Ambivalence as Yahoo reduces Alibaba stake Shares of Yahoo Inc. edged higher Monday as Wall Street appeared to react with ambivalence to the Web portal's deal to sell back some of its stake to Alibaba Group. Yahoo closed at $15.58, up 1 percent. On Sunday, the two companies said Yahoo has agreed to sell up to half of its roughly 40 percent stake in Alibaba for $7.1 billion. The agreement gives Alibaba the right to later buy as much as 10 percent of Yahoo's remaining stake when the Chinese company has its initial public offering.
DaVita adds medical care provider for $3.66B DaVita, a provider of kidney dialysis services, agreed to pay about $4.42 billion in cash and stock to acquire HealthCare Partners of Torrance, Calif., continuing an international spending spree on providers of medical care. Denver-based DaVita will pay about $3.66 billion in cash, plus 9.38 million shares of its stock, which had a value of $758 million as Friday, for closely held HealthCare Partners, the companies said Monday. DaVita has purchased companies in the United States, Germany and India to meet rising demand for dialysis services.
Eaton to pick up Cooper in $11.8B deal Cleveland-based Eaton agreed to buy Cooper Industries, a Houston-based maker of electric-distribution equipment, in an $11.8 billion cash-and-stock transaction to expand its power-management business and its part in a U.S. housing recovery. The offer is valued at $72 a share based on Eaton's Friday closing price, 29 percent more than Cooper's price that day.
Californians plead guilty to insider trading A former Yahoo Inc. executive and a former mutual fund manager at a unit of Ameriprise Financial Inc. pleaded guilty to insider trading, the U.S. said. Robert W. Kwok, 36, Yahoo's senior director of business management, gave illegal tips to Reema D. Shah, 40, a portfolio manager at Ameriprise, about Yahoo's quarterly earnings and potential transactions with outside companies, Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in an e-mailed statement. Shah traded on the information, according to the statement. The Californians also Monday settled related civil cases against them brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Chinese premier wants to encourage growth Premier Wen Jiabao is calling for Chinese economic policies to tilt more toward fostering growth. During a weekend trip in south-central China, Wen said, "We should continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy while giving more priority to maintaining growth," according to the official Xinhua news agency. In April, industrial production in China had its slowest growth in nearly two years, fixed-asset investment grew at its weakest pace in nearly a decade and imports practically stopped growing. But Chinese officials have said before that they would make sure economic growth at least meets their minimum target of 7.5 percent.
Campbell's Soup to hike prices 5% Campbell Soup Co. will raise prices on its condensed soups by 5 percent in June as the company tries to turn itself around amid sliding profits. Blame high production costs and continued inflation for the price increase, according to Campbell Senior Vice President B. Craig Owens in a conference call with analysts. The company previously raised its soup prices 5 percent in June 2011. Sales for the soup segment -- Campbell's most famous -- fell 3 percent for the third quarter, which ended April 29. Overall, sales inched up 0.4 percent to $1.82 billion. But profit slid 5.3 percent to $177 million, or 55 cents per share, from $187 million, or 57 cents per share.
Stocks calm on G-8 reply to euro crisis European markets were mixed Monday, after the leaders of the Group of Eight nations at a weekend meeting at Camp David in Maryland offered moral support, but no road map, for addressing the euro crisis. The leaders urged Greece to remain in the euro and the European Union. In afternoon trading, the Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of eurozone blue chips, was down 0.2 percent, while the FTSE 100 index in London rose 0.4 percent. The dollar rose against other major currencies. The euro fell to $1.2736 from $1.2780 late Friday in New York, while the British pound fell to $1.5790 from $1.5817.
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