NEW YORK BlackRock Inc is accelerating its push in Latin America, making plans for its first launch of a private equity infrastructure fund targeting that market, a company document showed. The launch is anticipated this year, according to the document, an inf... More »
Newspaper publisher Tribune Publishing Co (TPUB.N) said its board had adopted a shareholder rights plan – popularly known as a “poison pill” – in a bid to thwart Gannett Co Inc’s (GCI.N) unsolicited takeover offer. Tribune shares fell nearly 6 percent in morni... More »
SAO PAULO Oi SA (OIBR3.SA) will start talks to restructure $14.3 billion of bonds as early as Monday, sources familiar with the situation said, pitting some of the world’s biggest investors against each other as Brazil’s most-indebted phone carrier fights for ... More »
NEW YORK A New York lawyer was sentenced on Thursday to six months in prison for participating in a fraudulent scheme in which a con man impersonated his successful father in order to raise money to buy Maxim magazine. Harvey Newkirk, 40, was sentenced by U.S.... More »
The parent of Britain’s Daily Mail said on Wednesday it had not submitted its own bid to buy Yahoo Inc’s core Internet business, but was still in talks to partner with other suitors of the U.S. company. Yahoo, which has been struggling with falling ad revenue ... More »
HONG KONG/SINGAPORE U.S. oil and gas major Chevron Corp has put all of its Myanmar gas block stakes up for sale, which at a combined likely valuation of $1.3 billion, would be the biggest deal involving Myanmar assets to date, financial sources familiar with t... More »
Ailing Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone opposes Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman’s plan to sell a minority stake sale in Viacom’s Paramount Pictures movie studio, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The report added to... More »
Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) has extended the deadline to bid for its businesses by a week to April 18, technology news website Re/code reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Yahoo, whose shares were up 1.7 percent in early trading, had set an April 11 deadli... More »
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (FOXA.O) is interested in acquiring a minority stake in Viacom Inc’s (VIAB.O) Paramount Pictures, a source close to the situation said on Wednesday. The company would be interested in exploring a deal that would create synergies fo... More »
Playboy Enterprises [ICONAP.UL], the owner of Playboy magazine, is exploring a sale, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, in a move that comes after the storied magazine stopped publishing nude photos of women and put up the iconic Playboy Mansion u... More »
SINGAPORE/HONG KONG Yum Brands Inc (YUM.N), owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, is in talks with private equity firms including KKR & Co LP (KKR.N) and Hopu Investments to sell a minority stake in its China operations as it prepares to spin off the once booming unit, ... More »
Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP, which is leading an investor revolt against Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O) management team, is seeking to remove the entire board of the struggling Internet company, the Wall Street Journal reported. The activist investor, which o... More »
BERLIN German media group Bertelsmann (BTGGg.F) on Tuesday reported a 4.7 percent rise in full-year core profit and reiterated it wanted to raise its stake in Penguin Random House, the book publisher which helped to drive the earnings increase. Bertelsmann con... More »
MUMBAI A year ago, Micromax vaulted past Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to become India’s leading smartphone brand. Today, its market share has nearly halved, several top executives have resigned, and the company is looking for growth outside India. In Micromax’s ... More »
MILAN Silvio Berlusconi’s broadcaster Mediaset is close to selling its pay-TV unit to Vivendi, three sources close to the matter said, a move that would strengthen the French media group’s grip on Italy. Vivendi is already the top shareholder in Telecom Italia... More »
NEW YORK Embattled drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, whose stock price has tumbled 38 percent this year, will appoint three new board members as soon as Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The drug maker will award... More »
TOKYO Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said its board of directors would hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the planned sale of its medical equipment unit and announce the outcome swiftly if a decision is reached. The cash-strapped Japanese company said in a statemen... More »
TOKYO Canon Inc is front-runner to buy the healthcare business of Toshiba Corp with a bid of over 700 billion yen ($6.2 billion), Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported. Toshiba, a laptops-to-nuclear conglomerate seeking cash to restructure after an accounting scan... More »
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s board of governors has approved a plan that would require brokerage firms to disclose how much they mark up the price of most bonds they sell to retail customers, the Wall Street watchdog said on Friday. FINRA’s co... More »
Yahoo Inc. shareholder Canyon Capital urged the company to proceed quickly with the auction of its core business, citing concern that the Internet giant’s management team does not share the sense of urgency held by the board of directors. “We remain concerned ... More »
Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) is considering selling a “significant” minority stake in its Paramount Pictures movie studio, Chief Executive Philippe Dauman said on Tuesday In the face of weak advertising sales and poor ratings at its cable networks, investors have been ... More »
Time Inc (TIME.N), publisher of Sports Illustrated, People and Time magazines, has been exploring a bid to acquire Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O) core Internet business for several weeks, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday. Time Inc has been re... More »
Activist investors are putting the U.S. banking sector in their crosshairs, betting that headwinds whipping through the industry will accelerate consolidation among lenders. While these activist hedge funds have already targeted some major financial companies,... More »
Xerox Corp (XRX.N) will split into two companies, one holding its legacy printer operations and the other its business process outsourcing unit, it said on Friday, in a bid to be more nimble after years of trying to integrate the businesses. Activist investor ... More »
European pay-TV group Sky Plc has struck a deal to screen programs from CBS Corp’s popular Showtime stable, including Billions starring Damian Lewis, as competition for top shows heats up among European broadcasters. The licensing deal will allow Sky to offer ... More »
Foursquare’s chief executive, Dennis Crowley, is stepping down and will be succeeded by Jeff Glueck, the company’s current chief operating officer. Foursquare, which makes apps that helps users find restaurants and stores and “check” into them, also raised $45... More »
TORONTO Canada’s Shaw Communications Inc said on Wednesday that it would sell its media unit to Corus Entertainment Inc for C$2.65 billion ($1.9 billion), gaining funding for its Wind Mobile purchase and sending its shares up nearly 7 percent. Corus, which ope... More »
SHANGHAI Swiss bank UBS AG plans to more than double the number of staff at its China wealth management teams over the next five years, said Kathryn Shih, Asia pacific president at the bank, in an interview with Reuters on Monday. Shih said market volatility w... More »
BOSTON Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) will allow investors to vote in March on a proposal to extend voting rights to all shareholders, though the measure is certain to fail as it is opposed by executive chairman Sumner Redstone’s holding company. Still, the vote will tes... More »
Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP [CBS.UL] is close to an agreement to buy Avon Products Inc’s (AVP.N) North American business for $170 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. New York-based Cerberus will also invest $435 millio... More »
LONDON Royal Dutch Shell’s takeover of BG Group may look less attractive after the slide in oil prices but the fact the same investors own nearly half of both firms means the deal is still likely to go through. Investors holding about 43 percent of Shell’s sha... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Yahoo Inc’s board of directors on Friday is in the third and final day of meetings that could decide the future of one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent but troubled companies. One option on the table for the nine board members is whether to sel... More »
LONDON/NEW YORK/FRANKFURT Investment bank Lazard is working with Sanofi’s management to prepare a sale or listing of its Merial animal health unit, aiming to land the leading advisory job for the deal, which could value the business at up 12 billion euros ($12... More »
Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) secured formal board approval on Sunday for its acquisition of Botox maker Allergan Plc (AGN.N) for more than $150 billion, a deal that will create the world’s biggest drug maker, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal, the l... More »
Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) looming deal to buy Botox maker Allergan Plc (AGN.N) for more than $150 billion will cap a record-breaking run for mergers and acquisitions in the healthcare sector, taking the cumulative value of deals in 2015 to more than $600 billion. H... More »
Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) said the proposed merger of Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable was not in the public interest, in a reply filed with the Federal Communications Commission. “The proposed merger is harmful for consumers, competition and inno... More »
TOKYOThe head of smartphone screen maker Japan Display Inc said he would not turn down a partnership with embattled rival Sharp Corp amid speculation that Japan Display’s top investor, a state-backed fund, wants a tie-up between the two. People close to the ma... More »
Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O) said its acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc (TWC.N), which is awaiting clearance from U.S. regulators, is now expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, and not by the end of 2015 as planned. The $56 billion deal, ann... More »
Media mogul Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp said it has extend its partnership with Alphabet Inc’s Google through March 2020. Under the agreement, which has been in place for 14 years, Google will continue to provide IAC and its partners with sponsored list... More »
TOKYO Toshiba Corp is set to sell its image sensor business to Sony Corp for around 20 billion yen ($164.68 million) as part of a restructuring plan laid out earlier this year, sources with knowledge of the deal said on Saturday. Toshiba, whose businesses rang... More »
Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O) chief development officer, Jacqueline Reses, is leaving the company to join mobile payments company Square Inc, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Reses’ role changed earlier this year when she shifted her focus to... More »
Dell Inc is planning to use equity in cloud software company VMware Inc (VMW.N) to help pay for its acquisition of EMC Corp (EMC.N) in a deal valuing the data storage company at more than $55 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. While the bul... More »
Sony Corp (6758.T) is proceeding with a plan to sell its half of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the world’s largest music publisher, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sony, which owns the unit with Michael Jackson’s estate, recently triggered a clause in its contr... More »
Gannett Co Inc, publisher of USA Today, said on Wednesday it will buy Journal Media Group for $280 million. The price of $12 a share represents an almost 45 percent premium to Journal Media’s closing share price of $8.29 Tysons Corner, Virginia-based Gannett s... More »
Amazon.com Inc is considering the creation of a live online TV service and has reached out to networks such as CBS Corp and Comcast’s NBCUniversal to express interest in carrying their channels, Bloomberg reported. The e-commerce giant’s talks with the network... More »
News Corp said it sold its digital education brand, Amplify, to a management team supported by a group of private investors following slowing growth in the digital curriculum market. The company did not disclose financial terms of the deal. News Corp said in A... More »
FRANKFURT German publisher Axel Springer is to buy a further 88 percent of news website Business Insider for $343 million, increasing its stake to 97 percent and accelerating its push into digital, English-language content. Springer said it already owns about ... More »
Time Warner Cable Inc’s shareholders approved the company’s $56 billion takeover by Charter Communications Inc, according to preliminary votes at a special shareholder meeting. Later on Monday, Charter also said more than 99 percent of the votes cast at its sp... More »
PARIS Altice NV (ATCA.AS), one of the most acquisitive European telecoms groups, made a major move into the U.S. market on Thursday with a deal to buy fourth-largest operator Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N) for $17.7 billion including debt. Altice founder Pat... More »
News Corp said it would buy Unruly Holdings Ltd, a UK-based video advertisement technology company, giving it the technology that analyzes historical sharing behavior to predict the potential for video ads to go viral. Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp will ... More »
Cable network operator AMC Networks Inc was in preliminary talks to buy billionaire John Malone’s premium TV cable network Starz, Bloomberg reported. Starz’s shares rose 8 percent to $41.89 in extended trading. The company had a market value of about $4 billio... More »
Twenty-First Century Fox Inc said it will expand its 18-year partnership of operating National Geographic TV channels to include the latter’s magazines and digital platforms, in a deal valued at $725 million. Fox will own 73 percent of the joint venture and th... More »
TORONTO The owner of adultery website Ashley Madison had already been struggling to sell itself or raise funds for at least three years before the publication of details about its members, according to internal documents and emails also released by hackers as ... More »
FRANKFURT European broadcaster RTL will focus on buying online businesses and content producers as it seeks to build itself into a video powerhouse that goes beyond traditional broadcast, its finance chief told Reuters on Thursday. RTL has TV and radio channel... More »
Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal said on Tuesday it had invested $200 million in online publisher BuzzFeed, the latest move by the media conglomerate to tap into a younger audience. NBCUniversal invested $200 million last week in Vox Media, owner of tech-focused we... More »
BEIJING “Tragedy” – that was Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) founder Jack Ma’s prediction for the fate of rival JD.com Inc (JD.O) in comments published earlier this year. On Monday, Alibaba signaled it is no longer writing off its smaller competitor, making... More »
Norton antivirus software maker Symantec Corp has agreed to sell its data storage unit, Veritas, for $8 billion to a group led by Carlyle Group LP as it seeks cash to turn around its core security software business. The deal, the biggest U.S. leveraged buyout ... More »
SAO PAULO HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) agreed to sell its Brazilian unit to Banco Bradesco SA (BBDC4.SA) for $5.2 billion, retreating from the second-largest emerging market economy after years of disappointing performance. Europe’s No. 1 bank said in a statemen... More »
LOS ANGELES Comcast Corp’s (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal film and television unit is close to making an investment in online publisher BuzzFeed and is in talks to raise its stake in Vox Media, a person with knowledge of both sets of discussions said on Thursday. The ... More »
MEXICO CITY A television company controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has canceled a project with real estate developer and TV personality Donald Trump after his comments insulting Mexicans, Slim’s spokesman said on Monday. This is the third company t... More »
FRANKFURT German media group ProSiebenSat.1 has agreed to buy 80 percent of German energy price comparison site Verivox from Oakley Capital for 170 million euros ($190 million). The price tag for Verivox, ProSieben’s largest digital acquisition so far, could r... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Airbus Group (AIR.PA) said it is selling a further 15 percent stake in business and fighter jet maker Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA) as it continues to unwind its 16-year-old link to its defense market rival. The move will see Airbus’ stake drop... More »
SYDNEY/DUBLIN (Reuters) – News Corp increased its stake in Australian media company APN News & Media Ltd, becoming the biggest foreign shareholder in the owner of some of the country’s top rated radio shows with a $104 million share purchase. Rupert Murdoch’s ... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – U.S. media group Scripps Networks Interactive agreed to buy a majority stake in Polish broadcaster TVN for 584 million euros ($615 million), gaining a foothold in a TV advertising market where revenues beat the global average and grew 6 perc... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) won preliminary approval from a U.S. judge to settle shareholder litigation on Friday involving the information technology company’s botched acquisition of Autonomy Plc. The ruling, from U.S. District Judge ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday paused its informal 180-day countdown to deciding the fate of two mergers – Comcast Corp’s with Time Warner Cable Inc and AT&T Inc’s with DirecTV. The agency cited the pending court de... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chip maker NXP Semiconductors NV (NXPI.O) has agreed to buy smaller peer Freescale Semiconductor Ltd (FSL.N) and merge operations in a deal valuing the combined company at over $40 billion. The deal, announced by the pair late on Sunday an... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s Economy Minister ruled out talking to Mediaset about any renewed bid for Rai Way, the transmission towers unit of state broadcaster Rai [RAI.UL], reiterating that the government intended to keep its majority stake. Mediaset, Italy’s bi... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French media group Vivendi (VIV.PA) will reward shareholders with a share buyback and a generous dividend after agreeing to sell its remaining stake in telecoms group SFR to cap two years of asset sales. Vivendi said on Friday that it will se... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Canada’s Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX.TO) (VRX.N) agreed to acquire gastrointestinal drugmaker Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SLXP.O) in an all-cash deal valued at about $10.1 billion, the two companies said on Sunday. The de... More »
SYDNEY/TOKYO (Reuters) – Financial giant Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd launched its global expansion strategy with its largest ever deal on Wednesday, agreeing a A$6.5 billion ($5.1 billion) takeover of Australian freight and logistics firm Toll Holdings Ltd. The... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A fight between an upstart Spanish language TV network and Comcast Corp has provided more ammunition for critics who fear Comcast would gain too much market power if its buyout of Time Warner Cable Inc goes ahead, antitrust attorneys sai... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is taking a $590 million stake in an obscure domestic smartphone maker as the e-commerce giant tests ways to expand its mobile operating system in a shrinking, cut-throat handset market. Extending ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, the country’s richest person, said she has sold her stake of nearly 15 percent in newspaper publisher Fairfax Media Ltd, citing “a series of bad decisions made by the leadership team”. Rinehart, F... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, the country’s richest person, said she has sold her stake of nearly 15 percent in newspaper publisher Fairfax Media Ltd, citing “a series of bad decisions made by the leadership team”. Rinehart, F... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Verizon Communications (VZ.N) said it would sell wireline assets to Frontier Communications (FTR.O) for $10.54 billion in cash and sell and lease cell phone towers for around $5 billion to American Tower in a deal that will help it pa... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – CRH has agreed to pay 6.5 billion euros ($7.4 billion) for assets from rivals Lafarge and Holcim, in a deal that will transform the Irish company into the world’s third-biggest building materials supplier. Shares in CRH rose as much as 7 per... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Intel has agreed to buy German network chipmaker Lantiq for an undisclosed amount to expand its range of chips used in Internet-connected gadgets, the companies said on Monday. The former Infineon unit was bought in 2009 by private equity... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Hedge fund mogul William Ackman is ready to make a new bet, not on a stock this time but a startup hedge fund, Clearfield Capital Management. Ackman, who runs $18 billion Pershing Square Capital Management, told investors on Thursday he plan... More »
HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Lender BOC Hong Kong Holdings Ltd is considering a sale of subsidiary Nanyang Commercial Bank (NCB) that could fetch about $6 billion, in a bid to stop cannibalizing the China business of its parent, people familiar with the matt... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) has signed a deal with Iraq worth $11 billion (7 billion pounds) to build a petrochemicals plant in the southern oil hub of Basra, Industry Minister Nasser al-Esawi said on Wednesday. Esawi told a press conference... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Supermarket chains Albertsons and Safeway (SWY.N) agreed to sell 168 stores in eight states to win U.S. antitrust approval for their $9.2 billion merger, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday. Albertsons, which has 630 supermarket... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Li Ka-shing’s hectic start to 2015 has meant record Asia M&A, loan and equity deals so far this month – good news for investment bankers close to the 86-year-old Hong Kong tycoon’s empire. The brisk business – $108 billion of Asia M&A mak... More »
