Corporate and legal

The special committee of Dell's board managing the computer maker's effort to go private rejected the latest takeover proposal put forth Tuesday by activist investor Carl Icahn as lacking key details necessary for its approval.

Earlier Tuesday, Icahn proposed in a letter to shareholders that Dell buy back 1.1 billion shares at $14 as an alternative to the plan to take the company private proposed by company founder Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Icahn also announced that he had purchased 72 million Dell shares from proxy fight partner Southeastern Asset Management, making him the second largest … Read more

During Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's whirlwind Asia tour, he stopped by the offices of Samsung this week for a quick meeting with the company's president, Shin Jong Kyun.

After the meeting, Shin stopped to talk to reporters and said that the two discussed potential partnerships, according to Bloomberg. The partnerships would reportedly center on advancing mobile-advertising sales.

Facebook has been long pushing to boost advertising on mobile. In April, the social network debuted Facebook Home, which is a family of mobile apps and a social-networking-focused skin that runs over Android in smartphones like HTC's One and Samsung'… Read more

Adobe Systems beat analysts' profitability expectations by 3 cents per share in the second fiscal quarter, ratcheted its Creative Cloud subscriber total up 221,000 to 700,000, and is considering new measures to mollify those who don't like the subscriptions, the company said Tuesday.

For the company's fiscal second quarter, which ended May 31, the company reported net income of 36 cents per share on a non-GAAP basis that excludes various charges, a notch better than the 33 cents average expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. Using generally accepted accounting principles, the company's net income … Read more

The claws are out in the Dish Network-Sprint Nextel tussle for Clearwire.

Dish slammed Sprint's lawsuit on Tuesday, calling it a "transparent attempt to divert attention from its failure to deal fairly with Clearwire's shareholders."

Sprint on Monday filed a lawsuit to block Dish's attempt to acquire Clearwire, arguing that Dish fooled shareholders into thinking such a deal would work.

Dish's comments are just the latest in a see-saw battle over Clearwire, which has suddenly become an extremely valuable asset because of the radio airwaves, known as wireless spectrum, it owns.

Sprint had initially … Read more

Hewlett-Packard said Tuesday that Todd Bradley will step down as head of the company's PC and printing unit to focus on growing the company's footprint in China, partnerships and the channel.

Bradley's new title will be executive vice president of strategic growth initiatives. The move is interesting since Bradley was supposed to meld printing and PCs and find synergies between the two businesses. Both product lines are challenged by slower growth going forward and the PC business has to reinvent to focus on mobility. In HP's second-quarter results in May, personal systems sales were down 20 … Read more

T-Mobile confirmed on Tuesday that it would be getting the Sony Xperia Z in the coming weeks.

The company didn't include a price, but like all other T-Mobile phones, the Xperia Z will be eligible for a low down payment and monthly installments under T-Mobile's Simple Choice plan. The Xperia Z will be exclusive to T-Mobile.

For Sony, getting the Xperia Z on another big carrier is a step in the right direction. The company has been steadily improving its product lineup and getting more U.S. support for its devices in the last several months. It previously … Read more

AT&T is deploying solar-powered charging stations to help keep smartphones and other mobile gadgets juiced up in parks throughout New York.

The 25 stations, which each feature a microUSB, iPhone 4, and iPhone 5 plugs, as well as USB ports for other devices, are being set up in various parks this summer and offer a free recharge. They can be found this week in Riverside Park on the west side of Manhattan, in Union Square, and in Brooklyn Bridge Park, with more locations to come this summer.

The Street Charge project, which is still in its trial phase, … Read more

Satellite TV provider Dish Network plans to take on cable and DSL broadband service with a new fixed wireless service that it's recently begun testing. But the success of its new business could depend on its ambitions to acquire more spectrum.

Last week, Dish announced that it has already begun testing the new wireless broadband network that uses 4G LTE technology in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Waynesboro and Afton, Va.

Unlike other 4G LTE services from carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the 4G LTE service that Dish is building is for in-home broadband service … Read more

Joining Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook, Yahoo has revealed that it received more than 12,000 requests from U.S. law enforcement for user information and affected accounts in the past six months.

The Web pioneer said Monday evening that between December 1, 2012, and May 31, 2013, it received between 12,000 and 13,000 requests for user information, most of which were related to criminal investigations involving fraud, homicide, and kidnapping.

The revelation comes amid a furor that erupted earlier this month over allegations that the National Security Agency has engaged in a sweeping effort to surreptitiously acquire information … Read more