Chipmaker Intel agreed to pay $3.1 billion for a 15 percent stake in AsmL, a Dutch semiconductor-equipment company. Intel will also invest $1.07 billion to develop wafer and circuit technology that will raise processing power. Intel will buy the resulting tools, due in a few years.
WellPoint, an American health insurer, offered to buy Amerigroup, a rival company, for $4.9 billion. The deal follows a recent Supreme Court decision upholding President Obama's health care act, which sets up a market for all Americans to shop for coverage. The new company will be one of the largest private providers of Medicaid.
Mining companies Glencore and Xstrata said a postponed shareholder vote on their mega-merger would take place Sept. 7. Xstrata was forced to amend its pay deals for executives following objections by shareholders.
Samsung Electronics said it would make an operating profit of $5.9 billion in the second quarter, a 79 percent increase from the same period a year ago. Much of the hike is due to soaring sales of its smartphones. By contrast HTC, a Taiwanese telephone maker that was the first company to produce an Android telephone, announced a 58 percent fall in profit to $248 million during the same period.
In a victory for Samsung's sales, if not its style, a British judge declared its Galaxy tablet did not infringe any iPad patents because it was "not as cool" as Apple's product.
Yahoo and Facebook settled a patent lawsuit brought by Yahoo in March. The former Web star's case was considered aggressive because many of the patents at issue covered common practices such as online advertising, privacy controls and Internet messaging. In a rare example of congeniality, the companies eschewed damages and have formed an advertising alliance, saying they would cross-license innovations and collaborate in the future.
Political economyEuropean finance ministers agreed on more details of a bailout package for Spain. It will receive the first $37 billion for its ailing banks, out of a potential $122 billion, by the end of July. The country's budget-deficit target is also to be eased. Spain's prime minister set out more austerity measures designed to save $79 billions by 2015.
The Bank of Korea lowered its key interest rate for the first time in three years, by 0.25 percent, to 3 percent. Brazil's central bank cut the Selic rate by 50 basis points to 8 percent. The European Central Bank cut its main lending rate to a record low of 0.75 percent. The Bank of England announced more asset purchases amounting to $78 billion.
