AB InBev reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice over its disputed $20.1 billion acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, which faces inquiry over Mexico worker deaths.

GE to buy Lufkin for $3 billion in oil-and-gas-industry play.

PepsiCo seeks to patent novel high-protein nutrition beverages.

Adidas stops controversial sale of t-shirts around injured Louisville player Kevin Ware.

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong to be honored for pro-women Makers series.

Apple's former advisor to Steve Jobs admits brand screwed up iPhone naming system.Continue reading...

Should brand fans be able to own a piece of their beloved brands, without any middlemen taking a cut? That's the premise of Loyal3, which offers consumers a Customer Stock Ownership Plan (CSOP) where small amounts of stock can be bought directly from publicly traded companies via Facebook or a website. E.F. Hutton, are you listening? 

The pitch, on their website: “LOYAL3 is built on the simple and yet profound principle that people care more about things they own than things they don’t. We offer a revolutionary web and social media platform that enables public companies to sell their stock directly to customers from their Facebook page or website in just 3 clicks, creating more loyal customers.”

As Reuters notes, users can invest from $10 to a maximum of $2,500 per company per month. By leveraging consumer devotion for companies planning to go public, Loyal3 acts as broker. "People love Target and Coke," says Barry Schneider, CEO of Loyal3. "Why aren't more of them owners of those brands?"Continue reading...

The Liz Claiborne brand name was sold in November to J.C. Penney so it was inevitable that its parent company, Liz Claiborne Inc., would shed the brand from its name. The inevitable is now official. The 34-year-old fashion company is changing its name to Fifth & Pacific Companies, and will start trading under the ticker symbol FNP in mid-May, in addition to replacing its zippy liz.com corporate domain with fifthandpacific.com.

Claiborne unloaded its Mexx brand in September and then sold its namesake brand to J.C. Penney, along with its Monet brand, two months later for $267.5 million. It also got rid of its Kensie and Dana Buchman brands this fall as it attempted to right its own financial ship. Now FNP is left with three core brands in Juicy Couture, Lucky Brand, Kate Spade, and a sibling in the mens fashion/accessory brand of Jack Spade line, to focus on.

The new corporate identity may recall Gap's Forth & Towne, Gilt's Park & Bond, and Nordstrom's Treasure & Bond, but CEO William McComb argues that the name is a perfect synthesis of the east coast/west coast stable of brands, as it's "where California cool meets New York chic."Continue reading...

Liz Claiborne Inc. hasn’t turned a profit since 2006 so it’s no surprise that the company finally reached a tipping point of sorts and decided to massively shake things up. In the last of five deals that are focused on the company ending up with only its higher-priced brands, Claiborne sold off its namesake brand as well as the Monet brand to J.C. Penney Co. on Nov. 2nd.

Liz Claiborne CEO William McComb stated, "We are very proud of the value we have unlocked from our Partnered Brands group. What remains of that segment is a private brand jewelry design and development group that will continue to serve J. C. Penney, via our exclusive license for the Liz Claiborne and Monet brand jewelry lines. It will also continue to market Trifari and Marvella, as well as serve Kohl's with a license for Dana Buchman jewelry. Our jewelry capability is a profitable niche that was worth retaining, and will add to our earnings profile."

McComb continued: "With this announcement, the company has completed the last in a series of five transactions that in total have raised $471 million, allowing the company to meaningfully de-leverage and transform its balance sheet — while creating a portfolio focused on growth. ...We are now focused on our three global lifestyle brands — Juicy Couture, kate spade and Lucky Brand — and seeing the high growth and high margin opportunities they offer come to fruition as well."Continue reading...

Barneys NY creative director and author Simon Doonan may be a particularly crank elf this holiday season. In the wake of a management shakeup he's still in place, but rumors of tension with new CEO Mark Lee have surfaced.

Comme Des Garçons brings multi-label concept shops to Beijing.

Proposed design piracy law moves forward.

Fashion's Night Out returning for third time in 2011.

InStyle Magazine is now selling clothes online.Continue reading...

The New Yorker opened its archives in memory of J.D. Salinger. [Business Insider]

Post-iPad reveal, consumers wait patiently for a reaction from Amazon. [CNN Money]

Wal-Mart consolidates into three regions and reorganizes its operations. [NY Times]

Internet users in China have access to faux Google and YouTube sites. [Boston Herald]

NBC and Comcast collaborate to receive approval for merger. [Washington Post]

Ronald Burkle looking to spend some of his billions on Barneys New York. [WSJ]Continue reading...