Business News

General Electric and Vivendi are moving closer to a deal on NBC Universal, with Vivendi agreeing to accept payment for just one-third of its stake until a related deal with Comcast closes, according to a source

Japan's Honda Motor Co Ltd has again produced the most fuel efficient and least polluting vehicles on American roads, the U.S. government projections for 2009 showed on Friday.

Akeel Sachak, global head of the consumer team at Rothschild, may get a seat at the table for this year's sweetest deal after all.

Volkswagen named a 41-year-old former Porsche Holding sales expert who joined the Europe's largest carmaker only a year ago to its management board as new group head of sales and distribution starting next year.

Standard Chartered Plc said it planned to invest in several renewable energy projects in Asia worth over $800 million.

Japan Airlines Corp may have to pay about 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) to settle derivatives transactions, a newspaper said on Friday, sending the struggling carrier's shares down 3 percent to a record closing low.

Big shareholders at Goldman Sachs have asked the U.S. bank, on track to deliver $20 billion in bonuses, to pass more profit to investors after it quadrupled quarterly net profit, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Cadbury suitors Ferrero and Hershey would likely break the UK confectioner up into separate businesses if a mooted bid for the company succeeds, an Italian newspaper reported.

Budget shortfalls pose a direct threat to millions of U.S. jobs, many in the private sector, as state and local governments lay off workers and cut spending on contracts and other business services, a think tank said on Thursday.

Shares of Sony Corp fell to their lowest in nearly four months on Friday after the electronics maker's new business strategy failed to convince investors it could deliver strong profit growth.

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said the worst parts of the financial crisis are behind us, and cautioned that more time needs to be spent studying how financial bubbles occur.

Nokia is to cut 330 research and development jobs in Finland and Denmark as it focuses on launching fewer, but more iconic, phones.

Lorry driver Zhang Jianwei isn't worried about cleaner fuel requirements that come into force in China next year, raising the price of motor fuels -- he will just keep buying cheaper, dirtier diesel at smaller stations.

AOL plans to cut one-third of its workforce, or about 2,500 jobs, in an effort to trim some $300 million in annual costs as part of the Internet company's planned spin-off from Time Warner Inc.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate geared up for a fierce battle over a new healthcare reform plan on Thursday as Republicans condemned the bill's price tag and tax hikes before the first crucial test vote on Saturday.

U.S. President Barack Obama arrives home on Thursday with no big policy breakthroughs after more than a week in Asia trying to recast the U.S. relationship with a dynamic region.

Sony Corp said on Friday that its planned entertainment content distribution service for network-compatible TVs and other devices will be launched next year.

U.S. regulators had "ample information" to trigger an extensive exam of convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff's investment firm, but continually gave it only a "medium risk" rating, a government watchdog said on Thursday.

The U.S. government is having a tough time guesstimating how many small businesses failed in this recession, casting doubt on the reliability of vital data on employment and economic growth.

One European supervisor should eventually be created to regulate the region's most important financial institutions, European Central Bank Governing Council Member Nout Wellink said on Thursday.