Apple dodges $9 billion in US taxes with bond deal.

Google named Advertiser of the Year. 

Volkswagen makes $10 million donation to the National Mall.

Adidas sales drop on weakening Reebok brand.

Barnes & Noble begins support of Google apps on Nook.

Beam sales rise because of "formula run" on Maker's Mark.

Diet Coke slims down its vending machines.

Ford adds jobs and raises capacity to make pick-up trucks.

Geritol seeks new life with younger consumers.

Huffington Post brings rapid-response "native" ads to its home page.Continue reading...

Facebook plans to announce facelift of its News Feed.

Taco Bell officially releases its Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos today. 

Time Warner to spin off Time Inc. as CEO Laura Lang exits.

Adidas posts weaker earnings on Reebok.

Baskin-Robbins plans to triple franchise size in Australia with new partnership.

Birds Eye commended for healthy eating campaign.

Boeing needs to provide more answers on Dreamliner firest to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Costco backs minimum-wage increase.

Cracker Barrel adds lower-calorie items.

Dell sees buyout deal threatened by activist investor Carl Icahn.

DirecTV bemoans rising program costs.

Google expands Street View in Europe.

Jamba Juice looks to fresh juice to boost sales.

Lego eyes tie-up with "The Simpsons" on Fox.

Moe's Southwest Grill readies first national ad campaign. Continue reading...

Nike and Oakley drop paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorious following steroid allegations during girlfriend's murder investigation.

Costco CEO addresses Tiffany suit for alleged trademark infringement in all-company email (exclusive).

Starbucks expands India footprint to seven stores as company tests video chat drive-through ordering and expands Starbucks Evenings concept to Washington's Dulles airport.

Carnival cruiseship fire blamed on fuel line leak.

China vows to crack down on "malicious" trademark registrations.

Disney's Hong Kong Disneyland theme park finally turns a profit thanks to Toy Story attraction.

Amway quietly builds brands and racks up sales.

BP prepares to go to court over Gulf spill.Continue reading...

Reebok is expanding its push in India, with large marketing campaigns, new products and tie-ins to big national sports stars.

The move comes as analysts say India, with more than 1.2 billion people, is ripe for market expansion. The India market research firm RNCOS found that the “Indian sports apparel market was set for annual growth of around 34% during the 2010-14 period.”

Seems like it’s a good time for Reebok to capitalize, especially since another report found that 15- to 24-year-old Indians labeled Reebok owner Adidas “the nation’s second ‘most exciting’ brand behind soft drinks giant Coca-Colas.”Continue reading...

With the Year of the Snake dawning, Nike's zodiac cycle is complete: The approaching Chinese New Year will bring what Nike claims is a 12th version of its special edition zodiac animal-themed shoes.

In 2001, Nike had just one zodiac offering, the Air Force 1 Low 3M "Snake." In the ensuing years, some Nike zodiac shoes were better than others. (Air Max 1 Year of the Ox, anyone? Nike Dunk High pigs?).  This year, with a better creature to work with, and as it had with last year's Year of the Dragon, Nike —along with its Jordan brand — has introduced a collection of serpentine shoes.

Nike isn't alone: Shelves of shoe stores in China are about to be filled with scaly offerings that would make Indiana Jones shudder. Continue reading...

Atari files for bankruptcy protection in the U.S.

RIM could license BlackBerry 10 software.

Sony plans to introduce tablet challenging Apple and Samsung.

AIG learns from "Thank You, America" misfire.

Alfa Romeo plans brand return to U.S. late this year.

Boeing sees safety investigators dismiss one potential cause of Dreamliner fires.Continue reading...

This was supposed to be an off year for Adidas. After all, its Reebok subsidiary was set to lose the NFL apparel deal that it had had since 2001 to Adidas archrival Nike. Plus, NHL players wear Reebok and that league’s season hasn’t started yet due to financial differences between the owners and players. That’s not a help to an area that generally brings in $132 million annually. So last month, CEO Herbert Hainer had to tell investors that the company was adjusting its sales expectations for the year.

However, the Financial Times notes, Hainer also had some good news to share: “We will see record sales and earnings in 2013,” he said. “All that I hear from the markets is that we are winning market share in each and every country.” And, adjustments or no, things didn’t go badly for the sportswear giant this year. Its stock price is up 40 percent from the same point last year.

The FT attributes the stock price staying strong for Adidas partially because of the strong confidence of Hainer and his “shrewd instinct about where the sports goods business must go next to expand its appeal to customers.” Serving an aging market as well as helping people deal with the obesity epidemic are two areas that are helping the bottom line at Adidas.Continue reading...

Reebok’s shoes are generally made for athletic use, but the brand now means something else for 150 of its employees across the globe. That’s the number of folks that were sent packing in a recent company restructuring, according to the Boston Herald.

About 65 of those folks came from the company’s US headquarters in Canton, Mass. “Today, we continued this reorganization with the implementation of a new global-direct operating model between the global organization in Canton and our markets, and a streamlining (of) our satellite creation activities,” Matt O’Toole, Reebok’s chief marketing officer, stated.

It also eliminated its European HQ in Amsterdam and its Asia-Pacific office in Hong Kong. That’s too bad, considering the company that is now a subsidiary of Adidas got started in the United Kingdom way back in 1895. Still, Reebok has been a drag on Adidas since its acquisition in 2006, as the Wall Street Journal noted last month. Now it's time for a little fiscal, and physical, fitness.Continue reading...