Global Investment News Briefs: Best Buy Getting New CEO, IBM To Beat Estimates

Best Buy Names New CEO; IBM to Post Strong 2008 Earnings; BHP Cuts 6,000 Jobs; GM Loses Sales Crown to Toyota; Investors Retreat From Hedge Funds; Housing Market Index Hits New Low; Satyam Seeks Funding; Crude Futures Climb

• Best Buy Co. (BBY) crowned chief operating officer Brian Dunn as the electronics retailer’s new chief executive. Dunn, 48, started his career at Best Buy as a store associate in 1985 and will succeed retiring Bradbury Anderson, MarketWatch reported.

• IBM Corp. (IBM) will beat analysts’ estimates for its 2008 earnings. The company said yesterday (Wednesday) that its income will rise to at least $9.20 a share in 2009, ahead of the $8.75 average estimated by Bloomberg. “They’re using the current climate as an opportunity to cut costs. This is a pre-emptive strategy for improving profitability,” Gartner Inc. analyst Carl Claunch told Bloomberg.

• As global demand for commodities continues to fall, BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) is slashing 6,000 jobs and could face a $1.7 billion charge for closing a nickel mine in Australia. “It’s a sign that we are in for a pretty sustained downturn,” Ken West, a partner at Perennial Investment Partners Ltd., told Bloomberg. “They are trying to realign their cost base.”

• After a 77-year run, General Motors Inc. (GM) officially lost the crown as world’s largest automaker to Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Reuters reported. Global vehicle sales for GM dropped 11% in 2008 to 8.35 million. Toyota’s global sales slipped 4% and to 8.87 million units.

• Investors pulled a record $155 billion out of hedge funds last year, according to Chicago-based tracking firm Hedge Fund Research. Hedge funds around the world now manage an estimated $1.4 trillion, the same sum they managed in 2006 and significantly less than the $1.93 trillion they controlled in the middle of 2008, The Associated Press reported.

• The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo housing market index dropped one point to a record-low of 8 this month after stagnating at a reading of 9 for the previous two months. The index has been below 50 since May 2006 and below 20 since April. A reading higher than 50 indicates positive sentiment about the market.

• Satyam Computer Services (SAY) is seeking emergency funding and will hire an investment bank today (Thursday) to help the company explore its options. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) are reportedly on the company’s shortlist.

• Oil prices edged up yesterday (Wednesday) as the market rebounded from Tuesday’s decline. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose $2.23, or 6.11% to settle at $38.74 a barrel on the New York Stock Exchange. 

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