Reuters News

(Reuters) – DirecTV is expanding its NFL Sunday Ticket television package, which lets viewers watch football outside their local markets, to see if it can make some extra money from broadcasting the games on the Internet. DirecTV, like rival Dish Network Corp, has been trying to boost its subscriber numbers as lower-cost online entertainment options […]

(Reuters) – BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc said shareholders approved its takeover by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners and funds advised by CVC Capital Partners in a deal worth $2.8 billion. Holders of about 72 percent of the company’s stock voted in favor of the deal while holders of less than a percent of […]

(Reuters) – Founded 134 years ago, The Washington Post newspaper is a byword for Pulitzer prize-winning political reporting. Think Watergate. But the storied broadsheet has lost money for three years, and some shareholders of owner The Washington Post Co wouldn’t weep if the paper were sold, allowing the company to focus on its for-profit education […]

(Reuters) – TPG Capital has taken a direct stake in Indonesia buyout fund Northstar Pacific, a source said, in a move that strengthens the U.S. buyout firm’s foothold in southeast Asia. No financial details were disclosed but the deal underlines growing private equity interest in the emerging economies of the region. TPG has invested in […]

(Reuters) – Guy Hands’s private equity firm Terra Firma has asked British courts for documents it could use to challenge the process by which it lost music group EMI to Citigroup, two people familiar with the matter said. EMI sought insolvency protection in February — weeks before a debt covenant test it was expected to […]

(Reuters) – Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone on Tuesday, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by stagnation and a rift with Chinese partner Alibaba. Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse will step in as interim CEO, and the company will search for a permanent leader to spearhead a battle in […]

(Reuters) – As expected, Solyndra LLC, a solar panel maker that received $535 million in federal loan guarantees, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection today, the third U.S. solar firm to succumb to pressure from Chinese rivals in recent weeks. Solyndra, which also received more than $700 million in venture capital funding, said it will […]

(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc is stepping up social media efforts after the largest Internet retailer partially missed one of the hottest technology trends of recent years. Amazon hired a director of social media, John Yurcisin, from WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather earlier this year to help the company come up with social strategies. He is the […]

(Reuters) - The Carlyle Group filed on Tuesday for an initial public offering of its common units as it looks to join rivals Blackstone and KKR as listed private equity firms, but the filing comes amid deep uncertainty on global equity markets. The U.S. IPO market has struggled as concerns about Europe's debt crisis and a weak recovery in the United States have made markets volatile. A number of deals were withdrawn last month. "If Carlyle files in this time frame, in basically a market meltdown, something doesn't seem right," said Scott Sweet, senior managing partner at IPO Boutique. Given the market conditions and the poor performance of other listed private equity players like Blackstone Group and Apollo Global Management ...

(Reuters) – Investors agreed to a $16 million settlement of lawsuits stemming from the buyout of clothing retailer J Crew Group Inc by two private equity groups, according to an investor attorney. The settlement is based on an earlier $10 million agreement that collapsed in January, according to Stuart Grant of Grant & Eisenhofer PA, […]