Facebook said to be raising price for offering

Facebook is planning to increase the price for its eagerly awaited initial public offering to a level that could value the company as much as $104 billion. Because of high investor demand, the social network giant will seek a price in the range of $34 to $38 a share, up from an earlier $28 to $35 a share, people with knowledge of the matter said Monday evening, speaking anonymously because the discussions were private. In Asia alone, Facebook's offering is more than 25 times oversubscribed, said a person briefed on the matter. The company, which will most likely stop accepting orders for its IPO shares Tuesday, is expected to price its shares Thursday and start trading on the Nasdaq stock market Friday. At $36 per share, the midpoint of the revised range, Facebook will raise $12.1 billion -- making it the third largest IPO ever in the United States after General Motors and Visa.

Apple said ready to beef up iCloud photo sharing

In an effort to keep up with the exploding popularity of photo-sharing sites like Instagram, Apple is reportedly about to beef up its online service iCloud to let users swap and comment on other users' pictures. The Wall Street Journal on Monday, quoting people familiar with the development, said Apple intends to unveil the expanded service at its worldwide developers conference which begins June 11 in San Francisco. Apple declined to comment on the report.

Groupon posts smaller loss, larger revenue

Online deals company Groupon is reporting a smaller net loss and sharply higher revenue for the first quarter, helped by increased demand from a growing customer base. Groupon Inc. said that its net loss was $11.7 million, or 2 cents per share. The company had posted a loss of $146.5 million, or 48 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2011 when it was still privately held. Revenue grew 89 percent to $559.3 million from $295.5 million a year earlier. Analysts expected $530.5 million, according to a poll by FactSet. Chicago-based Groupon went public in November.

More layoffs at Beef Products Inc.

The maker of the beef product dubbed "pink slime" by critics said Monday it is laying off 86 employees from its corporate office in South Dakota, citing what it calls a misinformation campaign about a product that food-industry experts agree is safe. Beef Products Inc. executives initiated this second round of layoffs in response to intense negative publicity about the company's lean, finely textured beef. BPI has said it took a "substantial" financial hit after social media exploded with worry over the product and an online petition seeking its ouster from schools. The company confirmed earlier this month it was closing its three plants in Kansas, Texas and Iowa, resulting in 650 lost jobs. A fourth plant in Nebraska will remain open but at reduced capacity.

American to reconfigure many 767s, 777s

American Airlines Inc. says it will spend "hundreds of millions of dollars" each year to refresh and reconfigure the cabins of its Boeing 777-200ER fleet and about half of its Boeing 767-300ER fleet. Among the changes, American will remove first-class sections from those airplanes, install lie-flat seats with aisle access through the business-class section, expand in-flight entertainment and offer Wi-Fi on international flights. The modifications, which customers won't begin to see until first quarter 2014, are designed primarily to attract and retain premium customers who fly a lot and often will pay a lot of money to sit in the front of the airplane, company executives said. Chief commercial officer Virasb Vahidi, a senior vice president, said that 25 percent of American's customers provide 70 percent of the airline's revenue.

April shipments of iron ore up on Great Lakes

Iron-ore shipments on the Great Lakes in April were higher than last year and the month's five-year average. Nearly 6.1 million tons of iron ore were shipped in April. That's 6.1 percent more than last year and nearly 23 percent more than the month's five-year average, according to the Lake Carriers' Association. Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 5.4 million tons, an increase of 5.7 percent from a year ago. Through April, 11.9 million tons have been shipped. That's approximately 11.5 percent more than a year ago and 28.2 percent more than the five-year average. The Lake Carriers' Association represents 17 American companies operating 57 U.S.-flag vessels on the Great Lakes.

Europe's industrial output falls in March

European industrial production unexpectedly declined in March, capping a quarter that probably saw the economy slip into its second recession in as many years. Production in the 17-nation euro area slipped 0.3 percent from February, when it advanced 0.8 percent, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said Monday. Economists had forecast a gain of 0.4 percent, the median of 34 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. In the first quarter, industrial output fell 0.5 percent.

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