Hackers attack Yahoo Mail accounts

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) said it recently identified a coordinated effort by hackers who tried to log into many email accounts with stolen usernames and passwords. The note by Yahoo products executive Jay Rossiter did not immediately say how many accounts were affected.

The company declined to comment further but said it has teamed up with federal law enforcement to investigate the attack.

The credentials were likely taken from a third-party database, Yahoo said.

Related story: Stolen credentials blamed in Target breach

Yahoo said it reset passwords for users who were impacted. The company sent them text messages Wednesday night warning of "unusual activity on the network."

First Published: January 30, 2014: 6:04 PM ET

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Chipotle shares sizzle following red-hot quarter

Chipotle says it plans to open between 180 and 195 new restaurants in 2014.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The burrito chain's stock surged nearly 13% in after-hours trading Thursday following fourth-quarter results showing the company's strong growth continuing.

Chipotle (CMG) posted $844 million in sales, up 21% versus a year prior, and $80 million in earnings. The company is expanding aggressively, opening 56 new restaurants in the fourth quarter, and now has nearly 1,600 locations.

Related: Which country has the cheapest Big Mac?

Chipotle was spun off from McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) in 2006, and shares have been on a tear ever since, rising over 60% in the past year alone.

McDonald's meanwhile may be losing its luster. Its stock has been in the doldrums as it's struggled to match new menu offerings from competitors like Burger King (BKW) and Wendy's (WEN).

Related: Burger King tests Chicken and Waffle sandwich

There are still some Chipotle skeptics out there -- hedge fund moguls David Einhorn and Jeffrey Gundlach have made cases against the stock in the past year and a half.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 6:50 PM ET

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GoldieBlox ad makes Super Bowl history

Debbie Sterling's toy startup GoldieBlox becomes the first small business ever to air an ad during the Super Bowl.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The startup will make Super Bowl history this Sunday by becoming the first small business to have a commercial air on TV during the most-watched event of the year.

GoldieBlox won a contest run by Intuit (INTU), where the grand prize was the 30-second ad that will debut during the third quarter of the game. Intuit will pick up the $4 million cost.

"We still can't believe that we won. We were all crying when we found out," said Debbie Sterling, founder of GoldieBlox, a line of storybooks and toys aimed at getting young girls excited about science and engineering.

GoldieBlox's ad will appear alongside some of the biggest brands in the world such as Budweiser, Cheerios, and Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500). Super Bowl commercials typically are dominated by big brands that can afford the hefty price tag.

Related Story: Sneak peek at the Super bowl spots

But GoldieBlox got its start just 18 months ago and has barely 15 employees. Its toys sell in Toys R Us and Target (TGT, Fortune 500).

The ad, which was produced by a top ad agency RPA, puts GoldieBlox shoulder to shoulder with the big leagues, and Sterling hopes the exposure to over 100 million viewers will enable the brand to take a "giant leap forward for our mission."

A Stanford University engineering graduate, Sterling launched GoldieBlox in 2012 after became obsessed with the idea of "disrupting the pink aisle" with a toy that could potentially inspire the next generation of female engineers.

Related Story: Super Bowl creating traffic jam for private jets

She turned to crowdfunding site Kickstarter with the goal of raising $150,000 to fire up her idea.

"We did that in just 4 days," said Sterling. In total, her Kickstarter campaign raised over $285,000. "So yes, we knew we were on to something," she said.

Intuit's contest kicked off last July and asked U.S.-based business with 50 or fewer employees to submit a compelling story about their company.

An online vote determined the top 20 submissions, and then Intuit's 8,000 employees voted to pick four finalists -- GoldieBlox, dog treats maker Barley Labs, organic egg farm Locally Laid Egg Company and natural compost producer POOP. A separate online vote in December determined the grand-prize winner.

Intuit said millions of votes were cast for the entries but declined to say how many went to GoldieBlox.

"GoldieBlox is an outstanding example of the 29 million small businesses across the United States," said Intuit's CEO Brad Smith. "It's clear voters around the world felt the same way."

GoldieBlox's Intuit win, however, isn't its first brush with fame.

Last year, the company created a parody video that featured the Beastie Boys song "Girls." The video, which featured young girls rejecting the "princess" stereotype as they built a complex maze, became a viral hit. But it also brought on a copyright infringement lawsuit by the Beastie Boys for using their song.

GoldieBlox initially countered with its own lawsuit but ultimately removed the song from the video.

Intuit also confirmed that it will hold a similar contest again next year.

First Published: January 30, 2014: 6:17 PM ET

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Obama: 9 million covered by health reform. Well maybe.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Obamacare got a bad rap after the disastrous launch of the federal and state exchanges in October. But enrollment has since improved, but not quite to the level that the president extolled.

Obama said Tuesday that more than 9 million people have signed up for insurance thanks to Obamacare.

Here's how it breaks down:

Some 2.1 million had signed up for private insurance through the state and federal exchanges as of Dec. 31. This figure was updated to 3 million last week. However, it includes both people who have paid their first month's premium and those who have not yet fully enrolled. Those who don't pay by their insurers' deadline will not be covered.

More than 3 million young adults under age 26 obtained insurance through their parents' policies. This provision was one of the earliest ones to take effect, starting in September 2010.

And another 3.9 million people learned they're eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in October and November.

But this final figure is pretty squishy since it includes people who already had Medicaid and were simply renewing. Administration officials could not give the percentage of renewals. Experts say renewals could be a sizable chunk of that figure.

Related story: Obama's soft sell on income inequality

Still, Obama took the opportunity to highlight how health reform was helping Americans, pointing to a newly covered single mom from Arizona whose emergency surgery earlier this month would have bankrupted her had she remained uninsured. Prior to Obamacare, she could not obtain insurance because of a pre-existing condition.

And he highlighted Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, whom he called "a man possessed" with covering his state's families.

The president also wove his income inequality theme into his lauding of Obamacare.

"For decades, few things exposed hard-working families to economic hardship more than a broken health care system," he said. "That's what health insurance reform is all about -- the peace of mind that if misfortune strikes, you don't have to lose everything."

First Published: January 28, 2014: 11:16 PM ET

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Obama offers new 'MyRA' retirement accounts

President Obama used his address to proposed a new kind of retirement savings account.

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney)

Obama is calling them the "MyRA" and said he would, by executive order, direct the Treasury Department to create them.

Details were scarce Tuesday night, but employees will be able to contribute part of their wages to the savings accounts, which would be backed by the U.S. government.

"It's a new savings bond that encourages folks to build a nest egg. MyRA guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in," Obama said during the State of the Union.

About half of all American workers are employed by companies that don't offer retirement plans, according to a 2009 Brookings Institution report.

And those who do save, don't save much.

About two-thirds of all workers said they put some money away in 2013 for retirement savings, according to a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. More than half of workers said they had less than $25,000 in savings, outside of their home and pensions. And 28% of workers said they had less than $1,000 in savings.

Related: Should I take my pension's lump sum?

The Obama administration has been moving to try and promote savings through executive maneuvers. In 2010, Treasury set up a new program to allow Americans to automatically use their tax refunds to buy savings bonds.

The White House said the MyRA would be offered through Roth IRA accounts and that any saver with wages could set one up.

Roth IRAs allow users to put after-tax income into a savings account, where it grows tax free.

And then when savers hit retirement age, they can withdraw the money without additional tax penalties. In 2013, taxpayers could contribute up to $5,500 into a Roth IRA.

First Published: January 28, 2014: 10:50 PM ET

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Olympic sponsorship: Is it worth it?

Big companies spend as much as $1 billion on Olympics sponsorship and related marketing.

LONDON (CNNMoney)

But it's been a bumpy road to the Sochi Games for major sponsors like Coca-Cola (KO, Fortune 500), McDonald's (MCD, Fortune 500) and Visa (V, Fortune 500) after they got caught up in a backlash against a Russian law which critics say infringes gay rights.

President Vladimir Putin signed the legislation in June, sparking global outrage and a wave of protests demanding a boycott of the Games and sponsors' products.

Related: Russia's anti-gay law could hit Olympic sponsors

It's not the first time the Olympics have sparked arguments over gay rights. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, the volleyball tournament was pulled from Georgia's Cobb County after protests over an anti-gay law.

Former International Olympic Committee director Michael Payne said Cobb County was an early example of the kind of media storm the Games can generate, and sponsors had learned to roll with the punches.

Since then, the explosion of social media has given campaigners a new platform to exert pressure on big Olympic sponsors, including Samsung (SSNLF), Panasonic (PCRFF), General Electric (GE, Fortune 500), Dow Chemical (DOW, Fortune 500), Procter & Gamble (PG, Fortune 500), Omega (OCFN) and Atos. (AEXAF)

So does this brand bashing have any impact on their investment?

Corporations pay an estimated $100 million to become a major Olympic sponsor. On top of this, they pump massive investment into related marketing campaigns.

"The rights fee is really on the right to spend more money," said John Ivey, managing partner at Boston-based sports marketing consultancy AMM.

Related: Sochi: Most expensive Olympics yet

Just how much more isn't clear. Media tracking company The Global Language Monitor estimates top sponsors spend as much as one billion dollars over four years.

IMD business school president Dominique Turpin said for every $1 paid in sponsorship fees, companies must spend an additional $3 to $4 on things like new product launches or advertising campaigns.

But Turpin and other experts say measuring whether companies get the desired return on their commitment to the Games -- contentious or not -- is tricky.

"It's very difficult to put a number on return on investment, and many investors are questioning the huge amount of money put into [sponsorship]," Turpin said.

Achieving value for money will often depend on how a sponsor allocates its investment over the four years of an Olympic cycle, said AMM's Ivey.

Ivey and former IOC director Payne said any damage stemming from association with a Games-related controversy tends to fade as soon as the event begins.

"Once the flame gets lit, the focus shifts to the athletes and the competition and that's what the sponsors pay for -- the human element of the Games," said Ivey. "That's what creates the value."

First Published: January 29, 2014: 12:28 AM ET

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Emerging markets rattled as anxiety rises

India's rupee has weakened in recent days amid concerns about emerging market economies.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Asian markets were sharply lower, with benchmark indices in Tokyo and Hong Kong shedding more than 2% as investors looked to move out of riskier assets. South Korea's KOSPI Index and the Mumbai Sensex were off by 1.5%.

In currency markets, the yen gained ground against the dollar as investors parked their money in traditional safe havens. Emerging market currencies extended losses, building on a trend from last week that hit the Argentinian peso, Turkey's lira and India's rupee especially hard.

Emerging markets have been hammered in recent days due to the possibility that the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan will pull back on propping up their own economies. Signs of weakness in China's huge manufacturing sector and a looming default in the shadow banking system have only added to worries.

"The fear is that the Fed, Bank of England, and even the Band of Japan will become less dovish more quickly than had been though even a few weeks ago," said Steven Englander, head of foreign exchange strategy at CitiFX.

Related story: Will stocks break out of their rut?

Developing markets were the prime beneficiaries of low interest rates in the United States, which encouraged a rush of capital into the developing world. Should rates rise and that trend reverse, vulnerable economies could take a hit as their currencies weaken and investors flee.

Related story: Buckle up! 2014 will be a bumpy ride

The Fed will reveal its latest policy decision Wednesday. At its previous meeting, the Fed announced plans to begin scaling back its massive stimulus program by $10 billion per month to $75 billion in monthly bond purchases, citing signs of economic growth.

Even though the economy only added 74,000 jobs in December, many market observers expect the Fed will continue to cut back on its quantitative easing.

First Published: January 26, 2014: 10:07 PM ET

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ATM outage strands U.K. bank customers

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A Lloyds Banking Group (LLDTF) spokeswoman said the three-hour outage had been resolved but did not know how many customers had been unable to use their cards.

Issues with in-store purchases were resolved by 6 p.m. local, and ATM outages were resolved by 7:30 p.m. At 7:45 p.m. local, the bank's customer service hotline was still warning callers "we're extremely busy at the moment" because the bank was "experiencing issues with some credit cards and debit card transactions."

One bank executive took to social media, directly answering customer complaints and questions. He said the outage was caused by a server failure.

"My apologies to TSB customers having problems with their cards. I'm working hard with my team now to try to fix the problems," wrote Paul Pester. He is CEO of TSB Bank, which split off from Lloyds in September but is one of several banks that he tweeted "use the same IT systems."

Related: ATM heist thieves pocket $3 million in just hours

The banking group has suffered other payment outages, including one when the two banks split and divvied up their retail locations and customer accounts.

First Published: January 26, 2014: 4:03 PM ET

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Google snaps up artificial intelligence firm DeepMind

Google is acquiring London-based artificial intelligence firm DeepMind.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

A Google spokesman confirmed the acquisition on Monday, but declined to comment on the purchase price. Tech website Re/code, first to report the news, said that Google was paying $400 million.

Privately held DeepMind describes itself as a "cutting edge artificial intelligence company" that specializes in machine learning and systems neuroscience. The company's founders include Demis Hassabis, a former chess prodigy who has built a reputation as a game designer and artificial intelligence programmer.

An earlier version of the company's website, which consists of a single page, said that DeepMind was "building general-purpose learning algorithms" and that the company's first commercial applications would be in mobile social gaming.

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) is on a campaign to beef up its expertise in artificial intelligence and robotics, related fields that have been a research and development focus for the company. Over the past year, Google has snapped up at least seven robotics firms.

Artificial intelligence improvements could benefit products across Google's product lineup, including driverless cars.

Late last year, Google bought Boston Dynamics, a company known for developing super-fast, animal-like robots with strong ties to the U.S. military. Google's broader push into the field of robotics is being led by Andy Rubin, the man responsible for developing the Android platform for smartphones.

Related: Your Hackable House

And in January, Google bought Nest, a company that develops "smart" home appliances like thermostats and smoke detectors that can program themselves and communicate with smartphones.

The acquisition follows a series of efforts by Google to break into the connected home business, none of which have proven particularly successful.

First Published: January 27, 2014: 1:45 AM ET

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Michaels stores: Possible data 'attack'

The country's largest crafts chain said Saturday it learned recently of 'possible fraudulent activity' on some customer payment cards, suggesting there may have been a breach.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Michaels said Saturday that it learned recently of "possible fraudulent activity" on some of its customers' payment cards, suggesting there may have been a breach.

CEO Chuck Rubin said the company has not confirmed a breach, but wanted to alert customers.

"We are concerned there may have been a data security attack on Michaels that may have affected our customers' payment card information and we are taking aggressive action to determine the nature and scope of the issue," Rubin said in a statement.

The company gave no additional information on the possible breach, including how many customers may be involved, when those customers shopped at Michaels, and if the possible breach affected online or in-store shoppers.

In recent weeks Target (TGT, Fortune 500) and Neiman Marcus have each acknowledged breaches.

The attack on Target affected as many as 110 million customers, including 40 million credit and debit card shoppers at the height of the holiday shopping season.

Neiman Marcus said a three-month breach in the summer and fall affected 1.1 million customers.

Michaels says it operates more than 1,100 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

First Published: January 25, 2014: 2:42 PM ET

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