INVESTMENT

Layoffs, store closures, massive loss of earnings, and the departure of its CEO -- nothing is going right with the world's largest consumer-electronics specialty retailer.

When is a spoiler not a spoiler?

Despite rapid growth in adoption of social applications by sales, marketing and customer service departments, only 50 percent of Fortune 1000 companies will receive a worthwhile return on investment (ROI) from their social customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives by the end of 2012, according to a recent report by technology research firm Gartner.

The sharp decline in the Indian rupee coupled with strong demand for the dollar forced the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to intervene and announce measures to ease the pressure on of the rupee.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance will buy an indirect majority stake in Russian car company OAO Avtovaz, maker of Lada brand cars, for $750 million, the automakers' alliance announced Friday.

Eduardo Saverin is just one of four co-founders of the social-network powerhouse that is Facebook. But what makes Saverin so unique, among other qualities, is that while he is the only co-founder to have no decision making power in the company, he still owns less than 5 percent of Facebook's shares and has a net worth of $2 billion.

Voter turnout was very low, at about 32 percent ? partially due to rainy weather -- the worst such figure since 2000

French bank BNP Paribas SA (BNP.FR) reported Friday 9.6 percent rise in profits in the first quarter from a year ago, boosted by the sale of more than half of its stake in real estate firm Klepierre.

YouTube is eager to drive more traffic to its original content channels and change its image as a hosting site for viral content and other homemade videos.

The initial public offering of private equity firm The Carlyle Group LP (Nasdaq: CG) opened slightly below the IPO price of $22 on Thursday before climbing as high as $22.39. Shortly before the closing bell, shares were trading at $22.02.

Temasek Holdings, the Singapore state-owned investment group sold $2.48 billion of shares in Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corporation as profit growth in banks is decreasing with tighter controls on lending in the country.

Asia is doubling the size of its foreign currency reserve safety net to $240 billion, finance ministers and central bank officials announced Thursday following a 13-nation meeting in Manila. The reserve funds a multilateral currency swap agreement aimed at protecting Asian markets from global economic crises.

Platinum supply worldwide is expected to remain in surplus this year, in what will be its eighth consecutive year in surplus, Thomson Reuters GFMS said Thursday.

The lack of bureaucratic support as well as aggressive regulation and tax policies are scaring away foreign investors from India, the chairman of Honeywell International has said, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

Hollywood?s most famous couple, who finally stamped seal on their 7-year-long relationship with the announcement of their engagement last month, has now decided to settle down in the UK post wedding.

Asian stock markets declined on Thursday as weaker-than-expected economic reports from the US and Europe dampened investor sentiment.

After several delays, the Travis County Commissioners Court has officially given its final stamp of approval on the tax incentives package offered from the state and local governments, which means Apple can start preparing to build facilities and add jobs in its sprawling campus in Austin, Texas.

Spain?s chief economist said Wednesday Bolivia will ?compensate Red Eléctrica Española the costs invested in the country?s electricity network? after the South American country announced it would expropriate the local unit of the Spanish utility, Transportadora de Electricidad S.A.

Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp., the No. 2 natural gas producer in the U.S., plunged Wednesday after a report that the CEO and co-founder secretly ran a hedge fund that traded in the same commodities that the Oklahoma City company produces.

Swiss banking giant UBS reported on Wednesday that its profit for the first quarter declined 54 percent from the same period last year after being affected by charges on its debt.

China?s manufacturing activity improved in April compared to March but continued to contract for the sixth straight month, according to the final HSBC flash Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) released Wednesday.