Roundup: Stock market drops, Microsoft retreats, and more

Here’s the latest action:

Tech stocks lead market to new lows — The thing about a downturn is it can always get worse. The Dow and S&P both hit 11-year lows on Monday, with the tech-driven NASDAQ’s 3.7 percent decline outpacing 3.4 percent drops in the blue chip averages.

Microsoft retreats on severance repayment demands — The software giant had initially asked laid off workers to return money that was in excess of planned severance payments, but backed off after a wave of criticism.

Obama picks Jon Leibovitz to head the FTC — Leibovitz is a Democrat who was first appointed to the Federal Trade Commission in 2004; he has reportedly been critical of self-regulation by the makers of targeted online ads.

Messaging company Visto buys Good — Privately held, Silicon Valley-based Visto has acquired Good, a message service that competes against RIM and others services, from Motorola. Motorola is hemorrhaging losses, and sold Good only two years after it bought the company for more than $400 million. The question is, how will Visto make money from it?

More Mac clones appear, this time from Germany – The New York Times’ Eric A. Taub says, “Apple has little to fear” from German company HyperMegaNet, whose computer “looks better hidden under a desk than out in the open.”

Hitachi GST buys storage start-up Fabrik – Hitachi purchased Fabrik, a San Jose, Calif. supplier of personal and professional external storage products. Fabrik’s products include G-Technology and SimpleTech. Fabrik raised $36.9 million over the past two years from 3i, ComVentures and other investors.

Larry Brilliant steps down as director of Google’s charitable arm — Brilliant will become Google’s chief philanthropy evangelist, while Megan Smith will fill his old position.

Micron cutting 2,000 more jobs with closure of aging factories – The chip maker previously announced a 15 percent global workforce reduction in October.

Medial device giant Medtronic to acquire CoreValve – The initial payment of $700 million plus two potential additions of $75 million will add up to one of the largest sales of a venture-Backed medical device company ever, according to CoreValve backer Sofinnova Partners.

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