Amazon sees online retail rivals rise in 4Q and reign as most expensive stock end as company may have smartphone ambitions.

Facebook phone, no longer a rumor, is coming to Android.

Toys 'R' Us pulls planned IPO.

American Express tests geo-targeted ads in London cabs.

American Greetings decides to go private.

Apple apology by CEO Tim Cook seems to satisfy Chinese authorities.Continue reading...

NFL settlement with referees clears the way for marketers.

Tempur-Pedic goes to the mattresses to buy Sealy for $228.6 million.

American Greetings hears buyout offer from founding family and CEO.

Amazon rejects false advertising claim in Apple app store suit.

Apple-Google maps talks failed on voice navigation.

BAE proposed merger with Airbus parent EADS hits snag in Germany.

Bayer partners with feline vets.

BlackBerry 10 will determine RIM's fate as company courts app developers.Continue reading...

American Greetings, the second largest greeting card company in the U.S. behind Hallmark, has bought the debts of struggling Clinton Cards, the largest card retailer in the UK, in an action akin to a hostile corporate takeover. The unusual move essentially puts American Greetings in control of Clinton's fate and is expected to force the retailer into administration, the British form of bankruptcy.

American Greetings is the biggest supplier to Clinton Cards, which operates 628 Clinton Cards stores and 139 "Birthdays" outlets throughout the UK, employing over 8,000 people, whose jobs could now be at risk. Clinton was unable to repay a 35 million pound loan (more than $56 million) to its banks so the firm "had no option but to agree to a proposal by the new owner of the debt," reports Reuters.

The American invasion clearly took the British retailer and many industry observers by surprise.Continue reading...

It can be difficult to make waves in the venerable greeting-card business. The appearance of humor some decades ago might have been the biggest innovation. Not far behind in impact has been Hallmark’s far more recent move to put music clips on computer chips in cards.

Now, American Greetings – which has always played Avis to Hallmark’s Hertz in this industry – is hoping to create a new buzz for its brand with its “hi-definition lenticular” card line.

The Cleveland-based company isn’t exactly claiming that its lenticular cards will seem as sharply defined as a high-definition TV screen, nor that they’re three-dimensional per se, a popular trend now in movies with Avatar’s success.Continue reading...