International Business Machines Corp

IBM Corp.'s first-quarter results slipped as all its major business units suffered declines, but the company backed its bullish outlook for 2009, reflecting its belief that a broad mix of services and software would help it weather the recession. The Armonk, N.Y., company's profit beat Wall Street's forecast, but sales fell short. The stock fell 2.2% in after-hours trading. IBM reported after the market closed that that its profit was $2.30 billion, or $1.70 a share. That beat the $1.66 analysts were expecting.

IBM Corp. is planning to announce its purchase of Sun Microsystems Inc. on Monday, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday. IBM intends to pay $9 to $10 a share for Sun, said the person, who declined to be named because the talks were still underway. At those prices, it would be the largest acquisition in IBM's history. The purchase would give IBM almost half of global server-computer sales and Sun's software portfolio, including the Solaris operating system.

IBM to Offer Employee Buyouts: The incentives will affect several thousand workers who are expected to leave the company or find new jobs in divisions that are growing. Unlike previous downsizing efforts, Armonk, N.Y.-based International Business Machines Corp. has no clear target for eliminating jobs, people familiar with the company's plans said. No layoffs are planned.

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.

Bankers Trust New York Corp. said it has agreed to acquire NationsBank Corp.'s $1.33-billion-asset institutional trust business. Terms of the definitive agreement were not disclosed. . . . International Business Machines Corp. said it plans to gradually dismantle a high-profile division formed two years ago for coordinating Internet strategy. IBM will eventually reassign the duties among various business units that make and sell the Internet products.

IBM Corp. said its third-quarter profit rose nearly 20%, surpassing analysts' estimates. However, slumping hardware sales hurt the technology company's revenue, which missed Wall Street's forecast. The Armonk, N.Y.-based technology company had released partial results for the July-September period last week to try to reassure investors who had been driving down its stock price. IBM earned $2.82 billion, or $2.05 a share, compared with $2.36 billion, or $1.68, in the year-earlier period.

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.

IBM Corp. told Wall Street to raise its 2008 estimates, further boosting a stock that was already buoyed by strong fourth-quarter earnings. IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said earnings would be $8.20 to $8.30 a share in 2008. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting $7.94 in 2008. Investors responded by bidding IBM shares up 5% to $106.20 after hours. Before the earnings report, the stock had fallen 53 cents to close at $101.10. In the last three months of 2007, IBM earned $3.95 billion, or $2.80 a share, on revenue of $28.9 billion.

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 says it has made a breakthrough in converting electrical signals into light pulses that brings closer the day when supercomputing, which now requires huge machines, will be done on a single chip. In research published Thursday in the journal Optics Express, IBM said it had produced electro-optic modulators a hundredth to a thousandth the size of comparable silicon photonics modulators and small enough to fit on a processor chip.

IBM Corp. is making its largest acquisition ever, a deal announced Monday to buy Cognos Inc. for $5 billion in cash in an effort to keep up with rivals in "business intelligence" software. The deal would follow similar moves in the same market this year. SAP recently linked up with Business Objects for $7 billion and Oracle Corp. grabbed Hyperion Solutions Corp. for $3.3 billion. Cognos shares had soared recently on expectations that it too would be acquired.

Strength in services overcame a slide in hardware and helped third-quarter earnings rise 6% at IBM Corp., enough to beat Wall Street expectations Tuesday. IBM said it earned $2.36 billion, or $1.68 a share, surpassing the profit of $2.22 billion and $1.45 a share that the Armonk, N.Y.-based technology bellwether posted in the same quarter in 2006.