Chesapeake picks site as base in Ohio

Chesapeake picks site as base in Ohio

LOUISVILLE, Ohio

Chesapeake Energy Corp. plans to base its Utica Shale operations in eastern Ohio at new offices near Canton.

The Oklahoma City-based company and other developers have increased their presence in the region amid a natural-gas boom as drillers seek to capture rights to tap natural gas in the shale.

The Repository in Canton reports Chesapeake has bought property at an industrial center in Louis-ville, about 50 miles southeast of Cleveland. It’s expected to begin building an office there soon.

The company’s director of corporate development says it’s a centralized site with the space to accommodate Chesapeake’s growing operations in eastern Ohio.

City Manager E. Thomas Ault says the investment could mean new jobs and tax revenues for Louisville.

Microsoft revamps Office for tablets

SAN FRANCISCO

New versions of Microsoft’s word processing, spreadsheet and email programs will sport touch-based controls and emphasize Internet storage to reflect an industrywide shift away from the company’s strengths in desktop and laptop computers.

The new offerings appear designed to help Microsoft retain an important source of revenue as more people access documents from mobile devices. The new Office suite also reflects the fact that people tend to work from multiple computers — perhaps a desktop in the office, a laptop at home and a tablet computer on a train and a smartphone at the doctor’s office.

Like an upcoming redesign of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, the new Office will respond to touch as well as commands delivered on a computer keyboard or mouse.

The addition of touch-based controls will enable Office to extend its franchise into the rapidly growing tablet computer market. Apple dominates that market with the iPad, though Microsoft has plans to compete with its own tablet, called Surface.

US wins dispute with China

WASHINGTON

The United States has won a trade dispute with China over that country’s treatment of foreign companies that process credit-card payments and other electronic transactions.

U.S. officials say the ruling by the Geneva-based World Trade Organization could allow American companies to enter China’s $1 trillion electronic payments market. The WTO adjudicates trade disputes among its members.

Under WTO rules, China can appeal the decision. And even if it doesn’t, China can take months to respond to the ruling.

The United States had argued that China’s government provides a domestic company, China Union Pay, with a monopoly over the processing of electronic payments. That discriminated against foreign companies and violated WTO rules.

The industry estimates that the ability to process China’s electronic payment transactions could create 6,000 U.S. jobs.

Associated Press