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BEIJING — It could almost be a snippet from a World of Warcraft game session — two competing titans, plotting against each other, swapping punches, embarked on a quest for a single prize that only the stronger of them will claim.

But this is not virtual reality. The titans are two agencies of the Chinese government. And their quest, during which they have traded a few blows in the past week, is for a comparatively mundane prize: the power to regulate the real World of Warcraft, among the most popular online games in China.

Last Monday, the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication ordered the Shanghai-based operator of World of Warcraft, Netease, to shut down its servers for the game, saying it had rejected the company’s application to be the host of the game’s four million Chinese players.

But by Wednesday, the Ministry of Culture had struck back.

“In regards to the World of Warcraft incident, the General Administration of Press and Publication has clearly overstepped its authority,” a ministry official, Li Xiong, was quoted as saying in the Economic Information Daily, a newspaper in Beijing. “They do not have the authority to penalize online gaming.”

The ministry said it had that authority. And it said Netease was perfectly free to offer the game on computers in China. The matter now appears destined for settlement by the State Council, the Chinese government’s cabinet.

Such bureaucratic hair-pulling might seem petty, were so much not at stake.

The online gaming industry in China is already huge, and growing fast. About 50 million people crowd the Internet cafes of China on a regular basis to play. Revenues in 2008 rose about 50 percent to at least 20 billion yuan, or $2.9 billion, according to Alicia Yap, a Hong Kong analyst for Citi Investment Research & Analysis. That is 10 times the revenue of just five years ago. IDC, a research company, has predicted that annual revenue will reach $6 billion by 2013.

In that context, the question of who decides what games go online — and how they decide — looms large. It is perhaps especially important for game makers outside China, who have had trouble cracking the vast Chinese market.

Of the 10 most popular Chinese games ranked by MMLC Group, a Beijing intellectual-property consulting firm, only World of Warcraft, by Blizzard Entertainment, is American-made; two are South Korean, and the rest were developed in China.

The press and publication administration has taken a hard line against outside involvement in the industry, stating flatly last month that foreign investment in Chinese online gaming operations, whether by joint ventures, cooperatives or other means, was forbidden No teletrak payday loan.

The agency did not directly address the origin of the actual games, although it did bar foreigners from providing technical support to Chinese companies and declared its authority over foreign “service packs” and other improvements to existing online games.

In practice, some experts say, at least some of those bans could be easily sidestepped. The proclamation may be part of a larger feud within the government, and perhaps in the business world as well, over parceling out regulation of the booming industry.

Historically, the publication administration has had the power to censor and ban virtually anything published, whether a book, a DVD or an online game. The Ministry of Culture has policed film and other performing arts, including literary and audiovisual works.

The State Council sought to redefine this overlap in 2008, essentially giving the publication agency the power to approve online games before they are made public, and assigning the Culture Ministry to police them once they appear on the Internet.

World of Warcraft fell between the cracks. Long popular among Chinese gamers, the role-playing game hit a snag in June, when Blizzard dropped the previous operator of the game’s Chinese franchise in favor of Netease. Netease shut the game down while it reapplied for permission from the Ministry of Culture and the publication agency.

The Culture Ministry swiftly approved the game, while the publications agency lagged. In September, after the State Council issued a statement reaffirming the Culture Ministry’s authority over games already online, Netease restarted World of Warcraft — and drew the publication agency’s wrath.

Which agency will win the regulatory battle remains unclear, although the Culture Ministry, with allies among other ministerial-level offices, is said to enjoy an edge. Regardless, there appears to be much for both offices to do. The government this summer proclaimed its desire to clean up the Internet, ridding it of pornography, gambling, violence and seditious material.

The Culture Ministry dived further into that Herculean task in the past week, announcing sanctions against 188 companies that it said were running unlicensed, vulgar or overly violent online games. Netease and World of Warcraft were conspicuously absent from the list.

Li Bibo and Xiyun Yang in Beijing contributed research.

Chinese Agencies Struggle Over World of Warcraft

Hot News: Bank of England Adds $40 Billion to Stimulus

WASHINGTON — Legislation that its supporters say would provide greater protection to investors sailed through a House committee on Wednesday, but not before the lawmakers added a provision to ease new auditing standards for small and medium-size companies.

The full House, meanwhile, overwhelmingly approved a bill to accelerate restrictions on credit card companies that had been signed into law by President Obama last May. That law was scheduled to take effect in February, but in response to consumer outrage over moves by some banks and credit card companies to raise rates and fees before then, the House moved to make it effective next month.

That move faces significant obstacles in the Senate, however.

By a vote of 37 to 32, the House Financial Services Committee moved to permanently exempt companies worth less than $75 million from the auditing provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a change that was promoted by the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.

The amendment was criticized by senior Democrats, including Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the chairman of the committee. But at a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Frank defended Mr. Emanuel’s involvement, saying he had helped to negotiate a substantial narrowing of the provision.

The companies that would be permanently relieved of auditing requirements under Sarbanes-Oxley have repeatedly won temporary exemptions from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The amendment approved by the committee was sponsored by two New Jersey congressmen, John Adler, a Democrat, and Scott Garrett, a Republican. Supporters said the more stringent auditing provisions were overly burdensome to small companies and that easing them would encourage job growth.

Consumer groups said the provision had no place in a bill that its sponsors say is supposed to help protect investors.

“The supporters of this amendment, including apparently the White House, have suggested that weakening protections against accounting fraud is justified in order to promote job growth,” said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America. “That is precisely the sort of thinking that landed us in the current mess and precisely the sort of thinking Democrats criticized when they were blaming Republicans for the current financial crisis.”

The bill, part of a broader effort to overhaul the regulatory system in response to the crisis in the financial markets, would provide new powers and increased resources to the Securities and Exchange Commission . The legislation, approved 41 to 28, would give the commission the authority to end mandatory arbitration agreements that investors must sign with their brokers and financial advisers. And it would establish a whistle-blower bounty program for Wall Street employees.

The vote cleared the way for the committee to begin considering a plan by Mr. Frank and the administration to give the government broad new powers to shift the cost of rescues of big financial institutions from taxpayers to other large companies.

The legislation tries to respond to the outcry over taxpayer bailouts of some of the nation’s biggest financial companies, including Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the American International Group, Citigroup and Bank of America.

The measure, directed at institutions whose troubles might pose risks to the financial system, would create a powerful oversight council, led by the Treasury secretary and composed of top regulators, to set policy and tougher regulations for the largest companies and mediate disputes between federal agencies. It would also give the Federal Reserve a lead role in directly supervising many of the largest financial conglomerates.

The legislation accelerating the effective date of the credit card law was approved 331 to 92 after lawmakers criticized companies that had moved to raise rates and fees before the new law takes effect. The law, passed last May, would require banks and card companies to give 45 days’ notice before changing interest rates. The law also makes it harder to issue credit cards to students and prevents companies from charging fees to those who exceed their credit limit.

Representative Carolyn Maloney, Democrat of New York and the sponsor of the measure, said it would prevent issuers of credit cards from “getting in under the wire with a last gasp of unfair practices.”

Industry executives, however, said the move could backfire by prompting companies to restrict the availability of credit at a time when the economy is in a recession.

“This will create significant confusion for consumers and will further restrict access to credit for both consumers and small businesses, all to the detriment of the broader economy,” said Kenneth J. Clayton, a senior vice president at the American Bankers Association.

Committee Allows a Break on Certain Auditing Rules

Hot News: Carmakers keen on auto finance arms

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Comcast Corp's quarterly profit rose 22 percent, beating expectations, as it sold more phone and Internet subscriptions, helping the top U.S. cable operator fight competition from phone and satellite companies for video subscribers.

Shares of Comcast jumped 5.1 percent in premarket trading as it reported 361,000 new high-speed Internet customers and 375,000 new digital phone subscribers in the third quarter, offsetting the loss of 132,000 basic video subscribers.

Barclays Capital had expected 310,000 voice and 320,000 Internet additions.

The company, which sources say is in talks with General Electric Co about taking a majority stake in NBC Universal, made no mention of the talks in its quarterly earnings release.

The company posted net profit of $944 million, or 33 cents a share, up from $771 million, or 26 cents a share a year earlier business cards.

Excluding special items, including income tax benefits and financing expenses, the profit was 28 cents a share, outpacing analysts expectations of 25 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $8.80 billion, just shy of analysts view of $8.85 billion.

The Philadelphia-based company lost about 132,000 basic video subscribers during the quarter.

Free cash flow — a measure of cash left after all expenses are paid for the quarter — rose nearly 20 percent to $1.11 billion.

Shares of Comcast climbed 5.1 percent to $15.25 in premarket trade.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul; Editing by Derek Caney, Dave Zimmerman)

Comcast profit beats Street as users add services

Stocks showed modest gains on the first day of trading since the market took one of its steepest plunges in months. Signs that manufacturing in the United States was on a path to recovery helped buoy shares.

At the close of the markets on Monday, the skittishness of investors over the health of the economy, the source of much anxiety on Friday, appeared to have receded slightly. Stocks jumped in early trading, then pulled back at midday.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 76.71 points, or 0.79 percent, at 9,789.44. The Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index was up 6.69 points, or 0.65 percent, at 1,042.88, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 4.09 points, or 0.20 percent, at 2,049.20. Shares of companies that produce consumer staples like food and tobacco led the gains.

A report by the Institute for Supply Management said the health of the manufacturing sector was at its highest level in three years, substantially beating Wall Street expectations. In addition, a separate report showed increases in the number of home sales, offering hope that a critical sector might be headed for revival.

On Friday, the major averages posted some of the biggest losses in months, with the Dow tumbling 250 points, or 2.5 percent, and the S.& P. 500 falling 2.8 percent.

Many Wall Street analysts wonder whether the drops on Friday were simply an adjustment in the market after weeks of steady gains, or a harbinger of dreary days to come. Over the last seven months, stocks have rallied at a remarkable pace, leaving some analysts skeptical the momentum will last much longer.

John F. Merrill, chief investment officer at Tanglewood Investments in Houston, said the ups and downs in recent days were the result of investors looking to latch on to any piece of news that beat expectations online pay day loans.

“There’s a seesaw or a tug-of-war going on between those who want to be more invested and those who don’t,” he said. “Those who want to be more invested are looking for reasons to get there.”

Investors were also buoyed by news that the Ford Motor Company posted a higher-than-expected profit of $997 million in the third quarter, its first profitable quarter in North America in more than four years. Ford said cost-cutting and the government’s cash-for-clunkers program helped drive up its earnings. At the close, Ford’s stock was up 8.29 percent at $7.58.

European markets turned upward, with the FTSE 100 in Britain up 1.19 percent, the CAC-40 in France up 0.88 percent, and the DAX in Germany 0.29 percent higher.

Overnight, Asian markets fell in response to the sharp sell-offs in the United States on Friday, with the Nikkei average in Japan closing down 2.3 percent and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropping 0.6 percent.

The dollar fell against the euro, hitting $1.48. The yield on the Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note rose to 3.43, from 3.39 on Friday.

A key economic indicator will come on Friday, when the government releases its monthly report on unemployment. The jobless rate is expected to rise slightly, to 9.9 percent, but a sharp deviation could sway markets significantly.

Stocks Close Higher on Economic News

In the latest of the great newspaper wars of London, two lions of Fleet Street, Rupert Murdoch and Jonathan Harmsworth (the fourth Viscount Rothermere), have been outflanked by a former Soviet K.G.B. officer, Aleksandr Lebedev.

London Lite, a free newspaper published by Mr. Harmsworth’s Daily Mail & General Trust, signaled its intention last week to shut down. That would leave the London afternoon newspaper market to Mr. Lebedev’s Evening Standard.

In January, Mr. Lebedev, a Russian tycoon, acquired a controlling stake in The Standard, a 182-year-old fixture of London commutes, from the Daily Mail & General Trust. The Standard put intense pressure on London Lite by becoming free three weeks ago, rather than charging 50 pence (80 cents) a copy. This vastly increased its distribution.

The Standard’s move followed the recent demise of another afternoon free paper, The London Paper, published by Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation. For three years, London Lite and The London Paper fought a battle that ended up bleeding both, as well as The Standard.

Circulation of The Standard had fallen to 225,000 in July, from 443,000 nine years earlier, and many of those copies were discounted or given away.

Since the paper became free, Mr. Lebedev said, its popularity has soared.

Whether Mr. Lebedev’s coup translates into profits is another matter.

“At the personal level, I’m quite happy about what we have done,” he said in an interview. “Whether I will be unhappy someday with the financial results — let’s wait and see.”

The decision to shift to free distribution goes against the grain, at a time when other papers are raising prices to compensate for a plunge in advertising. Across Europe, dozens of free papers, with all their eggs in the advertising basket, have shut down.

Andrew Mullins, managing director of The Standard, said the move would result in lower distribution costs, balancing the effects of lost newsstand revenue. And while printing costs will rise as circulation increases, the paper hopes to recoup that and more by raising ad rates.

“We had to be brave and do something bold,” Mr. Mullins said. “It had become abundantly clear that the paid-for model could not generate the audiences we needed.”

The Standard has increased distribution to 600,000 papers a day, filling the gap left by The London Paper. The Daily Mail & General Trust, which has kept a 25 percent stake in The Standard, is still publishing London Lite for now. But it said it had begun consultations with its staff about the future of that paper, a formality before a shutdown payday advance loans.

While The Evening Standard will pick up many of the other two papers’ readers, advertisers are not guaranteed to follow, said Vanessa Clifford, head of press at the media-buying agency Mindshare in London. Many advertisers, she said, are more interested in reaching specific groups of readers than in reaching the largest possible circulation.

“I hope they aren’t skipping around saying, ‘Yippee, all that money is now going to come in to us,’ ” she said of The Standard. “That would be naïve.”

Mr. Lebedev said advertisers had been reassured by the paper’s insistence on maintaining journalistic quality — something that is not a hallmark of free publications.

“It’s good to see people getting newspaper literature, rather than litter, for free,” Mr. Lebedev said.

The Evening Standard is not Mr. Lebedev’s only media holding. With the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, he owns a majority stake in Novaya Gazeta of Moscow.

Mr. Lebedev installed a new editor, Geordie Greig, who was hired away from Tatler, a Condé Nast magazine. The decision to drop the cover charge, Mr. Mullins said, had been personally approved by Mr. Lebedev after a study in which a number of business scenarios were presented to him.

Now, Mr. Lebedev and his London-based son, Evgeny, are keeping a close eye on developments.

“There’s a phone call once a day from one of the Lebedevs,” Mr. Mullins said. “They bought an influential paper and want to make sure it stays an influential paper.”

There have been reports that Mr. Lebedev might move to acquire another paper, like The Independent.

“Most of the speculation has been inaccurate,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t want to, but there’s no substance in it now.”

Mr. Lebedev said that he felt an obligation to support the newspaper business at a time when many were struggling with the challenge of the Internet. Much of what he learned about business and finance on the way to assembling a multibillion-dollar fortune came from reading the papers, he said.

“It’s good that we have online, but there’s so much rubbish in it,” he said. “What could Dostoevsky communicate with Twitter?”

One London Paper to Rule Evening Commute

NEW YORK – The following stocks were among those that moved substantially or traded heavily Friday on the New York Stock Exchange:

NYSE:

Alcatel-Lucent, down 48 cents at $3.69

The telecommunications equipment maker saw its net loss widen in the third quarter as European phone companies cut back on spending.

Harman International Industries Inc., up $4.61 at $37.61

The company said its fiscal first-quarter sales rose from earlier this year and aggressive cost cuts continued.

Manitowoc Co., down $1.31 at $9.14

The industrial equipment maker posted a smaller loss as it cut costs, increased efficiency and reduced working capital costs.

Aon Corp., down $2.68 at $38.51

The insurance broker posted a higher third-quarter profit but missed expectations as its income from investments tumbled 69 percent.

Las Vegas Sands Corp faxless payday advance., up 33 cents at $15.09

The casino operator received approval for its Hong Kong initial public offering as investors latched on to comments made by its CEO.

MetLife Inc., down $2.81 at $34.03

MetLife reported a loss of $650 million for the third quarter, driven by losses in its investment portfolio.

Estee Lauder Cos., up $1.36 at $42.50

A strong relaunch of a skin-care line and better-than-expected sales at airport stores helped more than double the company’s profit.

NASDAQ:

Novatel Wireless Inc., down $3.27 at $8.92

The high-speed Internet service provider posted a disappointing outlook for the fourth quarter, despite strong third-quarter results.

Las Vegas Sands, MetLife, Manitowoc are big movers

Filed at 9:36 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) — The Washington Post Co. reported a 69 percent jump in third-quarter profit Friday as its newspapers trimmed their losses and its cable TV and education divisions held steady.

The company, which owns Newsweek magazine, Kaplan education services and television properties along with The Washington Post newspaper, earned $17.1 million, or $1.81 per share. That compares with a year-earlier net income of $10.1 million, or $1.08 per share.

Revenue climbed 2 percent to $1.15 billion.

The newspaper division, which includes dozens of dailies and weeklies, whittled its operating losses through buyouts and other cost-cutting moves to $23.6 million, down from $82.7 million a year ago low rate payday loans.

That happened even though advertising revenue at the flagship newspaper took a steeper dive than the quarter before, falling 28 percent. The newspaper had seen a 20 percent drop in the second quarter and a 33 percent drop in the first.

The Post’s decline was comparable to what other big publishes have seen. The New York Times Co.’s advertising revenue plunged 27 percent in the most recent quarter. Ad revenue in Gannett Co.’s publishing division, which includes USA Today and more than 80 other newspapers, dropped 28 percent.

Washington Post Co. Quarterly Profit Up 69%

A U.N. report forecasts a return to growth in Asian economies and trade in 2010. But U.N. economists recommend Asian governments increase trade within the region and become less dependent on markets such as the United States and Europe. The report by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific says Asia’s growth strategy needs to refocus on increasing trade within the region. The report recommends reducing Asia’s high dependence on global export markets. Exports to developed economies such as Europe and the United States have driven growth in the past five decades, but U.N. economists say it is time to increase regional trade and domestic consumption. The report comes as Asia is showing signs of a recovery after the sharp decline in trade during the past year due to the global financial crisis. Ravi Ratnayake, an economist and director at UNESCAP, says the outlook for Asia next year is upbeat, with China’s economy expected to lead the way in gross domestic product growth. “Well, 2010 we are looking very positively, in fact most of these countries in the region going to see some positive signs in GDP growth as well as export growth,” Ratnayake said. “We are forecasting the whole region will have growth, export growth, of 6.3 percent, while some countries like China will have higher rates of export growth.” The report also highlights China’s growing role in the region, with its contribution to regional trade “almost doubling” during the past decade. But the report cautions that despite strong growth in India and China, the global financial crisis is “far from over” paperless payday loans. It warns that financial markets remain volatile and large budget deficits and excessive foreign exchange reserves remain in many countries. The report also expresses concern about the strength of growth after governments phase out economic-stimulus programs in the coming months. The report says the outlook for foreign direct investment in Asia is good, especially in Thailand and Vietnam. But it warns the trade slump during the past year has led to massive unemployment and pushed more people below the poverty line. Ratnayake says governments need to maintain open trade and reduce tariffs to help lift millions of people out of poverty. “We believe that still in the region there are high barriers,” Ratnayake said. “If you reduce these tariffs substantially in the region within the intra-regional trade, if you reduce the barriers from that, it will lead to a reduction of poverty by 43-million people. So intraregional trade, coming from basically removing tariff barriers can lift many millions out of poverty.” The United Nations says governments should play a larger role in ensuring more balanced growth. It also says that inclusive and sustainable development can only be achieved by keeping national economies “as integral parts of regional and global economies”. 

UN Report Predicts Trade, Economic Growth for Asia in 2010

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Norway on Wednesday became the first European country to raise interest rates since the onset of the financial crisis, citing a nascent rebound in the global economy and inflationary pressures in its petroleum-exporting economy.

Inflation has been higher than expected and unemployment is “considerably lower than previously projected,” the Norges Bank governor, Svein Gjedrem, said in a statement announcing the one-quarter point increase in the overnight deposit rate, to 1.5 percent. While the global economy remains in a deep downturn, the central bank chief said, “there are signs of renewed growth.”

With the sense of crisis ebbing, the global monetary and financial authorities have begun to consider the need to withdraw the emergency measures, including massive fiscal stimulus and rock-bottom interest rates, that were implemented to keep the world economy afloat. But analysts do not expect the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank or their counterparts in Japan or Britain to take near-term action.

Norway, a Scandinavian country of 4.6 million people, is a major oil and gas exporter, and as oil prices rising to nearly $80 a barrel currently, from below $45 at the end of 2008, the economy has stabilized.

“This action reflects the fact that Norway’s huge oil surplus and supportive fiscal policy have helped to insulate the economy from the worst of the global economic downturn,” Ben May, an economist at Capital Economics in London, wrote in a research note. “Accordingly, it is unlikely that other central banks in the region will follow suit and hike rates anytime soon cheap pay day loans.”

On Oct. 6, the monetary authorities in Australia, another important commodity exporter, raised their main interest-rate target by one-quarter point to 3.25 percent, becoming the first Group of 20 nation to increase borrowing costs.

In August, the Bank of Israel raised its main lending rate by one-quarter point to 0.75 point.

Norway began cutting its benchmark rate last autumn as the full force of the financial crisis hit, altogether moving seven times as it took the overnight deposit rate down from 5.75 percent on Oct. 15 to a record low of 1.5 percent on May 6.

The central bank said its survey this month of lenders showed credit standards for enterprises had been eased “somewhat” in the third quarter, and that banks expect a further easing in the remainder of the year. But credit standards for household borrowers remained essentially unchanged.

Canada, another country which relies heavily on commodity exports, has been considered by some analysts as another candidate for a near-term interest rate increase.

But on Tuesday, Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of Canada, sought to play down such expectations, telling Parliament that the central bank’s overnight lending rate, at 0.25 percent, was “set appropriately” to achieve its inflation target and that the bank expected to maintain that rate “through the end of June 2010,” based on the current economic outlook.

Norway Is First in Europe to Lift Interest Rates

WARREN, Ohio — Bruce Gump and his neighbors feared for their retirement checks when the federal government took over the pension plans at Delphi, the big auto parts maker where they once worked.

But four months later, Mr. Gump finds himself in a far more perilous condition than his neighbors.

On his street, he is the only Delphi worker whose pension benefits may be cut. His neighbors all belong to unions and have received a lifeline in an unprecedented deal related to the government-supervised bankruptcy of General Motors, the onetime parent of Delphi. (G.M. spun off the parts division as a separate company 10 years ago.)

Mr. Gump and some 21,000 other salaried workers and retirees are furious that their roughly 46,000 union co-workers at Delphi have had their benefits restored, apparently with government largesse, and they have not.

“They’ve been relatively well taken care of,” he said. “But I’m being thrown out with yesterday’s trash.”

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, which insures pension plans, caps the amount of benefits it will pay, using a formula based on age and the type of benefits an employee earned. But in a side arrangement, G.M. is agreeing to pay special supplements, called top-ups, so that Delphi’s union retirees get everything they were promised.

The automaker is drawing the money from its own pension fund, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. In a sense, the G.M. pension fund is being weakened to help the Delphi union members.

Mr. Gump and others suspect the Treasury Department told G.M. to pay the supplements. The federal government is both the company’s largest shareholder and the financier of its restructuring, through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Obama administration officials confirmed that they brought the parties together to negotiate a resolution of Delphi’s pension failure but said they did not dictate the outcome.

The difference between the haves and have-nots at Delphi is not between the highly paid and lower-wage earners. As a senior engineer, Mr. Gump simply did not belong to a union. Neither did Delphi’s thousands of other engineers, bookkeepers, clerks, quality controllers, purchasing agents and other white-collar employees. They may have earned more in some cases, but they did not have the chance to earn paid overtime as union members did in good years. Records show the average pay for a nonunion worker just shy of 50 years old, with 20 to 24 years’ service, was about $96,000.

“Why did the hourly folks get what they needed and the salaried folks get nothing, if the bankruptcy process is supposed to be fair?” asked Paul Beiter, who retired as finance manager of a Delphi plant in Rochester. “The U.S. government is taking care of a select group of people and tossing the rest of us under the bus.”

Mr. Beiter estimated that slightly fewer than half of Delphi’s white-collar retirees would have their pensions cut, by 30 to 70 percent. One woman in his area who had earned a pension of $2,925 a month checked with the Guaranty Corporation and was told her retirement check would be pared to $390. But others will have smaller losses, and some will not lose at all.

The wide-ranging losses occur because of the way Congress devised the pension insurance program. It gave the biggest protection to the elderly, so that in practice, people in their 50s take the biggest hits.

Congress also wanted to discourage companies from promising rich benefits, then sticking the pension agency with the bills. For that reason, the program does not cover high dollar amounts, pension sweeteners granted just before a bankruptcy, and certain early-retirement benefits.

At Delphi, both the union members and the white-collar workers earned valuable supplements if they retired early, and Delphi raised basic benefits for both groups while it was in Chapter 11. The government insurance will not cover any of those extras. But only the white-collar retirees will feel the pain, because G.M. has agreed to top up the union retirees anyway.

“A bunch of men in dark glasses in a smoke-filled room tossing dice to determine thousands of people’s fates is what this feels like,” said the woman, 50, who will get a $390 monthly check personal loans for people with bad credit. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s limits depend on whether each person was qualified to retire on the date the plan failed; at 29 years and 11 months, she missed the cut-off for more favorable treatment by one month. Because she still works at Delphi, she asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation.

The idea that G.M. might back up Delphi’s pensions emerged in 1999, during the spinoff. Companies that spin off subsidiaries are supposed to shift adequate pension assets to the new company, and the automaker did this for its white-collar workers.

But it did not have enough money to cover the benefits of the Delphi union workers, who are represented by the United Auto Workers, the United Steelworkers and the International Union of Electrical Workers.

The unions threatened to block the spinoff. To appease them, G.M. promised that if the pension fund for the hourly workers at Delphi ever collapsed, it would restore any benefits that the government refused to pay.

White-collar workers did not get such a promise. They said they did not expect to need one; their pensions were fully funded.

What they did not take into account was how quickly a pension surplus can evaporate. A big chunk of the money disappeared in the bear market that followed. An emergency financing rule eventually forced Delphi to pump more money into the pension fund — but by then the company was in trouble. Delphi declared bankruptcy in 2005, to avoid having to spend precious cash on more pension contributions.

Once in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, it could defer contributions.

Delphi spent four years in bankruptcy and contributed only a fraction of the amounts owed to its white-collar pension fund in that time. Meanwhile, the fund was paying out about $150 million a year. By the time the pension agency stepped in, the plan for salaried workers was $2.5 billion short. The union plan was $4.3 billion short.

With the recession taking its toll, G.M. needed government financing to survive and wound up in a controlled bankruptcy, closing plants, shedding dealerships and trying to cut costs. Initially, it was going to pay supplements only to Delphi’s retirees who belong to the U.A.W., because that was the only union representing its workers after the bankruptcy. But the steelworkers’ and electrical workers’ unions cried foul, and they got the top-ups from G.M. too.

The white-collar workers cried foul — to no avail.

Administration officials said it would be wrong to think politics had any role in the outcome at Delphi. They said G.M. paid top-ups to the union retirees because it had promised to do so in 1999. The white-collar retirees got nothing because G.M. had not promised them anything.

A spokesman for G.M., Tom Wilkinson, said he was sympathetic to the white-collar retirees’ plight. But the fate of their pensions in bankruptcy “isn’t something that G.M. has any control over,” he said. “G.M. doesn’t have the legal obligation, nor does it have the money to re-fund those pensions.”

Of course, G.M. does not really have the money to pay the top-ups to Delphi’s union retirees either. It is operating with $53 billion in assistance from the Treasury after failing to find financing anywhere else.

Officials of the pension agency said there was no precedent for the Delphi situation but declined to comment further. In another time, the agency might have argued that if G.M. had enough money to pay top-ups, the automaker should transfer that money to the government pension insurer to help cover its costs. The insurance is provided by premiums paid by companies, but that funding is proving inadequate in an age of industry-wide restructurings and giant failures.

For Delphi Pensioners, the Union Label Helps

Newspaper sales moved sharply lower this year, falling about 10 percent in the six months ended Sept. 30 compared to the same period last year, according to figures released on Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

Circulation has been sliding since the early 1990s, but in the last few years, the pace of the decline has accelerated sharply. In the same six-month period a year ago, circulation fell at roughly half the rate. The decline has been attributed to the continued migration of readers to the Web, the deep recession, newspapers intentionally shedding unprofitable circulation and, in some cases, waning reader interest as budget cuts reduce the content of the papers.

As it had warned, circulation for USA Today suffered a steep drop, in part a reflection of the slump in the hotel and airline industries, which distribute most of that paper’s copies. USA Today, printed only on weekdays, fell from almost 2.3 million to 1.9 million, a 17.1 percent drop, losing the top spot in weekday circulation for the first time since the 1990s to The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal’s circulation, at just over 2 million, rose 0.6 percent. It is one of a very few papers to sell online subscriptions, which are counted in the circulation total, helping The Journal defy the industry-wide decline for several years high risk personal loans.

The New York Times’ weekday circulation fell 7.3 percent, to about 928,000, after two decades above 1 million. It continued to have by far the largest Sunday circulation, at 1.4 million, down 2.7 percent.

Among the nation’s largest newspapers, the biggest decline was reported by The San Francisco Chronicle, whose weekday circulation, about 252,000, was down 25.8 percent. The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Dallas Morning News each fell more than 22 percent on weekdays, and about 19 percent on Sundays.

Over all, the audit bureau said that of the hundreds of newspapers whose reports it had so far, weekday circulation was down 10.6 percent, and Sunday was down 7.5 percent. In the same period a year ago, both declines were under 5 percent, and even that was a marked acceleration from the previous years.

Two major papers, The Denver Post and The Seattle Times, reported significant circulation gains after their main competitors went out of business.

U.S. Newspaper Circulation Falls Almost 10%

LOS ANGELES — Hugh Hefner leaned back on a red loveseat, the saggy one in the study of his infamous mansion here, and interlocked his fingers behind his head. A visitor had asked — more like shouted, since he has trouble hearing — a question about mortality.

At 83, does he think about it?

In a word, no. Mr. Hefner, the legendarily libidinous founder of Playboy, the prophet of hedonism, does not believe that his denouement is at hand.

He doesn’t act like it, either. He still works full days on his magazine, flies to Europe and Las Vegas, pops Viagra, visits nightclubs with his three live-in girlfriends — each young enough to be his great-granddaughter — and is working with the producer Brian Grazer on a film.

“This is one of the very best times of my life,” he said, grinning, dressed in pajamas and slippers. “It’s even better, richer than people know.”

You want to believe him, but it is hard to ignore the realities of his business. Playboy Enterprises, hobbled by a shifting media landscape, is in need of heart paddles. On Tuesday, the magazine said it would cut the circulation numbers it guarantees to advertisers to 1.5 million, from 2.6 million. The company has lost money for seven quarters in a row.

And perhaps most shockingly, the company said earlier this year that it would consider acquisition offers, something that was believed to be unthinkable while Mr. Hefner was still alive.

Mr. Hefner knows every good party must end, having long ago bought a crypt next to Marilyn Monroe at a Los Angeles cemetery. In interviews over the years, he has talked about how life wouldn’t be worth living without Playboy. “If I sold it, my life would be over,” he has said. But he may be coming around: “I’m taking more seriously the fact that I’m not 30 years old anymore. I need to think about the continuity of the magazine.”

Love him or loathe him, no one doubts Mr. Hefner’s influence in American cultural history. As a magazine publisher, he essentially did for sex what Ray Kroc did for roadside food: clean it up for a rising middle class.

As a cultural force, however, Mr. Hefner still divides the country — 56 years after Playboy’s first issue. To his supporters, he is the great sexual liberator who helped free Americans from Puritanism and neurosis. To his detractors, including many feminists and social conservatives, he helped set in motion a revolution in sexual attitudes that have objectified and victimized countless women and promoted an immoral, whatever-feels-good approach to life.

Mr. Hefner will concede that there are dark consequences of what he helped set into motion, but said “it’s a small price to pay for personal freedom.”

“People don’t always make good decisions. The real obscenities on this planet have very little to do with sex,” he said, adding that “it’s not as romantic a time.”

Less romantic and — with instantly available pornography online and graphic sex talk, including on Mr. Hefner’s own show, “The Girls Next Door,” on TV — it’s a time that makes Playboy’s ideals seem quaint. Mr. Hefner — who uses the word “cat” to describe himself, as in, “I’m the luckiest cat on the planet” — doesn’t think much of today’s cultural landscape.

“I feel strongly that the pop culture is a thinner soup today,” he said. “It used to be a thick porridge.”

At the same time, he tries to be an active participant. While the magazine is still edited largely in Chicago, Mr. Hefner approves “every Playmate, every cover, the cartoons and the letters.” Working from a home office or his bed, where the 1970s-era Tasmanian opossum fur bedspread has been traded for a silk and velvet one, Mr. Hefner helped drive the recent decision to buy a 5,000-word excerpt of Vladimir Nabokov’s unfinished novella, “The Original of Laura,” for a forthcoming issue.

His girlfriends recently educated him about Twitter. (“I’ll be playing gin rummy tonight” was a recent tweet.) He’s hooked on the HBO drama “True Blood get a free credit report.” He recently filmed a Guitar Hero commercial, holding the pipe he gave up after a suffering a small stroke in 1985. He has also suffered personal humiliations. Former live-in girlfriends, including those who have appeared on “The Girls Next Door,” have portrayed him in interviews and a book as a control freak who enforces a curfew of 9 p.m. The mansion itself has seen better days. During a July visit, the game house (the one with a room that has a mattress as flooring) smelled musty, while the bird aviary needed scrubbing. That famous grotto, with its Jacuzzis of varied depth, seemed more like a fetid zoo exhibit than a pleasure palace (although nearby shelves were stocked with enormous bottles of Johnson’s Baby Oil).

In March, with the housing market in a nosedive, he put his wife’s home, located next door to the Playboy Mansion, up for sale for $28 million. It sold in August for $18 million. Mr. Hefner, who separated from Kimberly Conrad Hefner in 1998, filed for divorce in early September; she is suing him, claiming he owes her $4 million under a prenuptial agreement and proceeds from the home’s sale.

Mr. Hefner’s retinue insists that money is not tight, but a series of actions has made it look that way. The Los Angeles Business Journal reported last year that the mansion’s staff had been cut. People can now buy tickets (up to $10,000 each) to what were once invitation-only parties, which remain a vital part of stoking the Playboy brand.

“It’s not always as exciting as people think,” said Holly Madison in an interview last summer. Ms. Madison lived with Mr. Hefner for seven years as his “No. 1 girlfriend” until she broke up with him last fall.

Richard Rosenzweig, who has worked at Playboy since 1958 and holds multiple titles, begged to differ. “This is a very aspirational place,” he said in an interview in Mr. Hefner’s dining room. “Everybody wants to come here.”

When Mr. Hefner’s relationship with Ms. Madison ended, he said he got letters from women around the world begging to move in. “They were climbing over the gates,” he said, beaming. Mr. Hefner chose three new live-in girlfriends, 23-year-old Crystal Harris and twins Kristina and Karissa Shannon, 20.

Despite his chipper attitude, Mr. Hefner clearly has legacy on his mind. Lately, he has been poring over his scrapbooks, which he has been keeping since childhood and now number over 2,000. Never-before-seen material from them — his first library card, self-drawn comic strips and pictures — will form the heart of a 3,506-page, six-volume “illustrated biography” from Taschen. Only 1,500 of the $1,300 behemoths will be sold, starting next month.

For the first time, Mr. Hefner has also given unfettered access to a documentary filmmaker, Brigitte Berman, whose recently completed “Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel” made its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

And a major Hollywood biopic is speeding ahead at long last. Mr. Grazer recently met with the screenwriter Diablo Cody about the project, Mr. Hefner said. Brett Ratner (best known for the “Rush Hour” blockbusters) is lined up to direct. Robert Downey Jr. has expressed interest in playing Mr. Hefner.

“He’s an intellect of the highest order who influenced the worldwide zeitgeist in a grand way — and that influence is drastically underrated,” Mr. Grazer said.

Indeed, some of his long-time friends fret that some of the accomplishments they admire — creating a cultural icon (the Playboy Bunny), eroding racial boundaries (through the inclusion of black performers in his clubs), and supporting many feminist causes, including abortion rights and the Equal Rights Amendment — are getting lost.

Mr. Hefner worries about it, too. “We just literally live in a very different world and I played a part in making it that way,” he said. “Young people have no idea about that.”

The Loin in Winter: Hefner Reflects, and Grins

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, after falling in five of the last six weeks, as employers remained reluctant to hire even with the economy showing signs of recovery.

The Labor Department saidThursday that new jobless claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 531,000 last week, from an upwardly revised 520,000 the previous week. Economists had expected only a slight increase, according to Thomson Reuters.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of layoffs and an indication of companies’ willingness to hire new workers.

The four-week average of claims, which smoothes out fluctuations, fell slightly to 532,250, the lowest since mid-January and about 125,000 below the peak for the recession, reached this spring. But claims remain well above the 325,000 that economists say is consistent with a healthy economy.

The number of people continuing to claim benefits declined for a fifth week to 5.9 million, from just over six million. The figures on continuing claims lag behind initial claims by a week.

Many recipients are moving onto extended benefit programs approved by Congress in response to the recession, which began in December 2007 and is the worst since the 1930s.

When those programs are included, the total number of recipients fell to 8.8 million in the week ending Oct. 3, the latest data available, down about 50,000 from the previous week free credit reports. That decline is probably a result of recipients having run out of benefits, rather than finding jobs, economists say.

In another report, a private forecast of economic activity rose for the sixth consecutive month in September, a sign the economy will keep growing next year.

In the forecast, the Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators rose 1 percent last month after a 0.4 percent gain in August. Economists expected an increase of 0.8 percent last month, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.

The Conference Board said the indicators’ growth rate of 5.7 percent over the six months through September was the strongest since 1983, but joblessness was weighing on the rebound.

“These numbers strongly suggest that a recovery is developing. However, the intensity of that recovery will depend on how much, and how soon, demand picks up,” said a Conference Board economist, Ken Goldstein.

Many analysts think the economy grew as much as 3 percent in the July-September quarter, but employers are reluctant to hire as they wait to see whether such growth can be maintained.

The unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent in September. The recession has eliminated a net 7.2 million jobs.

Rise in New Jobless Claims Was Higher Than Expected

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Friday, with the Dow slipping below the 10,000 mark as industrial companies' weak results overshadowed robust earnings from tech heavy-weights.

The energy and materials sectors suffered as a stronger U.S. dollar hit commodity prices, while an analyst's comments on a major railroad stock hurt the transportation sector.

Shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (BNI.N), the second-biggest U.S. railroad, slid nearly 7 percent after a broker cut its price target on the stock and helped drive the Dow Jones Transportation Average (.DJT) down 3.5 percent. An index of S&P industrial companies (.GSPI) lost 1.7 percent.

The U.S. dollar strengthened after data showed the UK posted its sixth straight quarter of contraction in gross domestic product, the longest stretch on record, and better-than-expected U.S. housing data gave the greenback an extra boost.

A stronger dollar helped to push oil and commodity prices lower, sending shares of companies in the energy and materials sectors down. The S&P materials sector (.GSPM) fell 2.2 percent.

"Any time the dollar shows signs of life, the stock market goes down. There's a flight to safety," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.

"The (weak) UK GDP gave strength to the dollar. And when the dollar is up, oil falls."

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) fell 129.61 points, or 1.29 percent, at 9,951.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) dropped 15.04 points, or 1.38 percent, to 1,077.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) lost 10.66 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,154.63.

ROUGH RIDE ON THE RAILROAD

Burlington Northern shares fell 6.9 percent to $78.79 a day after the company reported a 30 percent drop in quarterly profit best auto loan rates. The company hauls a variety of commodities such as coal, grain, lumber, construction materials, automobiles and consumer goods.

An analyst at RBC Capital cut his price target on Burlington Northern's stock to $87 from $91, while he kept his rating at "underperform."

Shares of the top U.S. railroad Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) tumbled 6 percent to $57.37.

Oilfield services company Schlumberger Ltd (SLB.N) dropped 5.5 percent to $64.86 after it warned natural gas activity would remain weak until late 2010.

U.S. crude oil futures fell 69 cents, or 0.9 percent, to settle at $80.50 a barrel. The S&P energy sector index (.GSPE) slid 2.1 percent.

Top decliners in the tech sector included Broadcom Corp (BRCM.O) and MEMC Electronic Materials Inc (WFR.N) following disappointing quarterly results. Shares of Broadcom, which makes chips for everything from cellphones to TV set-top boxes, slid 6.3 percent to $28.79 on Nasdaq. MEMC Electronic Materials' stock dropped 9.5 percent to $13.96 on the New York Stock Exchange.

An index of semiconductors (.SOXX) lost 2.9 percent.

But the Nasdaq's losses were limited after major earnings beats from Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O). Microsoft jumped 5.5 percent to $28.05, while Amazon soared 26.6 percent to $118.28, after earlier climbing to a lifetime high of $119.65.

Earlier in the day, September data showed sales of previously owned U.S. homes surged to their highest level since July 2007.

(Additional reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman)

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

Dow dips below 10,000; commodities, transports drag

Stocks fluctuated in early trading Thursday as investors sorted through a disappointing reading on the labor market and another pile of earnings reports.

The market is trying to rebound a day after a late-session sell off pushed major indexes lower. Lingering concerns over whether investors had been overly optimistic about an economic rebound in pushing the market higher recently fed into Wednesday’s decline.

Investors are studying numerous earnings reports from a wide variety of sectors for insight into the strength of the consumer. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy.

The cigarette maker Philip Morris International, the printer and copier supply company Xerox and Dow Chemical all reported weakening sales, but were able to beat profit expectations.

Upbeat reports from Dow Jones industrial average components 3M, Travelers and McDonald’s helped support stocks.

At 11 a.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 54 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was flat, and the Nasdaq composite index was down 9 points.

The mixed earnings signals continued to show an economy in flux.

The credit card lenders American Express and Capital One Financial should provide clues into whether consumers are still struggling to repay loans, a major problem for nearly the entire financial sector for the last two years. Both report after the market closes.

A weekly report on jobless claims put pressure on stocks.

The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected last week, after falling in five of the last six weeks, as employers remained reluctant to hire even with the economy showing signs of recovery car loans.

The four-week average of claims, which smoothes out fluctuations, fell slightly to 532,250, the lowest since mid-January and about 125,000 below the peak for the recession, reached this spring. But claims remain well above the 325,000 that economists say is consistent with a healthy economy.

Stocks tumbled sharply late in the day Wednesday, sending the Dow down 92 points and back below the 10,000 threshold after the index was up 78 points and had reached its highest level in a year earlier in the session. The Dow hit 10,000 last week for the first time in a year.

The sell-off began after a cautious note from bank analyst Richard Bove of Rochdale Securities about Wells Fargo. Analysts say the note, along with constant concerns about the speed and size of the market’s seven-month recovery, left the market ready for a retreat.

The Dow has dropped three of the last four days.

Meanwhile, bond prices dipped Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.41 percent from 3.39 percent late Wednesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill, considered one of the safest investments, rose to 0.07 percent from 0.06 percent.

The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices also fell.

Overseas, the Nikkei stock average in Japan fell 0.6 percent. In afternoon trading, the FTSE 100 in Britain declined 1.2 percent, the DAX in Germany index dropped 1.8 percent, and the CAC-40 in France tumbled 1.5 percent.

Stocks Narrowly Mixed in Early Trading

Hot News: Schumer jumps into dark pool debate ahead of SEC meet

Shares on Wall Street began the day trading higher Wednesday as third-quarter earnings reports once again set the tone for the market.

Investors continue to look for clues about consumers’ habits and the economy’s health.

Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Company and US Bancorp all reported better results for the third quarter. However, the three financial firms provided fresh reminders that the broader economy is struggling even as Wall Street rebounds.

All said loan losses remain elevated.

Last week, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup all reported higher credit losses as consumers struggle to pay off their bills.

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 38 points, or 0.4 percent, and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was 5 points, or 0.5 percent, higher. The Nasdaq was up 15 points, or 0.7 percent. On Wednesday, Continental Airlines cited lower revenue from business travelers as it reported a loss for the third quarter. A competitor, AirTran Airways, posted a profit, benefiting from the discount carrier’s low costs and focus on domestic routes where it believes it can make money.

Investors will get additional insight into the airline industry when the parent of American Airlines, the AMR Corporation, reports report results later Wednesday cash advance loan.

On Tuesday, United Airlines said it was seeing early signs of a recovery in business travel as it reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.

Investors are anxious to see if companies from a broad range of industries on continue to post better-than-expected results. Soft housing data in the United States on Tuesday squelched some of the market’s optimism, sending major indexes down about half a percent.

European stock markets in the afternoon were beginning to recover after falling earlier in the day amid concerns about the speed of the United States economic recovery and ahead of the next bah of corporate earnings reports.

The FTSE 100 in London was down 21 points, or 0.4 percent, while the DAX in Frankfurt was 6 points, or 0.1 percent, lower. The CAC-40 in Paris was down 20 points, or 0.5 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.03 percent.

Earnings Set the Pace on Wall Street

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc reported higher third-quarter profit as aggressive cost-cutting helped offset unfavorable foreign currency exchange rates and declining sales of drugs, including those facing competition from cheaper generics.

The world’s biggest drugmaker, which completed its $67.3 billion acquisition of Wyeth last week, posted a net profit of $2.88 billion, or 43 cents per share in its last pre-merger quarter, compared with a profit of $2.28 billion, or 34 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding items, Pfizer earned 51 cents per share. Analysts on average expected 48 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales declined 3 percent to $11.6 billion, but that topped analysts’ estimates of $11 no fax no teletrack payday loan.41 billion.

Pfizer’s bought Wyeth to help soften the 2011 blow from the loss of U.S. patent protection on the cholesterol drug Lipitor — the world’s biggest-selling prescription medicine — by adding Wyeth’s lucrative vaccines and injectable biologic medicines.

Lipitor’s worldwide sales for the third quarter declined 9 percent to $2.9 billion. They were down 12 percent in the United States, amid competition from cheap generic versions of rival cholesterol lowering drugs.

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by Derek Caney) 20091020 112527+0000 REUTERS

After Cutting Costs, Pfizer Profits Rise

(Reuters) – Blackstone Group (BX.N) is finding it difficult to raise money for a new leveraged buyout fund, the New York Post said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The private equity firm, which hoped to raise a fund as large as $20 billion, has raised $9 billion at most since fundraising began in early 2008, sources told the paper allied insurance.

The paper said $7 billion of that had been raised by July 2008.

Reuters was unable to reach Blackstone for comment.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore)

Blackstone’s new fund faces cash shortfall: report

SAN FRANCISCO – In an Oct. 14 story about Clorox Co.’s executive compensation, The Associated Press reported erroneously that CEO Don Knauss received more than $1 million under the company’s mortgage subsidy program over three fiscal years. The amount was slightly less than $1 million and reflected total relocation-related benefits, which included the mortgage subsidy program instant payday loan.

Correction: Clorox executive compensation story

PARIS — Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beverage company, said Thursday that it would sell its operations in Eastern and Central Europe to a private equity firm in a deal that may be worth more than $3 billion.

The sale is the latest in a series of divestments that the company, based in Leuven, Belgium, set out to make after the takeover of Anheuser-Busch by InBev last year. The asset sales are helping to pay down debt from the takeover, and the brewer has more than met its goal of reducing its debt by $7 billion over the last 12 months.

The buyer, CVC Capital Partners, will pay $1.68 billion in cash to start, with an additional $613 million in deferred payments and minority interests, and the possibility of $800 million later, depending on the unit’s future earnings.

“I think it’s a very good price” for Anheuser-Busch InBev, said Kris Klippers, an analyst at Petercam in Brussels, “certainly in view of the circumstances.”

In return, CVC, headquartered in Luxembourg, will own the brewer’s operations stretching from the Czech Republic in the north to Montenegro in the south and Romania in the east, and cover almost every country in between online cash advance.

“These are small countries with small breweries,” Mr. Klippers said. Anheuser-Busch InBev is “staying in big countries with big breweries, where there’s more efficiency.”

As part of the deal, set to close in January, Anheuser-Busch InBev will license CVC to brew and distribute brands like Stella Artois, Beck’s, Löwenbräu, Hoegaarden, Spaten and Leffe.

“The acquisition marks the first investment in the region for CVC,” Istvan Szoke, head of central and eastern Europe at CVC, said in a statement announcing the deal, adding that the new unit would be named StarBev.

Last week, Anheuser said it would sell its theme parks — which include Busch Gardens and Sea World — to the Blackstone Group in a deal worth about $2.7 billion.

It also ceded Oriental Brewery, its South Korean subsidiary, to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in May for $1.8 billion.

Anheuser-Busch InBev to Sell Some European Breweries