Apple accused of avoiding billions in overseas taxes. 

Hershey launches new brand to get piece of China market.

Foxconn confirms employee deaths.

Best Buy swings to a loss on lower revenues.

Burberry is lifted by China performance.

Chevrolet joins Mad Men buzz on Twitter.

Chris-Craft rebuilds boat maker after recession.

Flowers Foods predicts "record year" after acquisition of Hostess brands.

Giorgio Armani profit is boosted by Asia.

GrubHub and Seamless merge their food ordering services.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola promises to reduce marketing to kids as part of global anti-obesity commitment.

Levi Strauss buys naming rights to planned new stadium of San Francisco 49ers.

Lay's reveals chip-flavor contest winner.

Abercrombie & Fitch draws fire for stocking only "skinny" sizes for women.

Activision Blizzard warns "World of Warcraft" is losing subscribers.

AT&T severely slashes Facebook Home phone prices.

BT enters British-sports broadcasting.

Claire's IPO will test market for debt-laden companies.

Ford takes over as title sponsor of Detroit's annual fireworks.

Google Maps will reportedly unveil new interface.Continue reading...

Charlie Ergen's Dish Network offers to buy Sprint for $25.5 billion in a bid to one up SoftBank.

ConAgra, Heinz and Nestle lead frozen food battle to reverse negative image.

Nike seeks to regain its edge with fewer ads following Tiger Woods stumble.

Dannon uses Greek-style to leapfrog Yoplait to top of U.S. yogurt business.

Apple clearly enters post-Jobs era.

Justin Bieber sparks controversy with Anne Frank comment.

Boeing sees new inspection order on its 737s.Continue reading...

Japanese technology giant Softbank's $20 billion takeover of Sprint is already proving to be an uphill battle. Sprint reported that it lost 423,000 U.S. subscribers from July 1 to Sept. 30, while only gaining 19,000 non-contract subscribers, the smallest number in over three years. That churn contributed to Sprint losing $767 million in the quarter, compared to a $301 million loss for the same period a year ago.

The downward spiral for Sprint was even more obvious in comparison to its two main competitors, Verizon Wireless, which added 1.8 million subscribers, and AT&T, which added 228,000 subscribers. In addition, Verizon Wireless and AT&T saw a spike in iPhone 5 sales while Sprint's activation of iPhones in Q3 was flat. Ironically, the 2012 American Customer Satisfaction Index ranked Sprint first among all national carriers in customer satisfaction and most improved, across all 47 U.S. industries, during the last four years.

In an attempt to shore up its flagging business, Sprint is acquiring PCS broadband spectrum and customers in parts of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio from smaller wireless competitor U.S. Cellular for $480 million. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse stated that "Acquiring this spectrum will significantly increase Sprint's network capacity and improve the customer experience in several important Midwest markets including Chicago and St. Louis." Even though U.S. Cellular is exiting the Chicago market, its brand name will remain on the city's U.S. Cellular Field stadium and it will maintain its corporate headquarters in the market.

Being acquired by Softbank means Sprint, meanwhile, will officially shed the Nextel part of its corporate name.Continue reading...

Pfizer drops on weaker sales of specialty care drugs and emerging market slump, plans to buy back up to $10B in shares.

UK lawmakers prepare to grill Starbucks, Amazon and Google on taxes.

Con Edison makes progress in restoring NYC neighborhoods' power, while MTA offers free fares in bid to get New York moving again.

Apple's Cook fields his A-team before a wary Wall Street.

Avon sees sales drop in China and the U.K.

Barclay's hit with record U.S. fine.

Burger King tests delivery service in Florida.Continue reading...

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit and COO John Havens quit unexpectedly; board elevates EMEA CEO Mike Corbat to top spot.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, back from two-week maternity leave, poaches new COO from her previous employer Google.

RIM sees its once-iconic BlackBerry slip into black-sheep territory.

CBS extends CEO Les Moonves for two more years to 2017.

Chrysler opens availability of natural-gas-powered Ram pickup to retail sales.

Facebook opens UK engineering hub to focus on mobile.

Foxconn admits to breaching child labor laws.Continue reading...

Japanese firms, fueled by a strong yen and low interest rates, have spent $75bn this year on foreign deals with no evidence of a slowing down. Now Japanese mobile operator SoftBank has agreed to pay $20.1 billion for a 70 percent stake in Sprint, marking the company's largest overseas acquisition to date.

“This transaction provides an excellent opportunity for SoftBank to leverage its expertise in smartphones and next-generation high speed networks, including LTE, to drive the mobile internet revolution in one of the world’s largest markets," stated SoftBank's billionaire founder and chief, Masayoshi Son, in a joint press release. 

"As we have proven in Japan, we have achieved a v-shaped earnings recovery in the acquired mobile business and grown dramatically by introducing differentiated products to an incumbent-led market. Our track record of innovation, combined with Sprint’s strong brand and local leadership, provides a constructive beginning toward creating a more competitive American wireless market.”Continue reading...

Japan's Softbank acquires 70 percent of Sprint for $20 billion.

Santander walks away from $2.7 billion RBS deal.

Microsoft makes new push into music via Xbox.

Red Bull basks in post-skydive glory.

ABA sues New York City over soda ban.

Advent offers to buy beauty retailer Douglas.

Allstate scores points with peers with "Mayhem" campaign.

Amazon flags e-book refunds.Continue reading...