Ericsson, the world's largest manufacturer of wireless network equipment, will buy German billing-software firm LHS. Ericsson already earns 23 percent of its revenue from providing services to telecom companies, and this acquisition is intended to strengthen its service offerings.
Wal-Mart will offer prepaid spending cards for customers who do not have a bank account. The service will be available through Wal-Mart's MoneyCenters, which provide check cashing, bill payment, and other non-banking services. Although in March the company withdrew its application to open a specialty bank, they plan to expand the number of MoneyCenters and the financial services offered, perhaps signaling a renewed focus on lower-income customers.
Prudential Financial closed Prudential Equity Group, its stock research and trading business, and one of the last vestiges of its unsuccessful attempt to become a one-stop-shop for financial services. The division was not self-sustaining, especially after the company sold its retail brokerage to Wachovia in 2003.
The latest version of Adobe Acrobat and Reader software allows users to print PDFs at FedEx Kinko's stores or to ship them through FedEx. Small to mid-size businesses can use the service to save on shipping, printing a document near the delivery point rather than printing and shipping. Through the deal, FedEx Kinko's online services gains a presence on the 80 percent of computers that use Acrobat.