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Want to see U2 play at your local stadium this fall? How much are you willing to pay?
The concert business is booming, with top tours grossing more each year. But as the economy constricts, consumer frustration is beginning to reverberate throughout the industry. Fans complain that the once simple process of getting tickets has been [...]

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Internet advertising rose in 2008, according to a report released Monday, but the growth is starting to flatten.
“The economy has had a significant impact on the short-term growth of the Internet advertising market,” David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which contributed to the report, said in a conference call.
Internet advertising grew to $23.4 billion in [...]

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The Best Buy Company, the consumer electronics retailer, said Thursday that its fourth-quarter sales grew 10 percent and that its adjusted profit was better than expected, surprisingly good news that sent its shares climbing Thursday.
“We prepared for reduced consumer spending, and we were pleased when the quarter finished stronger than it began,” the chief [...]

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Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, said Tuesday that it planned to eliminate нфШс-РЈРΜРЅРΜРҐР¶РΜСЂ,700 jobs, roughly 3 percent of its work force, as demand for phones continued to sag.
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The company, which is based in Espoo, Finland, said 700 workers would be laid off in Finland and the [...]

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Global semiconductor sales fell about 29 percent in January amid slumping demand for an array of products that use chips, ranging from personal computers and mobile phones to automotive products.
The Semiconductor Industry Association said that sales fell $15.3 billion in January from $21.5 billion a year ago. Sales in January were down about 12 [...]

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Cisco Systems faces a precipitous decline in sales of its networking equipment, but John T. Chambers, the chief executive, is issuing one of the more optimistic forecasts from Silicon Valley — that the United States economy will recover this year.
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According to Mr. [...]

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ROCHESTER (AP) — The Eastman Kodak Company said Thursday it was cutting 3,500 to 4,500 jobs, or 14 percent to 18 percent of its work force, as it posted a fourth-quarter loss of $137 million on plunging sales of both digital and film-based photography products. Its stock tumbled nearly 30 percent.
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Verizon, the telecommunications company, reported fourth-quarter sales on Tuesday that fell short of Wall Street projections as layoffs and other cost-cutting took a toll on the telephone and Internet business.
The company said that consumers and companies were cutting landlines at an accelerating rate, leading to a sharp decline in profit in that part [...]

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — With sales of computers deteriorating by the day, the PC industry’s dominant players — Microsoft and Intel — have arrived at the stark realization that the slump in sales could last a long time, perhaps years.
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Paul Sakuma/Associated Press
Steven Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief, in Las Vegas on [...]

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Advanced Micro Devices said on Thursday that slumping demand for computer chips sent its quarterly sales down 33 percent last quarter, while its losses, though narrower, were still substantial.
The results put additional pressure on a company that has already lost money for eight consecutive quarters and has struggled against its bigger and stronger [...]

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