Biotech stocks sold off hard Friday as Wall Street blamed a letter by several House Democrats asking Gilead Sciences to justify the price of its hepatitis C blockbuster Sovaldi. The letter, dated Thursday, was signed by Reps. Henry Waxman, Frank Pallone and Diana DeGete, all ranking members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. It called Sovaldi a “breakthrough” in HCV treatment, but expressed concern that “a treatment will not
Apple’s massive iTunes credit card database will make the tech giant a big mobile payments player as soon as it enters the field. But retailers are already working to forge their own digital wallet power via their MCX consortium. Mobile payments is already a crowded space, with banks, credit card networks, wireless firms and Web giants such as eBay’s (EBAY) PayPal and Google (GOOG) aiming to win over consumers. Apple’s
Carl Icahn has hit a nerve with some eBay shareholders. Many analysts were skeptical in late January when the veteran corporate raider revealed he had taken a nearly 1% stake in the payment and e-commerce giant and said he would press eBay (EBAY) to spin off its lucrative PayPal unit to unlock greater shareholder value. Most observers said Icahn needed a much larger stake — at least 25%, noted Susquehanna Financial Group — and