Business briefs: Warner to sell music on Amazon.com

Warner agrees to sell music on Amazon.com Warner Music Group, a major holdout on selling music online without copy protection, caved in to the growing trend and agreed to sell its tunes on Amazon.com's digital music store. Until now, Warner Music had resisted offering songs by its artists in the MP3 format, which can be copied to multiple computers and burned onto CDs without restriction and played on most PCs and digital media players, including Apple's iPod and Microsoft's Zune. The deal raises the total number of MP3s for sale through Amazon's music download store to more than 2.9 million.

Apple said to be planning movie rental service Apple Inc. is preparing to announce next month the long-rumored launch of a movie rental service through its online iTunes Store, as well as a groundbreaking licensing deal of its antipiracy technology -- moves that could dramatically boost the appeal of digital movie distribution. Twentieth Century Fox is one of the first studios that has agreed to make its films available for rent digitally through iTunes, according to a Financial Times report Thursday that cited unnamed sources. Representatives at Apple and Fox declined to comment.

Analysts expect more Citigroup write-downs When Citigroup warned in early November that it was likely to write down its portfolio by $8 billion to $11 billion in the fourth quarter because of exposure to bad loans, investors recoiled at the size of the losses. Some now say those early estimates appear drastically understated. Citigroup Inc. could write off as much as $18.7 billion in the fourth quarter, Goldman Sachs analysts William Tanona, Betsy Miller and Neil Sanyal wrote in a note to investors. If it does, they say, the bank may be forced to lower its dividend by 40 percent. Citi shares fell 89 cents, or 2.9 percent, to close at $29.56. They have tumbled about 45 percent since the beginning of the year.

Boeing seals British Airways deal for 787s Boeing Co. said it finalized a deal with British Airways, notching 790 orders for its long-awaited 787 Dreamliner plane during the past three years. British Airways' order for 24 Dreamliners gives the plane one of the industry's most successful launches ever -- even though the airliner has yet to take flight. The Chicago-based aerospace company expects to fly the first 787 around the end of the first quarter of 2008 and begin deliveries in late November or December. It expects to deliver 109 airplanes in 2009.

Rio Tinto again rejects BHP Billiton offer Saying it had strong growth potential on its own, Australian mining company Rio Tinto Ltd. again rejected an unsolicited offer from larger rival BHP Billiton Ltd. Rio Tinto Chairman Paul Skinner said in a letter to shareholders that was posted on the Australian Securities Exchange that the company's outlook was "exceptional" because of rising demand for resources from developing countries. He said the bid from BHP Billiton was rejected "as it significantly undervalued Rio Tinto and its prospects."

Insurers' disaster losses doubled this year Losses to insurers from natural disasters nearly doubled this year to just less than $30 billion globally after an unusually quiet 2006, a leading reinsurer said, from winter storms in Europe, flooding in Britain and wildfires in the United States. Munich Re warned that climate change could mean a growing number of weather-related catastrophes in coming years. "The trend in respect of weather extremes shows that climate change is already taking effect and that more such extremes are to be expected in the future," board member Torsten Jeworrek said in a prepared statement.

Serb manufacturer of the Yugo to be sold Serbia's only carmaker and producer of the much-maligned Yugo will be sold next year, the Serb government said. In an advertisement published in the Politika daily, Serbia's Privatization Agency said nearly 90 percent of the company's shares will be sold in April. Zastava, based in the central city of Kragujevac, first exported the Yugo to the United States in 1986, where it sold for less than $4,000. The Yugo was derided by critics, including Consumer Reports magazine, which said it "barely qualified as a car."

Samsung, Sharp spar over flat-panel patents Samsung Electronics Co. said it filed a complaint with American authorities over alleged unfair trade practices by Japanese rival Sharp Corp., fueling an intensifying legal battle over flat-panel technology. Samsung said in a statement that it filed the complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission last Friday, claiming that Sharp and two U.S. subsidiaries imported and sold liquid-crystal display products that infringe on four of Samsung's U.S. patents. The complaint came after Sharp earlier this month sued Samsung in a South Korean court, also alleging patent violations for LCDs.