| Wall Street Week Ahead: All eyes on European elections Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - After Wall Street ended its worst week of the year on Friday, U.S. stock investors will look across the Atlantic next week to take their cue from Europe as France and Greece go to the polls. That could offer some respite from a string of weak U.S. economic data and the earnings season winding down. Markets worldwide have closely watched developments in Europe for the past several months, with calls for austerity seen as positive for stocks as they seek to prevent a credit crisis in the region that could take down or deeply hurt the global economic recovery. ...
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| Law firm Dewey warns of possible closure Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf notified U.S. attorneys and staff on Friday that they could face mass layoffs, in the starkest sign yet that Dewey could be on the verge of collapse. "Although we continue to pursue various avenues, it is possible that adverse developments could ultimately result in the closure of the firm, which would result in the termination of your employment," the firm said in a letter to employees that was obtained by Reuters. Angelo Kakolyris, a spokesman for the firm, declined to comment. ...
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| Buffett says recently mulled $22 billion deal Posted:  OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett on Saturday said he recently mulled doing a $22 billion acquisition for his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Speaking at Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, Buffett said he would have done the transaction if he could, and liked it so much that he would have sold some of Berkshire's stock holdings that he would not otherwise have wanted to sell. He did not identify the takeover target. Buffett also said that if Berkshire did not make a major deal this year, it could look at one larger than $30 billion next year. ...
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| Yahoo in talks to sell 15-25 percent of Alibaba: source Posted:  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc could be weeks away from selling 15 to 25 percent of Alibaba Group's stock back to China's largest e-commerce company, in a deal designed to eliminate complexities that had scuttled the parties' previous negotiations, a person familiar with the matter said. The two companies have been in talks for a month, the person said, but cautioned that there is no guarantee a deal will be reached. Numerous discussions have been held in recent years about a deal for Alibaba to reclaim some or all of the 40 percent stake in the company that Yahoo acquired in 2005. ...
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| Hiring slows, spells trouble for economy, Obama Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employers cut back on hiring in April and more people stopped looking for work, troubling signs for President Barack Obama whose re-election prospects could hinge on his handling of the economy. Employers added 115,000 workers to payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. It was the third straight month in which hiring had slowed, intensifying fears the U.S. recovery is losing momentum. Even a slight drop in the unemployment rate to 8.1 percent had a dark tone because the fall was due entirely to people dropping out of the workforce. ...
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| Libya's Agoco cuts oil output further due to protests Posted: TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's Arabian Gulf Oil Company (Agoco) has cut oil production by another 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to protests that have closed off its headquarters for nearly two weeks, a spokesman said on Saturday. Protesters have prevented employees from entering Agoco's office since April 23, calling for more transparency over how Libya's new rulers are spending its money and more jobs for youth. Agoco, based in the eastern city of Benghazi, had threatened to cut production if no solution was found by May 3. ... |
| Thomas Cook gets lifeline from lenders Posted: FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Thomas Cook Group Plc gained a three-year funding lifeline worth 1.4 billion pounds on Saturday, giving the world's oldest travel group more time to turn around its recession-scarred business. The 170-year-old firm warned about its profits three times last year as civil unrest in North Africa and the economic downturn in Britain hurt bookings, and it has been forced to consider a number of fundraising proposals. ... |
| SIM card scandal claims head of Brazil phone group TIM Posted: ROME (Reuters) - Luca Luciani, head of Brazil's second biggest wireless phone group TIM Participacoes , who has been embroiled in an investigation into irregular SIM cards, has resigned, the group's parent company Telecom Italia said on Saturday. In a brief statement, Telecom Italia said Luciani had resigned from all management functions. It said Telecom Italia chief financial officer Andrea Mangoni would be appointed as interim head of its Brazilian operations. ... |
| Buffett tries to assure on Berkshire succession Posted:  OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett assured shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc that the company will be in good hands after he steps down, trying to allay fears about Berkshire's succession plan after revealing he had prostate cancer. The question of who will succeed Buffett, now 81, as chief executive has long been a focus of shareholders, and became more of an imperative after Buffett disclosed the diagnosis last month. Buffett has said the condition is not life-threatening and should not have much effect on his work. ...
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| Chevron seeks bank records in Ecuador environmental suit Posted:  MIAMI (Reuters) - Chevron Corp went to federal court in Miami on Friday seeking to force an Ecuadorean bank to release records of alleged bribes the company says were paid to an independent expert in a multi-billion dollar environmental lawsuit against the oil company. The company is seeking records of eight bank accounts at the Banco Pichincha, an Ecuadorean bank with a branch in Miami that Chevron says was a conduit for $360,000 in "illicit payments" to the independent expert, Richard Cabrera. ...
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| Sprint CEO to take pay cut as iPhone costs pinch Posted:  (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel chief Daniel Hesse said he would take a cut in pay this year, after coming under fire from some shareholders disappointed with the hit the company's results took from subsidizing Apple's popular iPhones. Hesse said his 2012 salary would be cut to repay about $346,000 in incentive pay that he has already received and forfeit additional amounts that he was eligible to receive under his 2011 and 2012 incentive plans. ...
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| Berkshire profits double as insurance losses fall Posted:  OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway more than doubled its profit in the first quarter, as the conglomerate's insurance business was spared from the devastating natural disaster losses that hit the company a year earlier. The company also benefited from much higher gains in its derivatives portfolio, offset in part by a substantial write-down on one of its bond holdings. The results come one day before the conglomerate's annual shareholder meeting, a festival-like event dubbed the "Woodstock for Capitalism" that draws nearly 40,000 investors to Omaha. ...
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| U.S., German auto companies agree on fast charging system Posted:  DETROIT (Reuters) - Seven automakers, including General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co, have agreed to adopt a fast-charging system that can charge electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in as little as 15 minutes. The group's goal is to make charging an electrified car as simple as filling a gas tank. Chrysler Group LLC is the latest automaker to join the consortium, which also includes members from Volkswagen AG and its luxury Audi brand, Daimler AG, Porsche and BMW. ...
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| Treasury to sell more AIG common stock Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury Department said on Friday it plans a third sale of the common stock of American International Group that it acquired as part of the government bailout of the insurer in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis. The Treasury said the size and price of the offering are to be determined. Buyers purchased $6 billion of AIG common stock in March and $5.8 billion worth in May 2011. AIG has said it intends to buy up to $2 billion of the stock sold in the offering, the Treasury Department said in a statement. ...
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| Yahoo in talks to sell 15-25 percent of Alibaba: source Posted:  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc could be weeks away from selling 15 to 25 percent of Alibaba Group's stock back to China's largest e-commerce company, in a deal designed to eliminate complexities that had scuttled the parties' previous negotiations, a person familiar with the matter said. The two companies have been in talks for a month, the person said, but cautioned that there is no guarantee a deal will be reached. Numerous discussions have been held in recent years about a deal for Alibaba to reclaim some or all of the 40 percent stake in the company that Yahoo acquired in 2005. ...
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| Boeing wins $668 million in Apache helicopter orders Posted:  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Boeing Co has won two U.S. Army orders worth $668 million for work on AH-64D Apache Block III helicopters for the U.S. military and Taiwan, the Pentagon said on Friday. In a daily digest of major arms contracts, the Defense Department said Boeing had won a firm, fixed-price contract of $486 million for low-rate initial production of 51 remanufactured Apache helicopters in the new configuration. Boeing began work on the orders in October, under a preliminary contract while it was finalizing the terms of the contract with the Army. ...
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| Ohio court reverses $2 billion judgment against Ford Posted:  (Reuters) - The Ohio Court of Appeals reversed a $2 billion judgment against Ford Motor Co this week and ordered a new trial for a group of dealers who said the No. 2 U.S. automaker overcharged them for commercial trucks over an 11-year period. In its Thursday ruling, the appeals court said the contract at the heart of the dealers' class-action suit was "ambiguous." It also said evidence submitted by Ford was wrongly excluded. "We hold that the trial court abused its discretion in excluding Ford's mitigating evidence at the damages trial," the court said in its ruling. ...
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| Sprint CEO to take pay cut as iPhone costs pinch Posted: (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel chief Daniel Hesse said he would take a cut in pay this year, after coming under fire from some shareholders disappointed with the hit the company's results took from subsidizing Apple's popular iPhones. Hesse said his 2012 salary would be cut to repay about $346,000 in incentive pay that he has already received and forfeit additional amounts that he was eligible to receive under his 2011 and 2012 incentive plans. ... |
| Law firm Dewey warns of impending layoffs Posted: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf notified attorneys and staff on Friday that they could face mass layoffs, in the starkest sign yet that Dewey could be on the verge of collapse. "Although we continue to pursue various avenues, it is possible that adverse developments could ultimately result in the closure of the firm, which would result in the termination of your employment," the firm said in a letter to employees that was obtained by Reuters. Angelo Kakolyris, a spokesman for the firm, declined to comment. ... |
| Pepsi formula inventor's heirs sue Pepsico Inc Posted:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The heirs of Richard Ritchie, the man who developed the formula for Pepsi-Cola in 1931, sued Pepsico Inc on Friday, saying they wanted to erase any doubt that his documents were theirs to share with historians, collectors and film producers. A lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court by Ritchie's daughter, Joan Ritchie Silleck, and his son, Robert Ritchie, said they wanted to "tell their father's extraordinary life story without interference or the threat of litigation" from Pepsi. ...
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| Exclusive: Barclays loses commodities trading chief Jones to Mercuria Posted:  LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays has lost its commodities trading chief Roger Jones to Swiss trader Mercuria, one of the biggest in a series of moves by commodities traders from banks to less-regulated trading operations. Dozens of traders have recently quit top commodities trading banks such as Barclays, Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch to firms such as Glencore , Vitol, Gunvor and Mercuria. The outflow is driven by shrinking profits and tighter regulation of banking, which gives trading houses greater scope to trade and to reward success. ...
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| Judge urges more deliberations in Android case Posted:  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A judge urged jurors to resume deliberating Oracle Corp's copyright claims against Google over the Android mobile platform, after they indicated there was unanimous agreement on all but one of the questions they must decide. "It's worth you going home over weekend," District Judge William Alsup told the jurors, adding that deliberations in the federal court in San Francisco should continue next week. Oracle sued Google in August 2010, saying Android infringes on its intellectual property rights to the Java programming language. ...
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| BATS says business is good, despite IPO failure Posted: NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (Reuters) - Even after an embarrassing failure of the company's initial public offering on its listing system in March, business at BATS Global Markets is still going strong, a company executive said. In March, a series of blunders hit the market debut of BATS Global Markets Exchange Inc , causing its shares to erroneously trade for less than a penny. The problems also fouled a trade in shares of Apple Inc . BATS later took the extremely rare step of withdrawing its initial public offering of shares. ... |
| CalSTRS says Wal-Mart top leadership in question Posted:  (Reuters) - The second-largest U.S. public pension fund said that allegations of bribery in Mexico and a cover-up by top management at Wal-Mart Stores Inc raise the question of whether top leadership should remain in place at the company. But officials with the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which sued current and former Wal-Mart executives on Thursday, stopped short of calling for CEO Mike Duke to step down. "The leadership question is on the table," Jack Ehnes, CEO of CalSTRS, said when asked Friday whether Duke, a defendant in the lawsuit, should step down. ...
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| Westlake Chemical pulls $1.9 billion offer for Georgia Gulf Posted: (Reuters) - Commodity chemicals maker Westlake Chemical Corp said it has withdrawn its $1.9 billion offer to acquire Georgia Gulf Corp , following talks with its smaller peer's management. Shares of Georgia Gulf fell 9 percent to $31.30 in post-market trade on Friday. Westlake also said it plans to liquidate its holdings of Georgia Gulf common stock as market conditions permit. The company, in February, had threatened to withdraw its sweetened $1.9 billion offer, or $35 a share, for Georgia Gulf. ... |
| Protesters to target 3M political contributions Posted: (Reuters) - Opponents of corporate political donations plan to picket 3M Co's shareholder meeting on Tuesday in a bid to get the diversified U.S. manufacturer to stop making political contributions. About 100 protesters are expected to turn out at the meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota, to support a shareholder proposal that would prohibit the maker of Post-It notes and films used in television screens from directly contributing to election campaigns, according to organizers. ... |
| Buffett's lieutenants see economy picking up Posted:  OMAHA (Reuters) - All signs point to slow but steady economic growth as consumers gradually increase their spending, senior executives of Warren Buffett's conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway said on Friday. Nearly 40,000 Berkshire shareholders are gathering in Omaha this weekend for the company's annual meeting. While a good bit of Saturday's Q-and-A is expected to focus on Buffett's health and succession planning, the "Oracle of Omaha" will inevitably field a number of questions on the economy. ...
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| NY judge can review BofA directors' settlement-ruling Posted:  (Reuters) - A New York judge can consider whether to approve a $20 million settlement between Bank of America Corp directors and shareholders who contend the bank overpaid for Merrill Lynch & Co, after a Delaware judge handling a similar lawsuit refused to intervene. The settlement would resolve claims that Bank of America directors breached their duties for having misled shareholders about Merrill's soaring losses, and hidden how Merrill was paying $3.6 billion of bonuses despite those losses. ...
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| AP: Pa. gas drilling brought $3.5 billion in 2011 Posted: Marcellus shale gas wells in Pennsylvania generated about $3.5 billion in gross revenues for drillers in 2011, along with about $1.2 billion in West Virginia, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. |
| Buffett's health on minds of Berkshire investors Posted:  While 81-year-old Warren Buffett's health has been on investors' minds, many shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting said Saturday that they aren't that worried about Buffett's prostate cancer diagnosis.
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| Thousands march as Japan shuts off nuclear power Posted:  Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation's 50 nuclear reactors Saturday, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol.
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| Buffett says his successor will still make deals Posted: Billionaire Warren Buffett says some of the deals he's made for Berkshire Hathaway might not be available to his successor one day, but that person will still make deals. |
| Buffett pokes fun at himself at annual meeting Posted: Billionaire Warren Buffett's secretary got to attend the State of the Union speech in January because of Buffett's complaints that tax laws are too easy on wealthy investors. |
| Russia's Rosneft signs deal with Norway's Statoil Posted: Russia's state oil company Rosneft and Norway's Statoil signed a deal Saturday to jointly explore Russian offshore deposits in the Barents Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. |
| Buffett shows off Berkshire products at meeting Posted: Billionaire Warren Buffett loves to showcase his company's products at the annual meeting with a 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall filled with displays where Berkshire Hathaway companies like Dairy Queen and Clayton Homes sell items. |
| Murdoch scandal follows classic media baron script Posted:  If the phone hacking scandal gripping Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. empire has a familiar ring, it might be because you've heard the story before. Scrappy outsider turns modest newspaper business into international media conglomerate. Ambition turns to hubris. Mogul dramatically falls from grace.
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| Costa launches new safety measures after grounding Posted: Italian cruise line Costa Crociere SpA unveiled new safety measures Saturday following the deadly grounding of its ship off Tuscany, saying it will now have real-time tracking of its ships' routes and will impose limits on its captains' absolute authority. |
| Greek election critical and uncertain Posted:  Greeks head to the polls Sunday in their most critical — and uncertain — election in decades, with voters set to punish the two main parties that are being held responsible for the country's dire economic straits.
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