Google buys satellite maker Skybox Imaging for $500M

Google is buying Skybox Imaging in a deal that could allow the Internet company to send its own fleet of satellites to take aerial pictures and provide online access to remote areas of the world. The $500 million acquisition announced on Tuesday initially will provide Google with the means to improve the quality and immediacy of the satellite imagery used in its digital maps. Google Inc. plans to use Skybox's satellite already in orbit to supplement the material that it licenses from more than 1,000 sources, including other satellite companies such as DigitalGlobe and Astrium. Eventually, though, Skybox could turn into another Google “moonshot” — a term that CEO Larry Page has embraced for describing ambitious projects that could take several years to materialize. Google hopes to build more satellites that could be used to beam Internet access to points around the world.
ALUNG PLANS TO EXPAND, ADD 28 JOBS
Alung Technologies is planning to expand and add 28 jobs at its South Side location. The developer of advanced medical devices for treating respiratory failure will ask the Pittsburgh Urban Redevelopment Authority for a $260,000 loan to help with the expansion. The company is planning to spend $650,000 on the project. It plans to increase its space and obtain new equipment as a result of sales growth in the European Union markets and Canada, according to CEO Peter M. DeComo and Nicholas Kuhn, president and COO. The company has fully repaid a $110,000 loan it received from the URA in 2004.
UPMC: 10K EX-EMPLOYEES' DATA HACKED
UPMC said about 10,000 former employees' personal data may have been stolen when hackers gained access to the hospital network's payroll system. Anyone who was employed by UPMC in 2013 was potentially affected by the data breach, including former employees who left or retired from the hospital network. The total number of people potentially affected by the data breach remains at about 62,000, UPMC said.
BAIERL FIAT PICKED FOR ALFA ROMEO'S RETURN
Italian sports car brand Alfa Romeo will initially be sold at 86 dealers when it returns to North America in the summer. Fiat and Chrysler announced the 82 U.S. Alfa dealers and four Canadian ones on Tuesday. Baierl Fiat in McCandless is the only retailer in Pennsylvania awarded an Alfa Romeo dealership. The chosen dealers sell Fiat and Maserati cars in 33 states and three Canadian provinces. California will have the most Alfa dealers, with 12. Seventeen states, including New York and Georgia, will have one dealer each. Alfa is returning to North America after a 20-year absence. The first car on sale here will be the 4C sports coupe. Alfa expects to sell about 800 cars in North America this year and as many as 1,300 next year. More dealers will be announced this year. Fiat and Chrysler eventually plan to have 300 Alfa dealers in North America.
TARGET NAMES INFORMATION SECURITY CHIEF
Target Corp. has named Brad Maiorino chief information security officer as the company overhauls its security department in the wake of a damaging data breach. The nation's third-largest retailer, based in Minneapolis, said Tuesday that Maiorino will join the company on Monday and be responsible for the company's information security and technology risk strategy. He was General Motors' chief information security and information technology risk officer. Before that, he had a similar role at General Electric. He will help ensure the retailer and its customers are protected against internal and external information security threats.
OTHER BUSINESS NEWS
• Ken Melani has been named chairman of the board of directors of Telcare Inc., a Bethesda, Md.-based medical device company. Melani, former CEO of Highmark Inc., takes over as chairman from John Dwyer Jr., who continues as Telcare's chief financial officer, general counsel and director. Among its products, Telcare sells a cellular-enabled blood glucose meter for people with diabetes.
• Four Holiday Inn hotels in Western Pennsylvania were sold to GreatStay Hospitality Partners of Monsey, N.Y. No sales figure was released, but Kimberly E. Hamilton, a spokeswoman for GreatStay, said it probably is in the $20 million range. The hotels, all of which are scheduled to receive significant renovations, are in Beaver Falls, Uniontown, Clarion and Indiana.