business

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Gates Plans to Log Off as Scheduled
Gates Plans to Log Off as Scheduled

Gates Plans to Log Off as Scheduled

Despite most volatile market ever, Microsoft chairman will bow out

(Newser) - Bill Gates says that, despite a surge in competition from all sides of the market, his phased exit from Microsoft has been bug-free so far. His two-year transition period halfway done, the chairman and former CEO says that his handpicked successors have been successfully picking up the slack. But doubters...

Battling Bancrofts Take Journal Deal Down to Wire

Deadline today on Murdoch's offer

(Newser) - The Bancroft family, which controls the majority of shares in Dow Jones, is so deeply divided over the proposed sale of the Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch that the deal is still too close to call, the Journal reports. A decision on the $5 billion bid is set for...

Major Bancroft Branch to Nix Murdoch Offer

Family trust may force mogul to raise price for Journal

(Newser) - An important faction within the Bancroft family will vote against Rupert Murdoch’s controversial $5 billion deal for Dow Jones, instead demanding a significant increase of his offer. The Denver branch of the family, which owns a crucial 9.1% of Dow Jones voting stock, wants an extra $120 to...

What CEOs Read Before They Lead
What CEOs Read Before They Lead

What CEOs Read Before They Lead

Business leaders find refuge and resource in luxury book collections

(Newser) - Scanning the personal libraries of CEOs, tech gurus and venture geniuses reveals not only what they read but how they think, the Times reports. The well-heeled have taken to housing their exorbitant collections in luxurious, custom-built, private spaces. And if you read between the lines, the literature tends to reflect...

EU Supports French Socialist to Head IMF

Choice of former finance minister a victory for Sarkozy

(Newser) - A former French finance minister has the inside track to become the next chief of the IMF. EU finance ministers meeting in Brussels today settled on Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a Socialist who served in the cabinet of Francois Mitterrand. The choice was another coup for Nicolas Sarkozy, who managed at once...

Danone Swallows Up Numico
Danone Swallows Up Numico

Danone Swallows Up Numico

Paris-based company spits up $16.8B for big-boy serving of baby food market

(Newser) - French food corp Groupe Danone put in a $16.8B cash offer to buy baby food magnate Royal Numico—at just under $75 a share, a 38% premium over last week's closing price. The acquisition will make Danone an industry leader in the baby food market and should be finalized...

Zimbabwe Arrests Dozens in Price Wars

Businesses flout strict cost-control laws as inflation passes 3,700%

(Newser) - Police in Zimbabwe have arrested 1,328 businesspeople, including 33 top executives, for violating official price controls installed to curb uncontrollable currency devaluation. The new regulations demand that many goods' prices be cut in half in response to inflation that has now risen to more than 3,700%.

Kraft Goes Cookie Shopping in France

American snack giant bids $7.2B for Danone's biscuit division

(Newser) - Kraft moved to elevate its international profile today with a $7.2 billion for Danone's biscuit division, setting up a deal that would make the Oreo manufacturer Europe's largest cookie maker. The polyglot alliance of Ritz crackers and Petit Ecolier biscuits faces numerous obstacles, the Times of London reports, including...

Hong Kong Poised to Become Asia's Big Apple

Port city turning into financial capital

(Newser) - Hong Kong is in decline as Asia's premier shipping hub, but the dip in dockyard activity is nothing to fret over, Newsweek reports. The city is on the brink of becoming one of the world's financial capitals—on par with London and New York. Economic shifts are reconfiguring the political...

Bad US Loans Sink London Hedge Fund
Bad US Loans Sink London Hedge Fund

Bad US Loans Sink London Hedge Fund

Subprime mortgage crisis ripples through world market

(Newser) -  A London hedge fund is the latest casualty of the US subprime mortgage crisis that has already hit American investment companies, the Financial Times reports. After losing 53% of its value, Caliber Global Investment will sell its assets and try to repay $900 million to investors over the next...

Fraud Case Against Mogul Goes to Jury

Federal panel to weigh 15 weeks' worth of testimony in Black trial

(Newser) - The Conrad Black fraud case went to the jury today in Chicago, and the onetime press baron now awaits word on whether he'll walk free or face a decades-long prison sentence. The federal government contends that the ex-Hollinger chairman and three associates raided the company under the guise of complicated...

Murdoch Says $5B Is Final Offer for Dow Jones

Mogul won't raise offer to push stalling Bancroft family

(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch won't raise his $5B bid for Dow Jones, the media mogul said today. Murdoch deflected speculation that he would up the ante to move along negotiations with the openly skeptical Bancroft family, which owns a majority stake in the Journal publisher. Instead, Reuters reports, Murdoch is suggesting he...

Chill Spreads to Durable Goods
Chill Spreads to Durable Goods

Chill Spreads to Durable Goods

Orders for big-ticket items plunge more than predicted, clouding recovery forecasts

(Newser) - Orders for durable goods nosedived in May, suggesting that sunny forecasts for business spending may be overly optimistic. The 2.8% drop, the first decline in 4 months, nearly tripled the predicted 1% dip, Bloomberg reports. Excluding the volatile transportation sectors, the figure was off 1%, Commerce Department stastics released...

Debt Market Booms, Risk Climbs
Debt Market Booms, Risk Climbs

Debt Market Booms, Risk Climbs

Concentrated debt in the CLO market sparks a junk bond flashback

(Newser) - The undergirding of the current buyout boom is a dicey financing method called collateralized loan obligations—giant pools of bank loans packaged together by Wall Street and sold off in slices to investors, spreading the risk of default. The Journal reports that the  CLO glut is ushering in an age...

Murdoch Kowtows to China
Murdoch Kowtows to China

Murdoch Kowtows to China

Business and political interests raise issues for publisher's media

(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch's imperial ambitions in China have been marked by relentless cozying to its communist regime—motivated by equal parts opportunism and sinophilia—the Times reports. Murdoch's China outlets have toed the party line energetically, and the mogul, whose wife is a high-powered mainlander, has even personally lashed the Dalai...

High Court Raises Bar for Investors' Suits

Companies trump shareholders for second time in a week

(Newser) - Investors who accuse companies of fraud based on executives' misdeeds must show that they acted intentionally, the Supreme Court ruled today, making it easier for corporations to have shareholder lawsuits dismissed. The decision helps protect companies against frivolous suits by clarifying a 1995 law, the Times reports, but critics say...

Morgan Stanley 2nd Quarter Wallops Rivals

Profits spike 40% as subprime slump smacks rest of sector

(Newser) - Morgan Stanley released far better-than-expected earnings figures today, with net income up over 40% in the last quarter. Riding strong fixed-income sales and trading figures, profits rose to $2.58 billion, up from $1.84 billion last year. That's a far cry from rivals Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, whose...

Outlook Bearish for Bear Sterns Hedge Funds

Managers scramble after creditors nix bailout plan

(Newser) - Two major Bear Stearns hedge funds that once controlled more than $20 billion in assets are on the brink of collapse after disastrous losses in securities backed by subprimes. The Journal reports a bailout plan that would have kept the funds afloat fractured last night, and the consequences could ripple...

Gambling Firm Agrees to Buyout
Gambling Firm Agrees to Buyout

Gambling Firm Agrees to Buyout

Penn National Gaming changes hands for $8.9B

(Newser) - The casino-operator buyout spree continued today as Penn National Gaming agreed to be acquired by two private-equity firms for $8.9 billion. The deal, which allows the company to solicit bids for 45 days, includes $2.8 billion in debt. News of the $67-a-share offer, a 31% premium over yesterday's...

World's Top 50 Business Centers
World's Top 50 Business Centers

World's Top 50 Business Centers

(Newser) -
  1. London
  2. New York
  3. Tokyo
  4. Chicago
  5. Hong Kong

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