IBT Staff Reporter

Google Inc is famous for pampering its employees, but some shareholders feel like they're getting a raw deal.

Bank of America Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis was subpoenaed last week by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is investigating whether the bank violated state law by withholding information from investors, the Wall Street Journal said late Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The world's largest diamond group, De Beers, said its three shareholders have agreed to loan the company $500 million to help it weather the economic downturn, following muted sales in 2008. De Beers Managing Director Gareth Penny said on Friday the global economic crisis was having a negative impact on sales of retail diamond jewelry, liquidity and demand for rough diamonds, which had hurt the ...

U.S. consumer prices are estimated to have risen in January as a recent rise in energy prices defied the economic downturn and disinflationary trends, according to economists polled by Reuters. As energy prices rose, a median forecast culled from a poll of more than 70 economists estimated that consumer prices overall rose 0.3 percent in January from December, while prices excluding food and ener...

and would likely continue to worsen for the time being. Japan has been hit particularly hard by the global slump, triggered by the U.S. housing market meltdown, due to its heavy dependence on exports and chronically weak domestic consumption. Crude inventories in the United States, the world's top consumer, fell slightly last week on lower imports and higher demand, the U.S. Energy Information...

The Frankfurt-listed shares of U.S. banks Citigroup and Bank of America fell on Friday, with traders and analysts citing fears that big U.S. banks could be nationalized. At 1130 GMT, Citigroup shares were down 6.4 percent in Frankfurt and Bank of America traded 8.0 percent lower. Spokesmen for both banks in London declined to comment. Spokesmen for the banks in New York were unavailable for comm...

General Motors' loss-making carmaker Saab Automobile on Friday sought legal protection from creditors to allow it to restructure and seek new funding for continued production. Faced with mountainous debts, parent GM is itself restructuring, and in a plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury this week it said Saab would become an independent business as of January 1, 2010. Saab made a loss of about 3 ...

Shares in Swiss banks dived on Friday amid concern the country's once strict privacy rules are being weakened by a U.S. tax probe into UBS, potentially damaging the country's wealth management industry. Swiss wealth management giant UBS was leading the fall in Swiss bank shares. It was down 17 percent at 5:07 a.m. EST after hitting a fresh all-time low at 10.60 Swiss francs.

Stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday ahead of U.S. CPI figures and results from J.C. Penny and Lowe's Companies. * At 5 a.m. EST, futures for the S&P 500 were down 1.6 percent, Dow Jones futures were down 1.7 percent and Nasdaq 100 were down 1.4 percent. * J.C. Penny releases Q4 results and analysts expect the company to earn 92 cents a share, excluding items, down...

Everybody at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona wanted to be the new best friend of the social networks. From the world's biggest phone maker, Nokia, to tiny Irish semiconductor start-up Movidia.

and would likely continue to worsen for the time being. Japan has been hit particularly hard by the global slump, triggered by the U.S. housing market meltdown, due to its heavy dependence on exports and chronically weak domestic consumption. Crude inventories in the United States, the world's top consumer, fell slightly last week on lower imports and higher demand, the U.S. Energy Information...

General Motors' loss-making carmaker Saab Automobile said on Friday it would seek legal protection from creditors to allow it to restructure and seek new funding. Faced with mountainous debts, parent GM is itself restructuring, and in a plan submitted to the U.S. Treasury this week it said loss-making Saab would become an independent business as of January 1, 2010. Saab made an operating loss o...

Shares in UBS plunged on Friday after U.S. tax authorities said they were widening a probe into the Swiss bank and wanted 52,000 client names, a day after UBS agreed to a hefty fine to settle criminal charges. The stock was down 9.4 percent at 11.60 Swiss francs at 3:29 a.m. EST, reversing some of Thursday's strong gains. The DJ Stoxx index of European banks was down 3.8 percent, and rival Credi...

General Motors' loss-making carmaker Saab Automobile said on Friday it would file for a reorganization plan, a Swedish legal procedure which would give it protection from creditors. We explored and will continue to explore all available options for funding and/or selling Saab and it was determined a formal reorganization would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready ...

and would likely continue to worsen for the time being. Japan has been hit particularly hard by the global slump, triggered by the U.S. housing market meltdown, due to its heavy dependence on exports and chronically weak domestic consumption. Crude inventories in the United States, the world's top consumer, fell slightly last week on lower imports and higher demand, the U.S. Energy Information...

Shares in UBS were indicated to open down 2.2 percent on Friday after U.S. tax authorities said they were seeking 52,000 bank client names even though the Swiss bank has agreed to a hefty fine to settle criminal charges. The stock was seen down at 12.52 Swiss francs, premarket data provided by bank Clariden Leu showed, reversing some of Thursday's strong gains. Analysts had welcomed a settlemen...

Texas billionaire Allen Stanford, accused of an $8 billion fraud that spooked investors around the world, was served with the formal complaint on Thursday by FBI agents in Virginia.

Oil prices fell below $39 a barrel on Friday as front-month contracts near expiry, paring a 14-percent gain a day earlier on government data showing an unexpected draw in U.S. crude stocks. U.S. crude futures for March delivery, which expire later in the day, fell 76 cents to $38.72 a barrel by 0206 GMT, after posting in the previous session the biggest settlement gain since December 31. April d...

LCD TV brand Vizio Inc overtook Sony during the fourth quarter to become the second-best selling flat panel TV brand in the United States after stepping up its marketing efforts, research firm iSuppli said. Vizio, whose TVs are made by Taiwan's Amtran Technology, took 14.3 percent of all flat panel TV shipments in the October-December period as consumers' appetite for more expensive brands fell...

Best Buy Co Inc said on Thursday it plans to lay off 250 workers at its corporate headquarters in Minneapolis as it cuts costs in the recession. But the top U.S. specialty electronics retailer added it will also create 210 new posts the idled workers could take, for a net loss of 40 jobs. The retailer said last month that involuntary layoffs would be necessary after about 500 of it...

China, which triggered the biggest commodity price spike in a generation is now making deals.

The U.S. government should consider a proposed merger between Chrysler LLC and Italy's Fiat SpA if it is the only way for the distressed Detroit automaker to survive, a senator said on Thursday.

a brokerage house and a fiduciary firm. We will intervene to protect the interests of investors, Santiago Noboa, the state regulator of the stock exchange in Quito, told Reuters. Mexico's banking regulator said it was investigating the local Stanford bank affiliate for possible violation of banking laws. Peru's securities regulator suspended the operations of a local Stanford unit. PREVI...

Caltex Australia Ltd, the country's only listed oil refiner and marketer, posted a 58 percent fall in full-year operating profit, due to weaker demand for its fuels and unplanned plant shutdowns.

The shares of PC heavyweights Hewlett-Packard Co., Apple Inc. and Dell Inc. fell on Thursday as new signs emerged of eroding demand for technology hardware.

The Dow industrials closed at a more than six-year low on Thursday as investor fears that banks could be nationalized drove their stocks to a 17-year low and a rise in the number people receiving jobless benefits to a record high stoked worries about the deepening recession. After several near misses this week, blue chips blew through the November 20 bear market closing low in late trade, erasing...

California lawmakers approved on Thursday a state budget package to close a $42 billion deficit, ending a lengthy standoff with a slate of bills that aim to raise taxes, slash spending and increase borrowing with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid to its lowest level in six years on Thursday as stocks tumbled on mounting concerns about the fate of major banks and signs that the recession is deepening. The 30-stock blue-chip gauge fell as to 7,447.55, breaking through the November 21 bear market intraday low to levels not seen since March 2003. The Dow Jones industrial average ...

The U.S. Department of Energy said today it will disperse 70 percent of the funds allocated by President Obama's economic stimulus package by the end of 2010 as it moves to simplify paper work and hire more staff to speed up approval of energy projects.