1. Global Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Russia’s rating from ‘BBB’ to ‘BBB-’ which is just one notch above “junk” status. The move comes as foreign investors continue to pull out money from the country amid tensions over the Ukraine situation and new sanctions imposed by Western Economies including USA.In the first three months of this year, foreign investors have withdrawn USD 63.7 billion from Russia, and economic growth has slowed significantly. Russia’s central bank has again raised its key interest rate today from 7% to 7.5% as it sought to defend the value of the rouble.
2. Vivek Gundotra, chief of Google’s social networking venture ‘Google+’, has announced to quit Google. Gundotra, who was serving as Senior Vice-President (Social) at Google, announced his departure in a post on Google Plus, a social network that was created about three years ago. Google describes Google+ as a “social layer” for enhancing many of its online properties and is not simply a social networking Web site. Although it has more than 500 million users, Google is still struggling to catch up with Facebook in social networking space which has nearly 1.3 billion users.
3. Nokia may appoint Rajeev Suri as its next CEO and outline its new strategy with a focus on its networks equipment business as it is all set to complete sale of its mobile phone business to Microsoft.Rajeev Suri, born in India, has been widely considered as the key candidate for the CEO post as he has helped the network division Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) turn profitable in recent years with a drastic restructuring plan and by ditching unprofitable businesses.
