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Archive for November 6th, 2008

LeaseTrader.com Reports 24% Rise in Customers Downsizing

I hate the doom and gloom stories, but there are realities we have to face. One of them is unemployment numbers expected tomorrow.

Job cut announcements by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., as well as payroll manager ADP, both said this week that job cuts soared in October compared to September. What’s worse, the Department of Labor’s monthly report is due this week and is expected to point towards a growing unemployment rate beyond 6.1 percent.

I heard Donald Trump tell Fox News the numbers are going to make our head spin and we should be studying the year 1929.

Here’s a different way to look at the impacts of a sluggish economy from Leasetrader.com

LeaseTrader.com, the nationwide online marketplace for car lease transfers, reports a 24 percent rise in customers listing their vehicle for transfer due to job loss and their desire to downsize into a more affordable car.

With the economy slamming on the brakes, a staggering amount of Americans continue to lose their jobs. Naturally, the first thing they look to do is lower their bills. LeaseTrader.com’s vehicle lease transfer program allows consumers to escape a lease they can’t afford and transfer the remaining contract to someone else.

LeaseTrader.com also reports the majority of vehicle postings from customers looking to downsize are located in Michigan (36% increase), Ohio (27% increase), Florida (13% increase) and California (9% increase).

“We’re seeing an influx of drivers throughout the county taking advantage of our lease transfer program and exercising their option to escape their lease contract,” said Sergio Stiberman, CEO and Founder of LeaseTrader.com. “Like the housing market, people taking over many of these vehicles are getting some great deals because there is no down payment and the remaining terms of the lease are shorter than through a dealer.”

LeaseTrader.com’s vehicle lease transfer program allows people to avoid expensive contract termination fees by transferring the remaining portion of their lease to a credit-qualified individual. Drivers pay a one-time $79 listing fee followed by a $149 transfer fee. For optimum convenience, LeaseTrader.com verifies the buyer’s credit ahead of time.

November 6th, 2008

Once-Defiant Yahoo Now Wants a Microsoft Takeover

In the wake of shattered hopes for an advertising agreement with Google, Yahoo wants Microsoft to rescue it from its financial woes.Google on Wednesday terminated its agreement with Yahoo following an indication that the Department of Justice would seek to block it. Yahoo was counting on the agreement to accelerate investments in its top business priorities through an infusion of cash.

Now Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is willing and even eager to resume negotiations to sell his company to Microsoft. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith testified against the Google-Yahoo ad deal before Congress on Oct. 1. Microsoft has not yet responded to Yahoo’s off-the-cuff invitation to bid again for the company.

“To this day, I believe the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo,” Yang said Wednesday evening at the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco. While Yang said Microsoft and Yahoo haven’t been talking since hostile takeover negotiations ceased earlier this year, he and the board “remain open to everything.”

Click here to read the rest of my story on NewsFactor.

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