Business News

Microsoft Attacks 'Moonlighting' Google with Viral Video

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(REDMOND, Wash.) -- In an amusing viral marketing video, Microsoft has gone on the offensive, attacking Google Docs, the search giant’s collaborative, online word processing tools.

The video offensive is an effort to promote its own Office 365 service.

In the video -- set to a spoof of the song from the Bruce Willis comedy series Moonlighting -- Googen Apperson, a Google Docs salesman, tries to convince an executive to use the software in her organization. But she points out alleged flaws in the Docs service, including how it doesn’t work when you don’t have an Internet connection. She is interrupted when an R&B singer breaks into song about how Google killed off a number of services.

“Google killed of Gears and Wave/They buried to Buzz the same way/If Google Apps meets its grave, your business is hosed,” he sings.

Microsoft calls it Googlighting and explains in its accompanying blog post that it is, “what happens when the world’s largest advertising business tries to sell productivity software on the side.”

“If these concerns and current revelations about Google’s privacy policies have you troubled, this may be a great time to check out Office 365, the online collaboration solution for businesses who don’t want their documents and mail read,” the video states.

Microsoft has also called out Google for circumventing privacy policies. Google did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the new video.

Obama Official: Corporate Tax Reform Proposal Would Cut Rate to 28%

Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The Obama administration is set to unveil a proposal on Wednesday that will call for lowering the country's corporate tax rate to 28 percent, a senior administration official tells ABC News.

Doing so would put the U.S. in line with its major competitors and encourage greater investment. At 35 percent, the nation's current corporate tax rate stands among the highest in the world.

The president's plan will also include cutting the effective rate on manufacturing to 25 percent, according to the official. Both deductions would be paid for by closing dozens of tax loopholes and eliminating subsidies.

Furthermore, the official says the proposal will introduce a minimum tax on foreign earnings to discourage moving jobs overseas.

Details of the plan will be announced Wednesday by the Treasury Department.

Obama to Promote Energy Policy as Gas Prices Rise

Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Playing defense on rising gas prices, President Obama plans to promote his energy policy in a visit to Miami on Thursday, senior administration officials said Tuesday.

Administration officials said the president’s speech at the University of Miami will build off his State of the Union address, when he called energy one of the four “pillars” for “an America built to last,” and is not a direct response to the political heat Obama has been taking for the pain at the pump.

The president is expected to outline his all-of-the-above approach to energy production, calling for a clean energy standard and the need to eliminate oil and gas subsidies, among other things.

While Republicans on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail have blasted Obama’s energy policy in recent days, the White House is confident the president has a solid case for the progress he’s made toward securing a strong energy future.

In the short term, administration officials said there’s no magic solution to immediately bring down gas prices and declined to say whether the president would consider tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The president’s Thursday speech will kick off a series of events in the coming weeks focused on American energy.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Johnson & Johnson CEO Bill Weldon Stepping Down

Cristina Arias/Getty Images(NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.) -- Johnson & Johnson has chosen a new CEO as it tries to recover from a series of product recalls. Effective April 26, 2012 -- the day of the company's annual shareholder's meeting -- current CEO Bill Weldon will hand the reins over to Alex Gorsky, a Johnson & Johnson veteran.

Sixty-three-year-old Weldon, who has served as CEO of Johnson & Johnson since 2002 and will remain on the company's board of directors as chairman, said the selection process for his successor was thorough.

"This succession decision involved a rigorous, thorough and formal multi-year process, which included consideration of two superbly qualified internal candidates, as well as outside candidates," Weldon said, according to a company statement. He added, "The future of Johnson & Johnson is in very capable hands."

Gorsky first joined Johnson & Johnson as a sales rep for Janssen Pharmaceutica. By 2001, Gorksy had advanced his way to president of Janssen. In 2003, he was promoted to oversee Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa before leaving the company in 2004. Gorsky returned to Johnson & Johnson after four years as head of pharmaceuticals in North America at Novartis. In 2009, Gorsky was appointed as worldwide chairman of the surgical care group as well as the company's executive committee.

Gorsky, 51, has also been nominated for election to the company's board of directors.

Johnson & Johnson generated $65 billion in sales in 2011, according to Bloomberg. Still, the quality of various recalled products from artificial hips to OTC brands such as Tylenol have cost the company more than $1 billion in lost sales, The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to Bloomberg, Gorsky will earn $1.2 million as the ninth CEO of the world's second largest health care company.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Gas Prices Rise Again: Average Price Now $3.59

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Gas prices continued an upward climb, settling at an average price of $3.59 a gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In some places, consumers are already seeing gas prices over $4. The weekly gas price average, released Tuesday, was up 40 cents from a year ago, and up by 7 cents from last week.

"I'm expecting the national average to float dangerously close to $4 a gallon," Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy.com's senior petroleum analyst, told ABC News. DeHaan said that following last week's average price per gallon of $3.53, gas prices are very close to "that psychological $4 mark."

"We are on course to break through $4 nationally," he said. "Some of these major metro areas could hit $4.50 or even higher. This year we may have a run for the money in knocking down the record from 2008."

The peak national average retail price of regular grade gasoline hit $4.114 per gallon on July 7, 2008, according to the EIA.

In 2011, the real annual average for a gallon of regular gas reached $3.56, which was up more than a $1.00 from the 2010 average of $2.90, according to the EIA. The EIA, which has compiled data since 1919, has the previous record high as $3.45 for 1981.

"We may set a new record," said DeHaan. "I'm still expecting 2012 to be the highest yearly average we have ever paid."

One of the reasons for the climb is Iran.

"Iran continues to make threats, and we continue to hear rhetoric about how they will cut off shipments to the U.S. or cut off access through the Strait of Hormuz," DeHaan said.

On Monday, Iran's oil ministry announced it had halted crude shipments to British and French companies.

"They're using oil as a weapon," DeHaan said. "The situation is tied to Iran's nuclear ambitions and the United States and European Union seem hell bent on making sure they drop their nuclear ambitions -- placing them on a collision course with who will act first."

Iran holds the world's fourth-largest proven oil reserves and the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, according to the EIA.

"The price that affects the price you pay at the pump has gone up just as much and that's why you're starting to see retail prices rise," said Ben Brockwell of Oil Price Information Service.

Brockwell said the situation in Iran and the EU may be one reason that the futures market is higher, but said he does not believe the reasoning is completely "justifiable."

"There's more to this than Iran and Europe," he said. "It's something else that is piling on.

"I think demand in oil consumption is growing at a rapid pace in developing countries like China and India," Brockwell said. "There's also sense that the U.S. economy is improving, and with that oil demand will be improving."

Regardless of whether the U.S. economy is improving, analysts don't expect gas prices to come down any time soon.

"This is somewhat a big game of chess and U.S. motorists are held victim," DeHaan said. "In fact, motorists all over the world are held victim."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Greece Deal Boosts US Stocks to Highest Level Since 2008

Hemera/Thinkstock/ABC News(NEW YORK) -- The Dow Jones industrial average closed up Tuesday after hitting the intra-day high of 13,000 for the first time since May 2008. The stock index is at a nearly four-year high, closing just under 13,000.

The Dow closed at 12,967, up 0.13 percent, while the S&P 500 closed at 1,362, up 0.08 percent.

Paul Larson, chief equities strategist for investment firm Morningstar, said the 13,000 mark was an arbitrary number without much intrinsic value to the markets. Still, it is twice the intra-day market low of 6,440 at the height of the recession on March 9, 2009.

The Dow opened the morning at 12,980 while the S&P 500 opened to 1,364, which was that index's highest close since 2008. The Dow Jones industrial average closed Friday at 12,950, up 0.35 percent, and the S&P 500 closed at 1,361.

With European finance ministers agreeing to a new bailout package for Greece, all eyes were watching whether the Dow would pass the psychological threshold of 13,000 after being closed Monday in honor of Presidents Day. The index briefly passed the mark shortly before 11:30 a.m. ET before returning to about 12,995.

"There's nothing magical about the 13,000 level, but it could help boost investor sentiment to some extent," Scott Brown, an economist with Raymond James, said.

Early Tuesday morning, eurozone finance ministers finished seven months of deliberating in Brussels and agreed to a bailout plan for Greece of 130 billion euros, or about $171.5 billion, its second in three years. Martin Koehring, an economist for the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that without the bailout, Greece faced the prospect of defaulting on a 14.5 billion euro, or about $19.1 billion, bond redemption due by March 20.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio