Viacom 2Q earnings up 56 percent

NEW YORK (AP) — Viacom Inc., the owner of Paramount Pictures, MTV and Comedy Central, on Thursday said its net income rose 56 percent in the latest quarter, even though a slate of movies that was lackluster compared with last year held back revenue.

Viacom earned $585 million, or $1.07 per share, in the January to March quarter. That compares with $376 million, or 63 cents per share, it earned in the same period last year. Viacom has bought back shares, reducing stock outstanding and boosting earnings per share.

Excluding special items, earnings were 98 cents per share in the fiscal second quarter, 9 cents above the average analyst estimate as polled by FactSet.

The New York-based media company said its revenue rose 2 percent to $3.33 billion, matching analyst estimates.

Revenue rose 5 percent at Viacom's TV networks, and fell 5 percent at Paramount, as movies like "The Devil Inside," ''A Thousand Words," and "Jeff, Who Lives at Home," did not match hits from last year like "Rango" and "No Strings Attached."

However, the lower movie revenue was more than offset by lower distribution costs, so Paramount's operating income expanded, contributing to the overall profit increase.

Viacom's Class B shares dropped 49 cents, or 1 percent, to $46.94 in premarket trading Thursday.

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CEOs rank Texas tops for business, California worst

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Texas remains the top state for business and California still holds the title for the worst, according to an annual ranking of states by Chief Executive magazine released on Wednesday.

Chief Executive each year surveys CEOs and asks them to grade states in which they do business. This year 650 responded, giving Texas high marks "foremost for its business-friendly tax and regulatory environment," a report on the survey and ranking said on the magazine's website.

"Texas easily clinched the No. 1 rank, the eighth successive time it has done so," the report said. "California earns the dubious honor of being ranked dead last for the eighth consecutive year."

California "appears to slip deeper into the ninth circle of business hell," the report said. "Each year, the evidence that businesses are leaving California or avoid locating there because of the high cost of doing business due to excessive state taxes and stringent regulations, grows."

New York was ranked just ahead of California.

New York's unemployment rate stood at 8.5 percent in March, compared with California's 11.0 percent jobless rate that month, which was the third highest state unemployment rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Texas posted a jobless rate of 7.0 percent that month, compared with a national average of 8.2 percent.

Chief Executive's report may be found at http://chiefexecutive.net/best-worst-states-for-business-2012

(Reporting By Jim Christie; Editing by Richard Chang)

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Freddie Mac profit falls, needs $19 million in aid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Freddie Mac , the No. 2 provider of U.S. mortgage money, said on Thursday it will seek another $19 million in taxpayer aid after its quarterly profit failed to make up for a dividend payment to the government for its controlling stake.

Net income fell to $577 million from $676 million in the year-ago quarter. The drop was mainly due to derivatives losses totaling $1.06 billion, up from $427 million a year earlier and $766 million in the previous 3-month period.

Still, the $19 million from the U.S. Treasury in the first quarter is less than the $146 million needed in the last quarter of 2011.

Freddie Mac and larger rival Fannie Mae , which own or guarantee about 60 percent of U.S. home loans, have been sustained by taxpayer support since the government seized them at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008.

In the first quarter, the company and its federal regulator focused more on "shifting risk to private investors" and reducing the size of the government's role in the housing finance market, Freddie Mac Chief Executive Charles Haldeman said in a statement.

Freddie Mac has now tapped $72.3 billion in Treasury aid and paid $18.3 billion to the government in dividends. The company said the money owed to the government from cash infusions will drive future losses.

Fannie Mae, which has yet to report quarterly results, has borrowed more than $116 billion from the government and paid almost $20 billion via dividends.

Both companies do not directly make loans to consumers. Rather, they buy and insure mortgages from banks, freeing up cash for more lending.

(Reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Obama's top security adviser to travel to Russia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top security aide will be in Moscow this week for meetings with Russian officials on the U.S.-Russia relationship and other issues, the White House said on Wednesday.

National Security Adviser Tom Donilon's two-day trip comes ahead of a G-8 leaders' summit the United States is hosting this month as well as an expected White House meeting between Obama and Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Donilon would meet senior Russian officials on Thursday and Friday "to review key issues in our bilateral and international agenda as well as to consult on upcoming U.S.-Russian high-level engagement."

(Reporting By Laura MacInnis; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

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Robert Doisneau Google doodle marks centenary of his birth

Famous French photographer's landmark shots adorn search engine's homepage

Robert Doisneau Google doodle

His photographs once adorned the walls of student residences everywhere but now on the centenary of his birth, 14 April, Robert Doisneau, the French photographer, is himself the latest subject of Google's homepage, the Google doodle.

Doisneau was born on 14 April 1912 and is best known for the photograph, "The Kiss by the Town Hall" in which in a young couple, oblivious to the bustle around them kiss. The photograph, which has the Paris town hall in the back ground and the tables of a cafe in the foreground, has been reproduced on cards and posters.

It was first published in Life magazine in 1950 and Doisneau allowed people to think that it was not a staged photograph. One couple, believing they were featured kissing in the photograph, sued the photographer. In court, Doisneau revealed that it was another couple who he had seen kissing and then asked them to model for him. He then took them to a series of locations in Paris. The couple who wrongly believed they were in the photograph lost their claim.

Doisneau's speciality was street photos and he avoided fashion or other forms of reportage. He was awarded a series of prizes for his work and he died in 1994.

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Loder1899's Range Rover Evoque Horus gets wide

German aftermarket tuner Loder1899 tells us Horus was an Egyptian god, and Wikipedia says he was usually depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon's head. While we're not seeing much that's bird-like in this customized Range Rover Evoque, a new front fascia with integrated fender flares and a similar treatment for the other end means the Evoque no longer looks like the baby of the Land Rover clan. The vehicle in the photos is also fitted with optional gigantic 11x23-inch wheels shod with 315/35R23 Michelins and a lowered suspension. Without them, the conversion runs €3,032 – or about $4,000, including German taxes. Awful or awesome? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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Intel's Ivy Bridge Launch Hints of Refreshed MacBook Pro

Intel's Ivy Bridge processors, which are expected to feature in new MacBook Pros, may ship on April 23. This could mean a new MacBook Pro could launch as early as Tuesday, April 24.

Authorized Apple resellers are suffering from low 15in MacBook Pro stock, which suggests that Apple is slowing production of the current MacBook Pro line-up in preparation for a redesigned MacBook Pro launch.

Intel's Ivy Bridge processor announcement had been anticipated for the end of the month, but according to DigiTimes sources it has been bought forward to April 23, with various notebook manufacturers planning to release ultrabooks in May. Apple is expected to be the first manufacturer to launch an Ivy Bridge-equipped laptop.

The new MacBook Pro lineup may include a new thinner and lighter 15-inch MacBook Pro, borrowing its styling from the MacBook Air. As a result the optical drive will be removed and the traditional hard disk drives will be scrapped in favour of SSDs. Later this year MacBook Pros with up to 800GB SSD could become available, after Intel announced new solid-state drives with storage of up to 800GB.

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