WRAL Tech Wire

Facebook prices IPO at $38 per share

Facebook has priced its initial public offering of stock at $38 per share, at the high end of its expected range. It means investor demand is strong for the world's largest online social network.

Update: GSK won't be deterred by Human Genome 'poison pill'

In a statement issued after the market closed Thursday, GSK said it believes its $13 per share offer represents full value for HGS, its partner in developing new drug treatments.

UNC lands $2.35M grant to research hepatitis C cancer links

The hepatitis C virus is believed to have links to the growth of liver cancer, but those connections have been hard to study. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill research aimed at learning more about those connections has secured a $2.35 million federal grant.

A microscopic image of a section of a liver biopsy from a patient with hepatitis C. The viral proteins are green, cell nuclei are blue.

Update: 30,000 workers could be cut at HP, reports say

Hewlett-Packard Co. is considering cutting as many as 25,000 jobs, or 8 percent of its workforce, to reduce costs and help the company contend with ebbing demand for computers and services, people briefed on the plans tell Bloomberg news. The Wall Street Journal reports an even bigger number.

Apple: N.C. data center to use all renewable energy

Targeted by Greenpeace International over its energy consumption, Apple says its 500,000- square-foot data center in Maiden, N.C., will be powered entirely by renewable sources by the end of the year. North Carolina Utilities Commission, meanwhile, approves Apple's request to build a solar farm at the facility.

Apple's site plan for N.C. data center, renewable energy

Facebook set to price its stock for IPO tonight

Facebook will likely price its IPO late Thursday, meaning that the investment banks orchestrating the offering will determine the price at which they plan to sell the stock to their clients. Facebook's stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday.

Facebook markets its network.

Graduation day set for Triangle Startup Factory firms

The six companies currently involved in the new business accelerator Triangle Startup Factory will make pitches to investors on June 7.

Triangle StartUp Factory

In the news: Overture, Center Creative Leadership; new jobs in Charlotte; Cornerstone; Elster; tax calculator

Overture adds 4 sales execs overseas; Financial Times likes the Center for Creative Leadership; Quicken Loans adding jobs in Charlotte; Cornerstone reports loss; Elster wins smart grid contract; American Institute of CPAs launches a "Total Tax" calculator.

NC Biotech Center awards nearly $4M in grants, loans

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has provided $3.96 million in loans and grants to emerging life science companies, educators and researchers so far this year in efforts to grow the state's life science industry.

Google seeks to smarten up searches with 'Knowledge Graph'

An information warehouse, which Google calls a "Knowledge Graph," is an attempt by the Internet's dominant search engine to provide answers as quickly and concisely as possible so users don't have to sift through a hodgepodge of Web links displayed on the main results page.

A sample of Google's "Knowledge Graph"

Human Genome embraces 'poison pill' to fight GSK takeover

The Maryland-based company also said Thursday that it is in talks with "major" pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies about a potential transaction.

Don't miss a chance to toast NC's tech best

Join us May 24 at the Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, for the first annual Full Steam Ahead Awards. We're naming the finalists on Friday.

Durham-based Appia on fast track in 'apps' growth

Serial entrepreneur Jud Bowman's decision to buy the smartphone business from Motricity is paying huge dividends as his latest venture Appia reports explosive growth.

Charting Appia's growth

TearScience, eyeing possible IPO, names a CFO

The medical device company has promoted Nicole Wicker from vice president of finance to CFO. Wicker joined TearScience in 2008 and guided the Morrisville-based company through its $44.5 million series C round of fundraising in 2010.

A patient is examined with a TearScience device

GSK melanoma drug combination shows promise

in an early study, suggesting the combo may not have as many side effects as existing single- drug treatments. Patients taking Glaxo's dabrafenib and trametinib together had a lower incidence of rash and skin lesions than previously reported with Roche's Zelboraf, according to a study of 77 patients with advanced melanoma, the most-severe form of skin cancer.