IBT Staff Reporter

Former Groupon Inc sales representatives sued by that company after leaving for Google Inc have filed a countersuit, claiming their former employer is pursuing sham litigation to keep them from joining rivals.

Apple's Steve Jobs directly asked former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt to stop trying to recruit an Apple engineer, a transgression that threatened one junior Google employee's job, according to a court filing.

It has only been a few days since the Federal Reserve adopted a formal goal for inflation, and already policymakers are missing their target.

Apple's Steve Jobs directly asked former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt in 2007 to stop trying to recruit an Apple engineer, according to a court filing.

The Justice Department issued civil subpoenas to 11 financial institutions as part of a new effort to investigate misconduct in the packaging and sale of home loans to investors, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Friday.

Greece expects to clinch a long-awaited bond swap deal within days, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told Reuters Friday, promising the country would avoid an unruly default feared by financial markets worldwide.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Friday that its U.S. marketing team would now work under the leadership of its chief merchandising officer rather than as a separate group as the world's largest retailer works on improving its communication with shoppers.

Even as President Barack Obama is calling for more assistance for struggling mortgage borrowers, major banks are looking forward to spending less to handle problem home loans.

Germany is pushing for Greece to relinquish control over its budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over a second rescue package, a European source told Reuters on Friday.

Vancouver-based Goldcorp announced Friday that the royalty on the production of precious metals will increase to 4 percent of gross revenue, up from 1 percent.

When the Nevada caucus takes place on Feb. 4, you won't have to rely on The Associated Press for the results -- because the Nevada Republican Party will be tweeting them in real time.

NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Duncan Niederauer sees a 10 percent to 20 percent chance that his $9 billion merger with Deutsche Boerse will be approved, but the low odds do not mean he is giving up hope yet.

NTT DoCoMo Inc <9437.T> will ask Google Inc to modify its Android operating system so that smartphones using it would put less pressure on networks, a move that could spark wider protests against the leading mobile software platform, the Nikkei reported.

Stocks trimmed losses to end little changed on Friday, as investors saw dips in the market as an opportunity to buy into what has been a strong first month of 2012.

UBS Americas Wealth Management said on Friday it hired at least 14 veteran Merrill Lynch brokers who in total managed more than $2 billion in client assets at Merrill.

Michael Roseman, the former chief risk officer who is said to have raised red flags about aggressive trading bets at MF Global , will testify before Congress next week, according to a congressional staffer familiar with the matter.

Facebook plans to file documents as early as Wednesday for a highly anticipated IPO that will value the world's largest social network at between $75 billion and $100 billion, the Wall Street Journal cited unidentified sources as saying on Friday.

The Dow was on track to post the first weekly loss this year on Friday as lackluster earnings from blue-chip companies and weaker-than-expected data on U.S. economic growth disappointed investors.

Apple Inc. has never turned a blind eye to the problems in its supply chain, and any suggestion it does not care about the plight of workers is patently false, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an e-mail to employees.

Greece expects to conclude difficult debt talks with private creditors within days and negotiations with the EU and the IMF on a new bailout deal by the middle of next week, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told Reuters on Friday.

Greece expects to conclude difficult debt talks with private creditors within days and negotiations with the EU and the IMF on a new bailout deal by the middle of next week, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told Reuters on Friday.

The majority of U.S. registered voters would vote out every single member of Congress if they could, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Friday.

The European Union and IMF want Greece to push through more budget cuts and implement a series of long-agreed austerity reforms before they sign off on a new bailout the country needs to avert bankruptcy, a report obtained by Reuters shows.

Chevron Corp reported lower quarterly earnings on Friday, missing Wall Street forecasts, as rising spending on oil and gas projects and losses at its U.S. refinery business offset gains from higher crude oil prices.

The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in 1-1/2 years in the fourth quarter, but a rebuilding of stocks by businesses and slower business spending warned of weaker growth in early 2012.

Eastman Chemical is buying Solutia Inc , chemicals provider for products from iPads to tires, for about $3.4 billion in cash and stock in a bid to drive its sluggish growth and focus on emerging markets, particularly the Asia-Pacific region.

Jon Rubinstein, who was instrumental in crafting Apple Inc.'s iPod music player, has left Hewlett Packard Co. after two years on the job there.

The world of international finance is largely incomprehensible, even to its practitioners. Consequently, a whole industry, of which I am personally part, has sprung up to explain finance to the public. This makes the public think that understanding finance is something that is possible.

When Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist who has studied and advised most of the leaders in the former Soviet Union, visited Kiev in late 2004, at the height of the Orange Revolution, he returned to his office in Washington, D.C., with a surprising observation. Most reports depicted the Orange Revolutionaries, with their determined, subzero encampment of the capital city's central square, either a...