IN BRIEF

Executive expects recovery in commercial real estate in 2012

Look for commercial real estate values in the Las Vegas area to improve in 2012, an executive at Grubb & Ellis said.

"There is going to be a lifetime opportunity to purchase commercial real estate (at great prices) in 2010 or 2011," said David Scherer, executive vice president at Grubb & Ellis.

Prices on warehouses, office buildings and retail centers have fallen to bargain-basement levels, but only investors with patience and cash need bid, he said.

It's hard to get financing for real estate, Scherer said.

John Shanklin, a chartered financial analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based NEPC, sees a similar opportunity nationally and internationally in illiquid assets such as real estate, private equity and private debt.

However, Shanklin's firm advises clients that they may need to hold those assets for 10 years.

Bally Technologies acquires game maker Games4you

Bally Technologies announced Wednesday it acquired Games4you, a small Scottsdale, Ariz.-based game manufacturer, to strengthen its slot machine content and give the company another development base.

Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Games4you is made up of former employees of Atronic Americas and Atronic International, who formed the business after Lottomatica Group acquired the companies.

Bally's will add the content from Games4you, which includes spinning-reel slot machines, video slot machines, video lottery machines and other gambling technology.

The Games4you employees will now form the Scottsdale office for Bally, which operates game-development centers in the Silicon Valley, Southern California, Las Vegas, Reno and India.

NEW YORK

New York Times will charge for full Web-site access in 2011

The New York Times says it will charge readers for full access to its Web site starting in 2011, a risky move aimed at increasing online revenue without driving off advertisers that want the biggest possible audience.

The potential pitfalls have made most other major newspapers hesitant to take a similar step. But after months of deliberation, the Times said Wednesday that it will use a metered system, allowing free access to a certain number of articles each month and then charging users for additional content.

The Times did not disclose how many articles would be available for free each month or what it would charge to read more. Subscribers to the printed version of the Times would still have free access to the Web site.

It would not be the first time the newspaper has asked readers to pay for its online articles.

It charged for its Web site in 1996 but attracted only about 4,000 subscribers. Another experiment called Times Select, which required a $50 annual subscription to read Times columnists, drew 221,000 customers but was scrapped in 2007 because it dented ad sales. Advertisers generally pay more for higher Web traffic.

SEATTLE

Do-it-yourself authors' royalties to rise in new Amazon program

Amazon.com Inc. said Wednesday it will begin offering do-it-yourself authors and publishers a bigger cut of book sales on its Kindle e-reader -- but with strings attached aimed at keeping prices down for consumers.

The company said that starting in June, it will offer users of its e-book self-publishing program, the Kindle Digital Text Platform, royalties on book sales of 70 percent after delivery costs. With those costs equaling less than 6 cents per book, Amazon said authors will be able to earn $6.25 per copy on a book that sells for $8.99, rather than the old rate of $3.15.

To qualify for the new rate, authors and publishers must meet several criteria. The book's list price must fall between $2.99 and $9.99 and be at least 20 percent below the lowest price of the physical edition of the book. It also has to sell on Amazon for the same price, or less, as it does with competing book sellers.

Finally, it has to be available everywhere the author or publisher has intellectual property rights.

SAN FRANCISCO

PayPal growth helps boost quarterly profit for eBay

EBay Inc. said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit more than tripled, largely because of the sale of its Skype telecommunications business.

The company also saw growth in its PayPal payments business and a holiday shopping season that was healthier than the year before.

EBay, which runs online auctions and e-commerce sites, earned $1.36 billion, or $1.02 per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from earnings of $367 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier.

When excluding one-time items, eBay earned 44 cents per share -- 4 cents more than analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected. Revenue rose 16 percent to $2.37 billion.

MILWAUKEE

Anheuser-Busch flips over rivals' lids in brewer brouhaha

It's a flap over a cap.

An ad industry watchdog wants MillerCoors to modify its claims about flagship Miller Lite because it hasn't made changes as the ads imply.

It's a basic marketing tactic to tout a product attribute, especially if it's new, to increase shoppers' interest.

In this case, MillerCoors started advertising flagship Miller Lite's "Taste Protector" caps and lids last summer. But MillerCoors acknowledges the tops don't use new technology so its ads can't imply they do, the National Advertising Division Council of Better Business Bureaus said Wednesday.

The industry body, known as NAD, examined the matter after beer-making rival Anheuser-Busch Inc. complained.

MillerCoors has been saying the new golden tops and lids on Miller Lite, which has been in a sales slump, have a special seal that "locks out air and locks in that Great Pilsner Taste."

NAD said in its nonbinding decision that MillerCoors should stop referring to a "special seal" and not imply the product has changed.