SAN FRANCISCO/ LOS ANGELES, Jan 16- In the spring of last year, John Doerr received some bad news: Miasole, the solar-panel maker backed by his famed venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield& Byers, was on the verge of bankruptcy. If Miasole went under, it would be a dramatic collapse for a once-promising startup that in its heyday had been valued at $1 billion.
*To stand down as CEO by May 10. HONG KONG, Jan 15- One of China's best known corporate leaders, billionaire Jack Ma, will step down as CEO of Alibaba Group, the e-commerce empire he founded to tap the nation's enormous online shopping potential, passing the reins to "a younger, better equipped" generation.
Governments have been the dominant source of venture capital funding in Canada recently, and a government statement on Monday said the consultations found that reasonable government incentives would be needed "to attract institutional investors who have left the asset class in Canada over the past decade".
*Allocates C $400 mln that was announced in budget. MONTREAL, Jan 14- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday announced a plan to provide C $400 million in venture capital in a bid to stem the loss of young entrepreneurs to the United States and elsewhere.
For several generations, doing what your told was a ticket to an improved quality of life. But globalization and ever-efficient mass production have brought that cycle to its endgame; as many Americans have learned, there are no “safe” jobs anymore, especially in manufacturing, and no guarantees of employment, even at the biggest companies.