AOL cuts jobs following HuffPo acquisition

Web portal says layoffs amount to about 900 workers in U.S., India

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — AOL Inc. began layoffs Thursday that will involve a little more than 900 workers — amounting to about 20% of its workforce — as the company continues to transition into an online media business.
A spokesman for AOL /quotes/comstock/13*!aol/quotes/nls/aol (AOL 18.92, -0.11, -0.58%)  confirmed the layoffs on Thursday morning, which were originally reported late Wednesday on the All Things Digital blog owned by The Wall Street Journal.
The job cuts will involve about 200 workers at

Good-Bye To The $1 Bill?

Government Accountablity Office Wants To Get Rid Of The $1 Bill
 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Never again would people have to struggle to get the vending machine to accept crumpled bills. If it were up to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, people would

ECB - govts have yet to convince on consolidation

FRANKFURT, March 10 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank said on Thursday that debt-strained euro zone governments are yet to be convincing about the seriousness of their deficit cutting efforts and may be weakening on their commitments.
"Overall, current (consolidation) policies and plans give rise to concern for a number of reasons," the ECB said in a section on fiscal developments in

Auction of ING Direct USA Heating Up

The auction process for ING Direct USA is gathering speed, a day after the Dutch financial services company ING confirmed it was seeking to sell its online American division.
ING is in talks with several parties to merge or divest the unit, a person familiar with the matter said. Potential bidders include Citigroup, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, as well as the

BoE set to keep rates at record low -- for now

(Reuters) - The Bank of England looks set to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5 percent on Thursday, judging that Britain's recovery is currently too fragile to sustain a spiral of rising prices. It is not a foregone conclusion, however. Some policymakers are growing increasingly nervous about the threat of inflation, and the European Central Bank gave a

Prosecutor: NYC Hedge Fund Relied On Inside Tips

NEW YORK -- Even with the economy in a free fall in the summer of 2008, federal prosecutors say, Raj Rajaratnam managed to give new meaning to turning a quick profit.

The high-flying hedge fund manager made $1 million with a massive trade that took all of seven minutes. The prosecutors allege he had to cheat to do it.

The transaction was a glaring example of how Rajaratnam "exploited a corrupt group of people to get access to secret corporate information and then traded on it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Streeter said in opening statements Wednesday at

Morgan Stanley Tells Brokers to Text Away

NEW YORK—Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to its brokers: U can text now.
The rule change, delivered in a memo earlier this year, allows brokers with firm-managed BlackBerrys to use them for texting. It was prompted by

Bank of Korea Raises Rate to 3% From 2.75% After Inflation Breached Target

The Bank of Korea raised interest rates for the second time this year after inflation exceeded its target ceiling for two consecutive months.
Governor Kim Choong Soo boosted the benchmark seven-day repurchase rate to 3 percent from 2.75 percent, the central bank said in a statement in Seoul today. The decision was predicted by all 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.
South Korea joined Thailand and Vietnam in raising borrowing costs this week as a surge in oil prices threatens the exacerbate inflation pressures throughout the region. In South Korea, the BOK faces the challenge of taming inflation without choking off an export-led recovery that has bolstered profits at automakers including Hyundai Motor Co.

Yuan Forwards Weaken After China Reports Surprise Trade Deficit

Yuan forwards weakened the most in a month after China reported a surprise trade deficit for February, easing pressure on the currency to appreciate.
China reported an unexpected $7.3 billion trade deficit in February after a Lunar New Year holiday disrupted exports, the customs bureau said. Today’s number compares with a $6.5 billion surplus in January. Exports increased 2.4 percent from a year earlier and imports climbed 19.4 percent.
“If deficits are sustained, that would damp appreciation pressures,” said Patrick Bennett, a strategist in Hong Kong at Standard Bank Group Ltd. “With an emphasis on domestic consumption in the new five-year plan, along with continued commodity demand for infrastructure building, we might expect generally lower surpluses in the months and indeed years ahead.”

OIL FUTURES: Crude Rises On Libyan Conflict; Focus On Saudi Arabia

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Crude-oil futures rose in Asia as investors factored in a possible prolonged absence of Libyan crude from the market and traders were cautious ahead of protests scheduled for Friday in Saudi Arabia.
A bearish jump in U.S. oil inventories was overshadowed by reports that an important refinery and oil terminal in Libya remained shut and some oil facilities were hit as forces loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi intensified their push against rebels fighting to overthrow him.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April traded at $104.94 a barrel at 0634 GMT, up 56 cents in the Globex electronic session. April Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange rose 46 cents to $116.40 a barrel.

Hirai Becomes Top Sony ‘Musketeer’ as Stringer Plans Succession

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. Chairman Howard Stringer’s decision to make Kazuo Hirai his top lieutenant signals the company will accelerate plans to marry its content with hardware after its products lost ground to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

In naming the 50-year-old executive today to oversee all of Sony’s consumer electronics -- from PlayStation game consoles to Bravia televisions and Cyber-shot cameras -- Stringer picked the only one of the “Four Musketeers” he’s been grooming who isn’t an engineer by trade. Hirai, who’s fluent in Japanese and English, was also the youngest musketeer.

The promotion will test the games chief’s ability to carry out Stringer’s vision to integrate Sony’s TVs and computers with content from the entertainment businesses. After the Walkman’s domination of portable players in the 1980s, Tokyo-based Sony lost against Apple with the iPod, failed to fend off Samsung in TVs, while Nintendo Co. took the lead in video-game consoles.

Hirai Becomes Top Sony ‘Musketeer’ as Stringer Plans Succession

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. Chairman Howard Stringer’s decision to make Kazuo Hirai his top lieutenant signals the company will accelerate plans to marry its content with hardware after its products lost ground to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

In naming the 50-year-old executive today to oversee all of Sony’s consumer electronics -- from PlayStation game consoles to Bravia televisions and Cyber-shot cameras -- Stringer picked the only one of the “Four Musketeers” he’s been grooming who isn’t an engineer by trade. Hirai, who’s fluent in Japanese and English, was also the youngest musketeer.

The promotion will test the games chief’s ability to carry out Stringer’s vision to integrate Sony’s TVs and computers with content from the entertainment businesses. After the Walkman’s domination of portable players in the 1980s, Tokyo-based Sony lost against Apple with the iPod, failed to fend off Samsung in TVs, while Nintendo Co. took the lead in video-game consoles.

Boeing Considers Larger, New Plane

As Boeing Co. considers whether to replace its best-selling 737 model, a key executive said the plane maker is looking at introducing a new, larger airplane by the end of the decade, a move that would preserve the life of the 737 and expand the company's product line far into the future.

Renault to Yield in l'Affaire d'Espionnage

PARIS—Renault SA is prepared to exonerate the three managers fired for alleged corporate espionage, people familiar with the matter said, in what would be a major stand-down that could presage a change in the French auto maker's senior management.
As Renault faces up to what is likely to be an embarrassing conclusion to its highly touted l'affaire d'espionnage, one scenario being discussed by the firm's board is for Chief Operating Officer Patrick Pélata to tender his resignation, the people familiar with the matter said.
Jean Reinhart, a lawyer for Renault, said the company wouldn't do anything official until it had heard back from Paris prosecutors regarding the outcome of their search for alleged bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, where Renault suspected the three fired managers had stashed bribe money.

Facebook puts six on Forbes billionaire list

(Reuters) - Facebook not only made household names out of its founders thanks to the movie "The Social Network" -- it has also minted the latest crop of the richest people on the planet.
Six of the founders and investors behind the hot Internet startup made the annual list of world's top billionaires compiled by Forbes and published on Wednesday -- and four of them are new to the roster.
They join a list of others made wealthy by the latest gold rush on the Internet, underscoring the extent of the resurgence in a sector left for dead at the turn of the millennium.
Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg clocked in at No. 52 with an estimated worth of $13.5 billion, up from 212 and $4 billion in 2010.

CORRECT: Moody's Downgrades Spain Debt Rating

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Moody's Investors Service Inc. Thursday downgraded Spanish government debt to Aa2 with a negative outlook from Aa1 previously, triggering sharp declines for the euro and European bond prices in early European trading.
The news fanned concerns in European financial markets that high-debt countries in the euro-zone could bring the 17-currency region closer to a new debt crisis. Earlier this week Moody's downgraded Greek government debt.

Cocoa Falls as Gbagbo Orders Companies to Export; Coffee Drops

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Cocoa fell the most in more than two months in London after President Laurent Gbagbo ordered companies to export beans from Ivory Coast, the world’s largest producer. Coffee dropped.

Companies were told to export by the end of this month, or face sanctions, according to Ahoua Don Mello, spokesman for Gbagbo’s government. Gbagbo refuses to leave office and took control of local cocoa purchases and exports three days ago, escalating a conflict with rival Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of a November election.

Tokyo Shares End At 5-Wk Low On Futures Selling, Weak China Data

TOKYO (Dow Jones)--Tokyo stocks fell to their lowest closing mark in five weeks on Thursday, as futures-led selling ahead of the quarterly contract rollover spurred profit-taking in the cash market, where KDDI and real estate shares such as Mitsui Fudosan fell particularly sharply.
The Nikkei Stock Average lost 155.12 points, or 1.5%, to 10,434.38, its lowest closing mark since Feb. 3. The sell-off followed Wednesday's 0.6% rise.
The Topix index of all Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section issues also slipped 13.45 points, or 1.4%, to 930.84, as all 33 Topix subindexes closed in negative territory.

Walgreens to sell pharmacy-benefit unit

Walgreen Co. is selling its pharmacy benefit management business, as the Deerfield-based drugstore giant pushes to get consumers to the pharmacy counter and away from mail order.

The nation's largest drugstore chain said Wednesday that it will sell Walgreens Health Initiatives for $525 million in cash to Catalyst Health Solutions Inc., of Rockville, Md. The deal is expected to close in June.

Walgreens and other retailers are working hard to increase foot

traffic into their stores by adding medical services such as vaccinations and primary care from nurse practitioners. But owning a pharmacy benefit manager is contrary to that strategy.

Foreclosures plunge 27% - biggest drop on record

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Is our long national foreclosure nightmare ending?
The number of foreclosure notices filed in February dropped 14% compared with a month earlier and 27% compared with a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.
That was the biggest year-over-year decline the company has ever recorded. But the improvement may be
exaggerated, according to RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio, who traced some of the decline to the fallout over robo-signing issues.
"Allegations of improper foreclosure processing continued to dog the mortgage servicing industry and disrupt court dockets," he said. "The industry is in the midst of a major overhaul that has severely restricted its capacity to process foreclosures."
Another contributing factor was the harsh winter weather that covered much of the country during the month. That delayed some of the paperwork processing and the serving of notices of default, notices of auction sales and other filings.

A fear of fracking may slow natural gas trend

Natural gas could be a major source of low-cost electricity nationwide, as an upsurge in domestic production drives costs down and looming environmental mandates encourage utilities to retire power plants that run on dirtier-burning coal.
But energy experts and executives at the CERAWeek conference in Houston on Wednesday described a landscape of obstacles still standing in the way of natural gas producers. Chief among them: public fears about water contamination from the hydraulic fracturing process that is essential to unlocking natural gas in U.S. shale formations.

Seniors group sues HUD over reverse mortgages

(Reuters) - The largest advocacy group for U.S. seniors sued the Obama administration on Tuesday over policy changes it says make it easier for older Americans to lose their home to foreclosure. AARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, sued Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan in federal district court through its charitable arm, the AARP Foundation, on behalf of three homeowners facing foreclosure and then eviction.