, which oversees mergers and acquisitions, said the source, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Google is also planning to create a new late-stage investment group that Lawee will oversee, the source said.

Google declined to comment. Lawee and Harrison could not immediately be reached for comment.

One of the Internet industry’s most prolific acquirers, Google has struck more than 160 deals to acquire companies and assets since 2010, according to regulatory filings. Many of Google’s most popular products, including its online maps and Android mobile software, were created by companies or are based on technology that Google acquired.

Harrison, Google’s deputy general counsel, will head up the M&A group at a time when the company is still in the process of integrating its largest acquisition, the $ 12.5 billion purchase of smartphone maker Motorola Mobility, which closed in May.

And he takes over at a time when the Internet search giant faces heightened regulatory scrutiny, with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission conducting antitrust investigations into Google’s business practices. Several recent Google acquisitions have undergone months of regulatory review before receiving approval.

As deputy general counsel, Harrison has been deeply involved in the company’s regulatory issues and many of its acquisitions. He joined Google more than five years ago and has completed more than 70 deals at the company, according to biographical information on the Google Ventures website.

Harrison is an adviser to Google Ventures, the company’s nearly four-year old venture division which provides funding for start-up companies.

While most of Google’s acquisitions are small and mid-sized deals that do not meet the threshold for disclosure of financial terms, Google has a massive war chest of $ 45.7 billion in cash and marketable securities to fund acquisitions.

Lawee, who took over the M&A group in 2008, has had hits and misses during his tenure. Google shut down social media company Slide one year after acquiring it for $ 179 million, for example.

The planned late-stage investment group has not been finalized, the source said. The fund might operate separately from Google Ventures, according to the source.

“Think of it as a private equity fund inside of Google,” the source said.

The company recently said it would increase the cash it allocates to Google Ventures to $ 300 million a year, up from $ 200 million, potentially helping it invest in later-stage financing rounds.

Google finished Friday’s regular trading session down 1 percent, or $ 6.92, at $ 684.21.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Carol Bishopric and Jim Loney)

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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There’s only one way to save Medicare

Fresh off his election victory, President Obama is pushing back against GOP efforts to reform Medicare — promising that only he can save the program.

Indeed, the president’s surrogates regularly brag that the Obama health-care law “extends the program’s life by eight years.” In other words, the president will save Medicare by making sure it doesn’t go bankrupt . . . until a few years after he leaves office.

That’s not good enough.

To truly fortify Medicare and preserve it for the next generation, we need the entire program modeled on the only part that is working for both seniors and taxpayers — Part D, the Medicare prescription-drug benefit.

That means an honest assessment of Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan, which would convert Medicare to a premium-support program that relies on private competition. But Obama has expressed little interest in such an effort — even though it’s the only thing that’ll work.

The Department of Health and Human Services just announced that monthly premiums in Part D will again average $30 next year. That number’s basically held steady for four years; premiums are only up 2.5 percent since 2006.

Contrast that with the typical premium of an employer-sponsored family health insurance plan, which rose 4 percent from 2011 to 2012 and 9 percent the year before, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. In other words, Part D’s costs are holding steady even as health costs are growing just about everywhere else.

Critics of Part D are right to point out that it’s an unfunded liability: When Congress created the program, it included no dedicated financing or offsetting spending cuts; the entire cost was simply added to the budget deficit. That’s lamentable. Part D should’ve been paid for at its creation.

But the fact remains that, unlike so many other government programs, Part D’s price tag has proved far lower than expected. As in every other market, competition in Part D has resulted in lower prices and better service.

Since the program began, the Congressional Budget Office has repeatedly lowered its cost estimates for the program. Earlier this year, the agency issued a report projecting that Part D would cost about 43 percent less next year than it had estimated back in 2004. At the same time, the CBO increased its cost projections for the other major parts of Medicare.

But these savings haven’t come at the expense of coverage or the satisfaction of beneficiaries. The existence of Part D has helped ensure that almost 90 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have stable drug coverage. And the vast majority are happy: Multiple surveys have shown satisfaction levels for Part D at near or above 90 percent.

Facts like these are proving inconvenient for many Democrats, who have long disliked Part D.

Back in 2003, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted that “most seniors will be worse off,” under Part D. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) scoffed at the program’s design. “We hear the claim that private-sector competition will drive down costs and save Medicare. Nonsense!”

Fast-forward to 2012. That “nonsense” is now reality.

Indeed, contrary to Sen. Harkin’s claims, market competition is the reason Part D has cost taxpayers less than originally estimated. Beneficiaries have the power to choose drug plans that work for them — and providers have to compete for seniors’ business. There’s no one-size-fits-all drug plan — unlike the rest of Medicare.

Despite the program’s success, some Democrats are still trying to undermine its competitive design. They’ve repeatedly proposed giving federal bureaucrats the power to implement price controls within the system — and thereby undermine the private-sector competition at the heart of the program.

Some have also called for added rebates from drug makers for “dual eligible” seniors — those who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid — to try to further reduce Medicare spending. But such a policy would simply saddle seniors with additional costs. Former CBO chief Douglas Holtz-Eakin has estimated that these so-called rebates would drive Part D premiums up by 20 percent to 40 percent.

What Congress needs is a plan to preserve Medicare, not destroy it. President Obama’s agenda, by his own admission, leaves the program on the road to fiscal collapse.

Dee Stewart is president of Americans for a Balanced Budget, a national grassroots advocacy group.

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

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Events showcase Miami’s growth as tech center

One by one, representatives from six startup companies walked onto the wooden stage and presented their products or services to a full house of about 200 investors, mentors, and other supporters Thursday at Incubate Miami’s DemoDay in the loft-like Grand Central in downtown Miami. With a large screen behind them projecting their graphs and charts, they set out to persuade the funders in the room to part with some of their green and support the tech community.

Just 24 hours later, from an elaborate “dojo stage,” a drummer warmed up the crowd of several hundred before a “Council of Elders” entered the ring to share wisdom as the all-day free event opened. Called TekFight, part education, part inspiration, and part entertainment, the tournament-style program challenged entrepreneurs to earn points to “belt up” throughout the day to meet with the “masters” of the tech community.

The two events, which kicked off Innovate MIA week, couldn’t be more different. But in their own ways, like a one-two punch, they exuded the spirit and energy growing in the startup community.

One of the goals of the TekFight event was to introduce young entrepreneurs and students to the tech community, because not everyone has found it yet and it’s hard to know where to start, said Saif Ishoof, the executive director of City Year Miami who co-founded TekFight as a personal project. And throughout the event, he and co-founder Jose Antonio Hernandez-Solaun, as well as Binsen J. Gonzalez and Jeff Goudie, wanted to find creative, engaging ways to offer participants access to some of the community’s most successful leaders.

That would include Alberto Dosal, chairman of CompuQuip Technologies; Albert Santalo, founder and CEO of CareCloud; Jorge Plasencia, chairman and CEO of Republica; Jaret Davis, co-managing shareholder of Greenberg Traurig; and more than two dozen other business and community leaders who shared their war stories and offered advice. Throughout the day, the event was live-streamed on the Web, a TekFight app created by local entrepreneur and UM student Tyler McIntyre kept everyone involved in the tournament and tweets were flying — with #TekFight trending No. 1 in the Miami area for parts of the day. “Next time Art Basel will know not to try to compete with TekFight,” Ishoof quipped.

‘Miami is a hotbed’

After a pair of Chinese dragons danced through the audience, Andre J. Gudger, director for the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Small Business Programs, entered the ring. “I’ve never experienced an event like this,” Gudger remarked. “Miami is a hotbed for technology but nobody knew it.”

Gudger shared humorous stories and practical advice on ways to get technology ideas heard at the highest levels of the federal government. “Every federal agency has a director over small business — find out who they are,” he said. He has had plenty of experience in the private sector: Gudger, who wrote his first computer program on his neighbor’s computer at the age of 12, took one of his former companies from one to 1,300 employees.

There were several rounds that pitted an entrepreneur against an investor, such as Richard Grundy, of the tech startup Flomio, vs. Jonathan Kislak, of Antares Capital, who asked Grundy, “why should I give you money?”

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Driver of fatal MIA bus crash that killed two offers his “deepest sympathy.”

The driver behind the wheel of a bus that rammed into an overpass at Miami International Airport — killing two passengers and leaving many more injured — expressed his sympathies Thursday to those affected, while a group of survivors began speaking with a lawyer.

On Thursday, a relative sent out a short statement in Spanish from driver Ramon Ferreiro. In it, Ferreiro extended his “deepest sympathy” to the families of those killed in “the terrible accident.”

“I know there are no words of comfort for what happened, but my family and I are praying for all those affected and their loved ones,” he wrote in Spanish. “I’m emotionally and physically very shocked by what happened, and for this reason I ask you to respect my family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

The crash happened a few minutes before 7:30 a.m. Saturday. The bus carried members of a Jehovah’s Witness congregation on their way to the annual general assembly meeting in West Palm Beach.

Ferreiro, 47, took a wrong turn on Le Jeune Road. He sped past multiple signs warning of the low clearance at the airport’s arrival concourse, smashing the 11-foot-tall bus into an overpass.

Two people sitting in the front were killed; the remaining 30 passengers went to hospitals for examinations and treatment.

As of Thursday, four people from the crash remained at Jackson Memorial Hospital, spokeswoman Lidia Amoretti said. Of the group, three were in good condition and one was in critical.

Another eight people admitted after the crash already had been discharged.

And some of the survivors have begun speaking with West Palm Beach lawyer Patrick Cousins.

Cousins, who also is Jehovah’s Witness, said that members of his religion tend to shy away from legal battles, and that’s why he hopes to settle the matter with the bus service’s insurance company out of court.

The goal, he said, would be to get compensation for costs such as their hospital bills.

“We are not the type of people to create problems or issues,” Cousins said. “But this is not something we really created. We just want to make sure everybody gets their compensation.”

Saturday’s accident appears to be the first blemish on the record of both the driver and the bus company, Miami Bus Service Corp., which is owned by Mayling and Alberto Hernandez.

Ferreiro has a valid commercial driver’s license with the proper endorsement to carry passengers, according to records from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

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Minecraft sells almost 4.5 million copies on Xbox 360 as other indie games continue to struggle

Big-budget games such as Halo 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II might brag about how they rule the Xbox 360 in terms of sales, but indie games can also compete – if they’re addictive enough and offer enough value. Take Minecraft, an indie game developed by Markus “Notch” Persson’s company Mojang. According to Mojang, Minecraft, an indie game originally made for PC and ported to the Xbox 360 seven months ago has sold 4,476,904 copies as of the end of November with 40,000 to 60,000 copies sold every week. Minecraft is an anomaly because it doesn’t boast high-definition graphics that ooze of detailed lighting effects and didn’t cost millions of dollars to make, and yet it is the third-most played game on Xbox LIVE.

According to Gamasutra’s analysis and breakdown of November’s Xbox Live Arcade sales, only three other indie games managed to break 1 million copies downloaded last month. See below for the chart.

As you can see, every other game on Xbox Live Arcade other than Castle Crashers, Fruit Ninja Kinect, Happy Wars and Counter Strike: GO isn’t seeing the same type of success Minecraft is.

The lesson here is developers should always focus on the product and the users. If the gameplay mechanics are solid, the experience is fluid and bug-free, the gamers will come.

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MS tightens broker incentives

Morgan Stanley boss James Gorman taketh and giveth as he rejiggers incentive pay packages for its more than 17,000 brokerage force.

The changes, announced during an internal call to brokers yesterday by head of brokerage operations, Doug Ketterer, better align the so-called financial advisers’ performance with Gorman’s goal of developing Morgan Stanley Wealth Management [formerly Smith Barney] into a big profit center capable of helping the investment bank sidestep choppy markets.

The new plan, which goes into effect at the start of the next year, encourages brokers to beef up their assets under management and loans to high-net-worth clientele.

The moves comes as incentive pay based on revenues for brokers is set to shrink by as much as 2 percent — a change that might irk some employees.

But top broker performers and managers will also be able to purchase shares of Morgan Stanley stock at a 20 percent-to-25 percent discount — the first time the pay package has included the ability to purchase discounted shares, one official noted.

Brokers who have served for at least five years and generate gross revenues of at least $400,000 will be able to participate in the discount-stock program but won’t be able to sell the stock for three years.

During a conference call with brokers, Ketterer described the package as one of the “richest growth incentives offered on the Street,” said one insider who had listened to the 20-minute call.

Sources say that Gorman is focused on building out the overall wealth-management platform, which is run by Greg Fleming, and is interested in retaining only the most stellar producers.

The brokerage operations, of which Morgan Stanley owns a 65 percent stake, are the result of a joint venture with Citigroup.

Fleming is tasked with helping the platform generate a return on equity in the mid-teens — a goal the firm has struggled to accomplish.

mark.decambre@nypost.com

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New equity options exchange owned by Miami company starts trading on Friday

MIAX Options Exchange, a new fully electronic, equity options trading exchange, said it will begin trading on Friday.

MIAX Options Exchange is based in Princeton, N.J., but its parent company is Miami International Holdings. While MIAX’s executive offices, technology development center and national operations center are based in Princeton, additional executive offices, and a multi-purpose training, meeting and conference center will be located in Miami, the company said.

MIAX Options Exchange’s trading platform has been developed in-house and designed for the functional and performance demands of derivatives trading, the company said.

INA PAIVA CORDLE

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To win in 2014, Florida Democrats must build on momentum

Democrats just concluded their most successful Florida election cycle in more than three decades, not just delivering the state to President Barack Obama and re-electing Sen. Bill Nelson, but also picking up state House, state Senate, and Congressional seats.

But don’t get cocky, Florida Democrats. In many respects, 2014 is more important for the vitality of the party than 2012.

As you prepare to elect a new state party chairman there’s every reason to worry heading into the new election cycle, even against vulnerable Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

You won’t have the massive Obama grassroots machine registering and turning out tens of thousands of new voters. Or a lavishly funded TV campaign like Obama’s. And if past is prologue, Florida Republicans will have far stronger turnout than Democrats.

“Democrats have a long history of not coming out to vote in the non-presidential election years. We’ve seen that four times in a row,” Alex Sink, the 2010 Democratic nominee for governor and potential 2014 candidate, said in a Political Connections interview on Bay News 9.

“The big question I believe for Democrats in the next election is how much of that energy and enthusiasm that we had during this presidential election can carry on to the 2014 races,” Sink said. “I think it’s probably going to be unfortunately very difficult.”

On Jan. 26 in Orlando, Democratic Party leaders will elect a new leader to succeed former state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua, who took the helm of the state party after a GOP wave left Democrats holding just one of Florida’s six statewide offices, Nelson’s Senate seat.

Against that change of leadership, there is no more important question facing the party than whether it can take advantage of demographic changes in Florida and come even close to following the model set by the Obama campaign.

“We’re at the threshold of a new Florida, and we’ve got to seize that opportunity,” said Alan Clendenin, an air-traffic controller and union organizer in Tampa running for party chairman against Annette Taddeo-Goldstein, a Miami-Dade County businesswoman and former candidate for Congress and County Commission.

“Demographics are on our side, the issues are on our side, the wind is at our back, and we just can’t screw it up,” said Clendenin, 53, whose extensive “Rebrand, Rebuild, Recruit” plan for the state party includes decentralizing to create at least five “regional hubs,” more emphasis on low-dollar fundraising, and a “bottom-up” structure for grassroots organizing.

A key to Obama winning Florida’s 29 electoral votes was his strong performance among African-Americans, Hispanics, and voters under 30 — overwhelmingly Democratic groups that tend to show up in much lower numbers during off-year elections.

“The question is how do we take what is the Obama coalition and translate that to a Democratic coalition that outlasts Obama,” said outgoing party chairman Smith.

Consider that in 2008 the Florida electorate was 42 percent Democratic and 39 percent Republican. Two years later, when Scott narrowly beat Sink, it was 45 percent Republican and 39 percent Democratic.

In non-presidential years, the Florida electorate is invariably older, whiter, and much more Republican.

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Dancing with the Stars Partners Reunite on Big Screen

Dancing with the Stars pro Karina Smirnoff is joining her Season 12 partner Ralph Macchio in a new movie, Us Weekly reports.

RELATED: Ralph Macchio Gets 'Happily Divorced'

According to the news source, the 34-year-old dancer plays a woman who becomes the object of a 10-year-old boy's fascination when he sees her dancing in a neighboring house.

"It is a dream come true to have this opportunity in working with Ralph again," she says of her former dance partner who writes and directs the film. "He wrote such an inspiring script, and I'm grateful to be a part of it. The story is sweet but profound, and my character is very compelling. I'm loving the process!"

This is Smirnoff's first movie role but she gave her acting qualifications, saying, "I feel like I've always acted within a dance ... Now I get to just act, and I'm extremely excited for the opportunity."

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Wonder-ful news

A suitor has emerged for Wonder Bread, the iconic US brand many thought was toast once parent Hostess Brands shuttered, The Post has learned.

The budding bidder visited a majority of Hostess’ 36 plants in the last several days and is considering submitting an offer for the Wonder business, a source close to the situation said.

Wonder, America’s largest bread brand, comprises most of the Hostess bread business, which loses money.

Wonder was so short of money it couldn’t afford to hedge against commodity costs. When wheat prices increased, so did the red ink.

Getty Images

Not yet toast: The Wonder Bread brand may not be as stale as some people think. Sources tell The Post a potential buyer is touring its 20 bakeries ahead of Monday’s bidding deadline.

Twenty of Hostess’ 36 plants are mainly used for baking bread.

Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ho Hos and Drake’s Cakes in addition to Wonder Bread, shut its doors last month after a crippling strike by its bakers union.

Suitors interested in buying Hostess brands need to make non-binding offers by Monday.

It is no surprise that the Hostess snack business has gotten interest from bidders, but conventional wisdom has been mixed on whether there would be interest in Wonder.

If a suitor eventually buys Wonder and restarts many of the company’s bread plants, it still may not hire some of the 6,000 bakers idled in the shutdown — with or without union benefits.

Under the law, if a majority of the workers hired are union workers, the buyer would then have to bargain with them.

A buyer would not, however, need to retain benefits and could offer its own compensation package, a source with knowledge of the situation said.

Cost-conscious consumers, meanwhile, are likely hoping that Wonder Bread, one of the lower-priced breads on supermarket shelves, survives.

Wonder and rival bakery Bimbo offer loaves of white bread in some locations for $2, while Pepperidge Farm bread, for example, is roughly double the price.

Even if a suitor buys Wonder, it would likely be another six months before production starts, and by that time it is likely that rivals like Bimbo will be able to raise prices — allowing any potential Wonder Bread owner to match those inflated prices, one Hostess insider said.

As had been expected, no potential bidders have emerged seeking to buy all of Hostess’ assets, the source close to the situation said.

Separately, Hostess yesterday responded to The Post’s exclusive story last Sunday that CEO Gregory Rayburn did not take the 8 percent pay cut he imposed on union and non-union workers that prompted the bakers strike.

“Since Mr. Rayburn is not a Hostess employee, he receives no health or other benefits. Similarly, he is not included in any incentive plans that have been approved by the court for the wind down of the company,” a Hostess statement said.

Hostess declined further comment.

jkosman@nypost.com

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