COMPANIES

The former chief executive of disgraced Olympus Corp, Michael Woodford, launched a campaign on Thursday to oust the board of directors, reclaim his old job and bring in his own team to save the Japanese firm from a big accounting scandal.

The former chief executive of Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp, Michael Woodford, launched a campaign on Thursday to oust the board of directors, reclaim his old job and install his own team to save the firm from a big accounting scandal.

The U.S. population 65 and older is now the largest in terms of size and percent of the population, compared with any previous census, according to the new 2010 Census data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The group grew at a faster rate than the total population between 2000 and 2010.

In an interview with the Dow Jones Newswires, the chief executive at the Irish low-cost airline said he had just returned from touring the Shanghai factory where the Commercial Airline Corporation of China, a government entity, is building a 199-seat competitor to the single-aisle Boeing A320. He was impressed.

AT&T and the parent company of T-Mobile USA, Deutsche Telekom, are considering a joint venture that would pool network assets from the two wireless carriers in case the $39 billion merger doesn't go through, sources close to the situation tell the Wall Street Journal.

Digitas CEO Laura Lang will become the new head of Time Inc. beginning in January and nearly a year after the previous leader of the publishing company was shown the door.

With 2.5 million acres in natural gas-land leases, the company has become a huge player in domestic natural gas production, bested only by ExxonMobil. However, its land acquisitions are concerning investors who fear the company's land spending could place it in a $4 to $9 billion budget hole.

The National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Performance Index remained flat in October from the previous month, as lower foot traffic and sales offset improved outlook from restaurant operators.

A gradual broadening and strengthening of U.S. growth should cushion the American economy against severe damage from the storms in Europe, unless a financial meltdown causes global havoc.

Clearwire is expected to reach a funding deal with Sprint Nextel at the end of the year, and may even reach an agreement to prevent Clearwire from missing its $237 million debt payment due Thursday, sources close to the matter told Reuters.

Brookfield Asset Management and tenants of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village are making a bid to take over the massive apartment complex of over 11,000 units on Manhattan's east side.

A Canadian native group is suing Royal Dutch Shell Plc for what it said was a failure by the oil major to live up to environmental funding agreements tied to Shell's massive northern Alberta oil sands developments.

The investor group Melrose 2 is suing Paramount Pictures, claiming it put up $375 million to finance the Transformers movies and other projects, but hasn't received any of the profits.

Pending home sales increased 10.4 percent in October from the previous month, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), an encouraging sign for the housing market.

Warren Buffett said newspapers faced the possibility of nearly unending losses and he would not buy most newspapers in the U.S. at any price in May 2009 at a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. However, the billionaire announced Wednesday that he has agreed to buy Omaha World-Herald Co., publisher of his hometown newspaper the World-Herald.

Small banks are facing some of the largest personnel costs in the banking industry, while large institutions are tepidly adding jobs, an analysis by the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday has found.

Employment in the private sector rose 206,000 from October to November and small businesses contributed to more than half of the growth.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the co-chairman of the Congressional Privacy Caucus, said in a statement Tuesday he was unhappy about Amazon's answers to a letter he sent to the Seattle-based retailer last month asking about Amazon Silk, a web browser installed in the Fire tablet.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett buys newspapers every day, the hometown daily included, but on Wednesday he dispensed with the single-issue price and bought the whole company instead.

U.S. mortgage applications decreased on a seasonally adjusted basis by 11.7 percent in the week ending Nov. 25, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

U.S. workers in the nonfarm business sector increased their productivity between July and September by the most in a year and a half, but grew at a slower rate than initially expected.

Two companies have come forward Wednesday saying they may purchase U.S. oil company ExxonMobil's stake in Iraq's West Qurna oil field.

U.S. job cuts dropped 13 percent from the same month a year ago. Yet, with still one month remaining in 2011, the 11-month total of 564,297 has already officially surpassed the 497,969 people employers let go in the past year.

Former U.S. Marine and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer is suing a former employer, defense contractor BAE Systems OASYS Inc., because the company slandered his character after he tried to get a job, according to reports.

The 2011 Victoria's Secret Fashion show featured some of the most stunning looks so far, as supermodel Angels like Miranda Kerr, Adriana Lima and Alessandra Ambrosio strutted down the runway. Missed the show? Check out photos and video from the lingerie show, from Nicki Minaj's performance to beautiful creations on the runway.

Canaccord Genuity sees risk of inventory correction for Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) in the first quarter as the shortage of hard disk drives (HDD) is driving higher CPU inventories.

Banks' contribution to the economy may be hugely overstated, underscoring anger about the scale of taxpayer rescues and resultant government cutbacks, but a sharp retreat of banking worldwide looks painful for all and needs calibrating.

Luxury auto-maker, Lexus has embarked on a new creative journey by asking four fashion designers to rethink their notions of automotive designs for an upcoming advertising campaign for Vogue.

Goldman Sachs has raised $600 million from clients such as pension funds, wealthy families and large institutions for a new fund that would provide start-up money to hedge-fund managers, the Wall Street Journal said.