International Business Machines Corp

IBM Strikes Deal in Italy: The Armonk, N.Y.-based computer company and Telecom Italia will work together to sell services on communications networks, chiefly for businesses and governments. The companies will combine the data networks they offer to businesses and jointly sell e-mail, Internet navigation, video-conferencing and other software and services. International Business Machines Corp.

IBM Will Repurchase $2.5 Billion in Stock: The Armonk, N.Y., computer company's board made the decision to boost the price of the stock, but it decided against increasing the dividend. The 25-cent-per-quarter payout remains the same, International Business Machines Corp. said, adding that it will buy the shares from time to time depending on market conditions. Some analysts say the company's growth may have reached a plateau and that they're looking for IBM to make some sort of acquisition.

IBM Says It's Complying With IRS Audit: International Business Machines Corp. said it is cooperating fully with the Internal Revenue Service, which is conducting an audit on whether IBM improperly paid thousands of workers as independent contractors instead of as employees.

IBM reported a better-than-expected 24% rise in preliminary quarterly earnings Monday on strong sales in overseas markets, driving its shares up 5% and spurring a tech rally. The surprise report ahead of IBM Corp.'s scheduled earnings release Thursday eased some concerns about how much the slowing U.S. economy had hurt the world's largest technology services company.

IBM Corp. announced its third-quarter results earlier than expected Wednesday, and the company beat Wall Street's profit estimate and reaffirmed its full-year 2008 guidance. The stock, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, gained nearly 6% in after-hours trading on the news. The Armonk, N.Y.-based technology company said after the stock market closed that it earned $2.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to consider an appeal brought by a group of IBM Corp. employees who accused the company of age discrimination when it altered its pension plan. The lawsuit could have cost the company $1.4 billion. Kathi Cooper, a former IBM employee, served as the lead plaintiff in a class-action suit brought on behalf of 250,000 current and former IBM workers.

IBM Corp.'s fourth-quarter profit rose 11% and beat Wall Street expectations Thursday, and IBM also delivered a blockbuster figure in services contract signings, an important measure of future revenue. In the last three months of 2006, IBM earned $3.54 billion, $2.31 a share, on revenue of $26.3 billion. The numbers were boosted 6 cents a share by a lower tax rate and 5 cents a share from gains related to discontinued operations.