Euro Economy » 2012 » April

Yahoo buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion, vows not to screw it up

By Alexei Oreskovic and Jennifer Saba SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will buy blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion cash, giving the Internet pioneer a much-needed social media platform to reach a younger generation of users and breathe new life into its ailing brand. The deal, announced on Monday, is a bold bet by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer to revitalize the company by co-opting a Web property with strong visitor traffic but little revenue. ...

Wall Street hovers near record levels as investors hesitate to jump in

By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks slipped by afternoon trade on Monday as indexes struggled to break above their record levels with investors hesitant to rush into the market. Trading was choppy, seesawing between modest gains and losses. Investors were eyeing comments from Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, who said the Fed has the appropriate level of monetary accommodation in place, allowing the economy to reach "escape velocity" next year. Earlier, the Dow climbed to an all-time intraday high at 15,391. ...

Morgan Stanley sued in 'pay-to-play' retirement plan case

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley has been sued by an Alabama medical laboratory that claims it steered retirement plan business to ING U.S. Inc and others in exchange for extra fees in an illegal "pay-to-play" scheme. Skin Pathology Associates Inc. filed suit in federal court in Manhattan on May 16, accusing Morgan Stanley of violating federal laws governing retirement plans through its dealings with co-defendant ING Life Insurance and Annuity Co and other 401(k) service providers. ...

Chesapeake Energy hires Anadarko executive as CEO

By Anna Driver (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp on Monday named a top executive at rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp to head the No. 2 U.S. natural gas producer, which has suffered a governance crisis and liquidity crunch over the last year. Chesapeake hired Robert Douglas Lawler, senior vice president of international and deepwater operations at Anadarko, to fill the post vacated by co-founder Aubrey McClendon in April. Shares of Chesapeake were up 4 percent as Lawler's appointment ends a three-month search for McClendon's replacement. ...

Britain's Cameron tells Google and others to play fair on tax

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday told Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and other business leaders that he expected their companies to pay their taxes in exchange for benefiting from low tax rates. Cameron's intervention came days after British lawmakers accused Google of using "smoke and mirrors" to avoid paying tax, fuelling a debate over corporate taxation that has angered the public and led to calls for a tougher approach from the government. ...

GM gearing up for big ad push for crucial new pickups: executive

By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - The launch of General Motors Co's redesigned Chevrolet Silverado, the most important since the automaker's bankruptcy and $50 billion taxpayer-funded bailout in 2009, is on track and advertising for its full-size trucks should begin in a few weeks, a top GM executive said on Monday. Mark Reuss, head of GM's North American operations, said the launch of the 2014 Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups is going "really good" and there had been no hiccups to slow the rollout. ...

Actavis to buy Warner Chilcott in $5 billion stock deal

By Caroline Humer and Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Generic drugmaker Actavis Inc, itself a recent takeover target, said on Monday it would buy specialty pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott Plc for $5 billion in stock to expand its branded drug portfolio, lower taxes and increase profits. The Warner Chilcott acquisition brings two new businesses - gastroenterology and dermatology - and adds additional women's health drugs like branded contraceptives to Actavis, which makes and sells drugs that are no longer under patent protection. ...

Caterpillar machinery sales down 9 percent in April, led by Asia

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc said on Monday that retail demand for its construction and mining equipment continued to be sluggish in April, though the sales picture appeared to be improving in almost every market outside North America. The Peoria, Illinois-based company said worldwide dealer sales of its earth-moving machines fell 9 percent in April from the prior year. That represented an improvement from March, when sales were down 11 percent, and February, when sales were down 13 percent. ...

Bankia compensation qualms signal loss of faith in Spain's banks

By Sonya Dowsett MADRID (Reuters) - Many duped savers at Spanish lender Bankia are shunning a state-supervised compensation scheme in favor of expensive lawsuits, prolonging a mis-selling scandal and complicating efforts to restore faith in the banking system. The disputes over mis-selling at Bankia and other nationalized banks have created a major headache for the government as it tries to take the next step in their rescue, imposing large losses on holders of junior debt. ...

First flight nears, A350 could make Paris show flyby

By Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus could steal the Paris air show with a flyby of its newest passenger jet, the A350, as confidence grows over a maiden flight some four weeks away. The timescales of its previous airliner launches suggest the European manufacturer could be ready to fly the aircraft in mid-June, depending on weather and ground trials, giving pilots a narrow time window to test the plane's basic characteristics in flight before the June 17-23 air show. ...