Archive for the “Deals” Category

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LONDON (CNNMoney.com) — Kraft reached a $19 billion deal Tuesday to buy Cadbury, finally succeeding in its takeover of the 200-year-old British candy maker after sweetening its offer.

Cadbury’s board said it was unanimously recommending the bid to shareholders.

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Honda is going “retro” with this hybrid model just introduced at the Detroit Auto Show. It goes on sale in the summer.

Back in the 1980s Honda sold a two seat car called the CR-X. The same trait that made it fun to drive — it was extremely light — also made it extremely fuel efficient. The way the EPA rated fuel economy in those days, it got an eye-popping 57 miles per gallon in highway driving. Using today’s EPA test, it would get about 51 mpg.

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DENVER – Wind farms have no measurable effect on nearby property values, according to a government report published Wednesday.

In the latest study, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory spent three years examining nearly 7,500 sales of homes in 10 communities near two dozen wind farms in nine states.

The findings, however, are unlikely to cool the debate over the placement of massive wind turbines which to some represent progress, but to others an intrusion.

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NEW YORK (Money) — Question: I’m very worried that we may see another stock market correction. Since the market low of early March, my 401(k)’s value has risen 77%, which seems like an awfully large jump. So last week I moved the majority of my investments into bond and money-market funds, although I did leave 50% of my international holdings intact. Do you think I jumped too soon? –Rick G., Corona, Calif.

Answer: I don’t think the question is whether you jumped too soon, but whether you should be jumping at all.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — After balking at government imposed pay restrictions, American International Group’s chief executive Robert Benmosche has officially agreed to a $10.5 million non-compete contract, the company announced Tuesday.

Benmosche, who was named CEO in August, had expressed frustration with the constraints placed on AIG by the government after the global insurance company was bailed out last year.

He reportedly threatened to quit his post in board meetings earlier this month, before issuing a statement saying he is “totally committed” to staying on as CEO.

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Full Story atBrainstorm Tech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com

Broadpoint AmTech’s Brian Marshall, who has replaced Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster as the most bullish of the mainstream Apple analysts, made several assertions of fact in an Bloomberg TV interview Friday that — if true — struck me as newsworthy. Chief among them:

* The contract that gives AT&T (T) exclusive access in the U.S. to Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone expires in June 2010.
* Apple is now getting a $450 subsidy from AT&T for each iPhone it sells; after June, that subsidy will be reduced to $300 for all carriers, domestic and international.
* The 4% of AT&T subscribers who use the iPhone consume roughly 40% of the network’s bandwidth.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — When people think of Black Friday shopping, they usually think of things like flat screen TVs, toys and sweaters. Now you can add cars, trucks and SUVs.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is the best day to buy a car, according to car pricing researchers at the Web site Truecar.com.

Analysts looked at day-by-day car pricing for the last several years. That data revealed that discounts on Black Friday are, on average, the biggest of the year.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — If you’re in the market for a new flatscreen TV this holiday season, you’re in luck.

As nervous merchants prepare to draw reluctant shoppers with juicy sales, retail experts say some of the sweetest deals in the coming weeks will be on high-definition televisions.

As they compete for customers, TV sellers are going to wage a price war, and the biggest bargains will likely be on smaller models.

“The difference from prior holiday discounts on TVs is that consumers will find really, really good prices on 32-inch to 37-inch HDTVs and not necessarily the 65-inch models,” said Phillip Swann, a consumer electronics expert and publisher of TVpredictions.com.

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WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law Friday, giving tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump.

The bill-signing came a day after the House, displaying rare bipartisan agreement over the troubling employment picture nationally, voted 403-12 to pass the measure. The Senate had approved it unanimously on Wednesday.

The White House said the law, which also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses, builds on provisions in the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February to avert an economic meltdown.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Last week’s big selloff did more than just rattle investors: it put an end to a seven-month win streak that had pushed the S&P 500 more than 60% above the March lows.

While the monthly decline was small — less than 2% — it emerged after a tumultuous week dictated by a stronger dollar, sliding energy and financial issues, and a variety of quarterly financial reports. A stronger-than-expected rise in third-quarter GDP growth — the strongest sign yet that the recession is over — provoked a one-day rally and nothing more.

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College students who took advantage of a “deal too sweet to pass up” have run into a bit of trouble.

The $29 electronic version of Windows 7 Home Edition sold for Microsoft (MSFT) through Digital River (DRIV) doesn’t seem to install properly on some 32-bit Vista machines.

Apparently the download files weren’t properly packaged and when some users tried to “unload the box” they got an error that read:

“We are unable to create or save new files in the folder in which this application was downloaded”

A discussion thread with that title was begun on Microsoft Answers’ Windows 7 install forum less than 3 hours after the new operating system launched. By Saturday morning it had generated more than 500 replies and been read nearly 44,000 times.

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — General Motors moved a step closer to selling its Hummer brand Friday when it announced that it had signed a definitive agreement with a Chinese manufacturer.

Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. and GM said in June that they had reached a preliminary agreement and expected to close by the end of September.

It appeared the deal may be in trouble after the companies missed that target last week. Friday’s announcement provides assurances that the agreement has not come undone.

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