ESPN begins hundreds of layoffs.

H&M says that some clothes were produced in collapsed factory in Cambodia.

Target misses earnings expectations and cuts outlook.

Cable networks are rebranding, and pay-TV brands aren't happy about it. 

Dairy Queen to debut new ad campaign that promotes its burgers and fries.

Dodge enjoys star turn for its Challenger at premiere of Fast and Furious 6.

EA lawsuit over players' videogame-likeness issue threatens NCAA policies.

Facebook becoming less popular among teens, Pew study finds. 

Ferrero backs off attack on World Nutella Day.

Fisker Automotive reportedly sees bid by boutique firm led by former GM exec Bob Lutz and Chinese supplier.Continue reading...

Dell reports 79 percent drop in profit as takeover battle continues.

Dow Chemical is ordered to pay $1.2 billion in price-fixing case.

Google Glass expands apps and integrates Facebook and Twitter.

Apple fights back in antitrust case over e-book pricing as it loses luster in global poll.

Audi shifts to high-performance models to propel sales.

BlackBerry regains lost market share in Canada.

Citigroup bans traders from using Bloomberg terminal chat groups.Continue reading...

Fiat is reportedly considering shifting its global headquarters to the Detroit area. That would be a huge material and attitudinal boost for the region in the wake of a new report about the City of Detroit's finances that is even bleaker than before.

When Chrysler was acquired by Mercedes-Benz 15 years ago, effectively moving the headquarters of one of the old American Big Three to Germany, it was yet another body blow to a troubled metro-Detroit area that had already been in decline for decades. When Fiat and the US taxpayer rescued Chrysler (under post-Mercedes owners) from bankruptcy in 2009, at least there was hope of keeping the company, even though its new parent was Italian.

Now, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has signaled strong consideration for moving the worldwide center of the entire Fiat-Chrysler enterprise to Michigan, perhaps to help fill out Chrysler's relatively new headquarters complex in Auburn Hills, Mich., in north-suburban Detroit. Bloomberg reported that Marchionne is evaluating a switch from Turin, Italy, where Fiat was founded in 1899.Continue reading...

Walmart posts mixed results, expects "challenging" quarter; earnings report also discloses $73M expenses related to foreign bribery probes.

Microsoft to Google: We need APIs to fix YouTube app.

Abercrombie & Fitch signs Bangladesh safety agreement as deadline passes for Gap deal.

Apple defends brand (but not Steve Jobs) in US book price-fixing suit.

Boeing and GE hunt for engine defect in 777s.

Campbell Soup uses digital marketing to target Millennials.

Capri-Sun targeted by German ad watchdog for misleading marketing.

Cisco profit is boosted by services.Continue reading...

Planned scarcity is a classic marketing trick for high-end goods. And if luxury fare isn't just difficult enough to get, then many of the most discriminating consumers don't want it anyway.

Ferrari's vehicles have been relatively inattainable forever largely by dint of their six-figure pricetags (and the brand unveiled a new, $1.3 million LaFerrari hybrid model at the Geneva auto show in March). But now Ferrari wants to make its goods even more exclusive by beginning to limit production. It's hoping a new tie-in with Apple will boost Ferrari's rarefied cachet even more.

The company plans to scale back sales to fewer than 7,000 vehicles this year to "maintain the exclusivity" of the brand. Ferrari sold 7,318 cars last year, and revenues so far this year have grown by about 4 percent over a year earlier.Continue reading...

SAP moves into cloud computing as brand projects $10B boost from banking software.

Coca-Cola plans to invest $2 billion in Florida orange groves.

Disney second quarter soars 32% on theme parks, ESPN ad sales as company withdraws trademark application for Dia de los Muertos.

Alibaba IPO anticipation grows on revenue surge.

American Airlines launches Klout-based promo.

AOL profits boosted by advertising.

AT&T presses case in lower bandwidth spectrum case.

Bitcoin startups begin to attract real cash.

Burger King makes bold move with delivery expansion.Continue reading...

JCPenney hires Y&R to help with marketing turnaround.

Fiat weighs listing on New York Stock Exchange and considers IPO after it completes merger with Chrysler.

Amazon develops device to stream video to homes.

Burger King expands delivery service.

Carfax hit with antitrust suit by dealerships.

Dr Pepper Snapple finds RC Cola Ten success a pleasant surprise.

Fisker Automotive takes bludgeoning on Capitol Hill.Continue reading...

Every game-changing relationship has an arc that eventually dwindles, and maybe even ends. Obama-Clinton. Manning-Colts. Kardashian-Humphries.

That may be the case with Chysler-Detroit. Even as the company has been moving some of its suburban employees to downtown Motown, Chrysler marketers are signaling a change in the three-year-old, market-changing relationship between Chrysler and the city that helped the brand and the company back up off the canvas and played a huge role in returning Chrysler to long-term viability.

"There are three words in 'Imported From Detroit,'" Olivier Francois, Chrysler Group's CMO, recently told brandchannel. "Everyone thinks of the noun, 'Detroit." And we might have put more emphasis initially on the noun because Eminem is a great ambassador and music is all about Detroit and Chrysler 'is' Detroit. And 'Detroit' brings a certain romance to the brand."Continue reading...