Exxon reports $10 billion Q2 profits
New York: Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest public oil company, quarterly profits has increased by 35 per cent to more than $10 billion on the back of yet another quarter of higher oil prices.

Soaring oil prices, stronger refining margins and higher oil and gas production combined to boost Exxon's second-quarter earnings to $10.36 billion, or $1.72 a share up from $7.64 billion, or $1.20 a share a year earlier.

Revenue jumped 12 per cent to $99.03 billion, from $88.57 billion a year earlier. The results beat Wall Street forecasts and sent its shares to an all-time high.

However, there was a surge of outrage from U.S. lawmakers and consumer groups who are angry at Big Oil's profiting while gasoline prices hit consumers.

Exxon has announced a boost in capital spending forecast for the year to $20 billion, citing fresh exploration and production opportunities. The world's largest company by market capitalization, Exxon also said it planned to increase its stock buyback program to $7 billion in the third quarter to make use of cash reserves.
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EMI, Warner call off merger plans
London: EMI Group Plc and Warner Music have cancelled plans to combine and form the world's third and fourth-largest sellers of recorded music, which the two have tried to do a number of times over the last six years. This came after a European court ruling cast doubts on whether competition regulators would allow more consolidation in the music industry.

Warner Music shares fell 11.3 per cent to $22.37 at 1421 GMT, while EMI shares recovered from earlier 7 percent losses and were down just 0.5 per cent to 260-1/2 pence.

The shelving of talks was widely expected following the court judgment earlier this month that annulled the European Union's 2004 approval of the merger between Sony Music and BMG, leaving them to submit to a more thorough scrutiny using updated market conditions, which could take months.
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Shell profits beat expectations
London: Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell beat has reported a 36 percent rise in second-quarter profits, as high oil prices and fat refining margins made up for production falls partly caused by violence in Nigeria. The results beat forecasts and boosted its shares. Shell's net profit rose 36 per cent to $6.3 billion. Excluding non-operational gains and losses, the result was $6.5 billion, a record underlying profit and higher than an average forecast of $6.1 billion from analysts.

Shell's LSE listed shares rose 2.14 per cent to trade at 1912 pence at 1446 GMT, outperforming a 1.61 per cent rise in the DJ Stoxx European oil and gas sector index.

Further Shell has maintained its 2006-07 spending plans fixed, despite rampant sector cost inflation.
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Kazaa commits to becoming legitimate
London: The entertainment industry comprising music and movie companies in the US have reached a legal settlement with their long time foe Kazaa, among the world's best known file-sharing networks and a once-popular source of illicit downloads.

Under the terms of the deal, Kazaa's owner Sharman Networks will pay the world's four major music companies — Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music — more than $100 million (54 million pounds) and commit to going legitimate, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

The Motion Picture Association of America said Sharman would continue operations while employing new technologies to prevent unauthorised distribution of copyrighted works on its system.
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