| » Raj Rajaratnam was found guilty of securities fraud in the biggest insider-trading case in a generation. Mr Rajaratnam used to run Galleon, one of the world's largest hedge funds, until his arrest in 2009 on charges of operating a network of executives, bankers and traders through which he obtained illegal tips. The scandal has reached the boardroom of Goldman Sachs, where a former board member denies charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he provided information to Mr Rajaratnam. See article
Skype's the limit » Microsoft's agreement to buy Skype raised a few eyebrows. At $8.5 billion the deal is Microsoft's biggest acquisition to date, and provides a $4 billion profit to the investors who bought the online phone and video-calling service from eBay in 2009. The price Microsoft is paying is 400 times greater than operating income at Skype, which generates surprisingly little revenue per user. See article » LinkedIn, a networking website for professionals, set a share-price range of $32-35 for its initial public offering, which values the company at around $3.3 billion. See article  » Details were provided about American International Group's forthcoming share offering. The insurance company will sell 100m shares and the Treasury another 200m, thereby reducing the government's stake in AIG to 77%. The offering is at the lower end of market expectations, amounting to $8.9 billion in stock. » Consumer prices in China rose by 5.3% last month, down a smidgen from March but still above the government's inflation target. Food prices jumped by 11.5% in April and the cost of clothing increased by 1.4%, the biggest rise since 1997. China's central bank has rolled out a series of measures to try to tame inflation. » Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece's credit rating by another two notches. A team of officials from Greece, the European Commission and the IMF is due to report on progress in June, as it becomes clearer that the country's current bail-out package is not working. See article
A new supergroup? » Len Blavatnik emerged the winner from an auction to buy Warner Music, with a deal valued at $3.3 billion. Mr Blavatnik made his fortune through his Access Industries conglomerate, which includes stakes in Russia's TNK-BP and Rusal among its assets. Warner, like other music companies, has seen revenue drop with the growth of digital downloads. Mr Blavatnik is rumoured to be interested in buying EMI, which is owned by Citigroup, to create a behemoth in the recording industry. See article  » It was a good week for Mr Blavatnik. An arbitration panel ruled that TNK-BP, BP's Russian venture, which is half owned by Mr Blavatnik and other Russian shareholders, must be included in a proposed project by BP and Rosneft to explore energy fields in the Arctic, if a related share-swap deal between BP and Rosneft is to proceed. The panel laid out other conditions on the deal. » Banks in Britain gave up their legal challenge to claims they had mis-sold payment-protection insurance (covering sickness and unemployment) on credit cards and mortgages, and agreed to pay compensation to customers. This followed the decision by Lloyds Banking Group to set aside £3.2 billion ($5.2 billion) to settle its PPI complaints. See article » Stuart Gulliver, HSBC's new boss, confirmed that the bank is to scale back its global business. Only around a quarter of its retail-banking operations provide satisfactory returns, though Mr Gulliver did not say from which countries HSBC would withdraw. The bank is exploring a sell-off of its branches and credit-card business in America, to refocus on corporate banking there. » An 18-month dispute between British Airways and its cabin crew that led to the disruption of BA flights last year seemed set to end following negotiations between unions and management.
Not ready to check out » A report submitted to South Africa's competition tribunal said that Walmart's proposed takeover of Massmart could lead to big job losses if Walmart replaces the South African retail chain's domestic suppliers with foreign ones. South Africa's government and unions are seeking assurances from Walmart that workers will be protected in what will be the company's biggest overseas acquisition since Britain's Asda in 1999. » Apollo Global Management, a private-equity firm, won the contest to buy CKx, an entertainment company that owns the "American Idol" television series and has substantial interests in the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. Apollo's offer of $509m for the business was backed by Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis's only child. | 
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