NBC Universal, riding high from the success of its Olympics broadcast, quietly announced a deal to acquire British independent production studio Carnival Film & Television yesterday. The purchase - the first for NBCU's International TV Production[...]

Li & Fung USA has agreed to pay $330 million to acquire Van Zeeland, a leading handbag importer that supplies mid-tier department stores including Macy's and J.C. Penney. Van Zeeland's handbag labels, which include Kathy Van Zeeland, B. Makowsky[...]

After months of falling financial stocks and rising oil prices, July's sudden turnaround was a welcome relief to average investors. Not so for hedge funds - including subprime-mortgage superstar Phil Falcone. That's because a number of[...]

Wall Street's leveraged loan market will have a lot to chew on today when candy company Mars Inc. launches a $4.5 billion debt offering to help fund its planned $23 billion purchase of gum maker William Wrigley Jr. Co. Led by Goldman Sachs, Mars'[...]

And now from the stunning statistic department: The year's best-performing media stock belongs to none other than Warner Music Group. No, really, it's true! As of yesterday's close, WMG shares are up 34 percent year-to-date while the stock of[...]

IT'S shaping up to be the summer of no deals in the world of magazines. The biggest deal not getting done is Us Weekly, as Wenner Media owner Jann Wenner, who was said to be quietly testing the waters to sell the celebrity weekly for a blockbuster[...]

Jerry Yang dodged another bullet yesterday as Yahoo! reported mediocre second-quarter earnings despite distractions from the merger dance with Microsoft and a weakening advertising market. Analysts and investors were closely watching Yahoo!'s[...]

Threats of another round of rating downgrades put billionaire Warren Buffett ahead of vulture investor Wilbur Ross in the match of the bond insurers. In Buffett's corner is Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp., the newcomer to the bond insurance[...]

Lord & Taylor is set to invade Canada. The New York-based department-store chain's owner has bought Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay in a deal that could boost the size of Lord & Taylor's business by 50 percent to 100 percent, industry sources said[...]

New 3G iPhones flew off store shelves around the world over the weekend despite stories of slow-moving lines and nightmarish activation glitches that sent buyers home without working phones. Apple reported yesterday that it sold 1 million of the[...]

Add Canadian rock group Nickelback and curvy pop star Shakira to Live Nation's growing stable of artists. The two acts became the latest to sign all-encompassing deals with the LA-based entertainment company. Shakira's signing confirmed a story[...]

WHEN Steve Jobs announced in May that the price of the new 3G iPhones would be slashed to $199, every soccer mom and high-school tech-head started dreaming of a summer of gadget heaven. Well, that dream is going to cost them - at least $1,000 more[...]

Dear John: I am in possession of seven AT&T; stock certificates totaling 152 shares. One of the certificates is dated April 29, 1966. The others are around that date. They are in the name of my parents who are both deceased. How should I handle[...]

For PC users, the countdown to Windows 7, Microsoft's next operating system, starts now. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant today is discontinuing widespread distribution of its long-running Windows XP, leaving most consumers buying a new[...]

MTV wants its MP3s. The network today is expected to announce a $50 million push into selling downloadable songs in the open source, iPod-friendly format through its Rhapsody digital-music service, a joint venture with Seattle-based Real Networks[...]

Wachovia Bank could find itself dinged by a piece of the rock should insurance giant Prudential Financial choose to exercise an option to force the bank to buy it out of a retail brokerage joint venture. Already buckling under the weight of[...]

New York ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi is trying to contain the damage after a major client, JC Penney, took the firm to task over a fake viral ad that makes light of teen sex. The ad, called "Speed Dressing," shows two teens practicing taking their[...]

Wall Street doled out a fresh batch of woeful news and writedown worries yesterday, placing big banks and brokers such as Merrill Lynch back in the spotlight. Analysts at Bank of America yesterday were estimating that Merrill may be forced to write[...]

The beating that insurance giant American International Group has sustained over the past months claimed its first major executive casualty yesterday, as CEO Martin Sullivan stepped down in the wake of steep losses triggered by subprime mortgage[...]

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes hopes to move swiftly to find a buyer for AOL's dial-up business after the company completes its separation from the Platform A advertising division in the next month. According to sources inside the company, Time Warner[...]

The whipsawed leveraged-loan market tomorrow faces an important test as a cadre of banks led by Citigroup and Deutsche Bank try to sell down debt related to the hotly contested $17.9 billion buyout of radio giant Clear Channel Communications[...]

Angry investors are pointing the finger at Europe's central banker Jean-Claude Trichet for triggering yesterday's unprecedented oil price surge, fearing it might hobble any economic recovery for a year or longer. Analysts said the president of the[...]

Soaring gas pump prices are fueling an epidemic of gas-tank siphon thieves - and triggering a boom for locking gas caps to thwart them. With gas heading toward the $5-a-gallon mark a surge in gas thefts from parked cars is the latest energy crisis to hit consumers, with widespread police [...]

It's D-day for Jerry Yang and his beloved Yahoo!. Not since the first quarter after the marriage of AOL and Time Warner has a quarterly earnings report had so much riding on it as Yahoo!'s does today. With less then a week to go before Microsoft's[...]

The New York Times is poised to stop charging readers for online access to its Op-Ed columnists and other content, The Post has learned. After much internal debate, Times executives - including publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. - made the decision[...]