IN BRIEF
WASHINGTON
Agency says it bowed to political pressure
The Food and Drug Administration has taken the unprecedented step of acknowledging that it buckled to "extreme" pressure from Capitol Hill in its approval of a knee repair device last year.
FDA leadership said Thursday the agency failed to protect its scientists from outside pressure after they twice rejected ReGen Biologics' Menaflex device.
The company won approval last December after enlisting the support of four lawmakers who urged then-FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to intervene on the company's behalf.
Approval came despite protests by FDA scientists that Menaflex -- which reinforces damaged knee tissue -- provided little, if any, benefit to patients.
WASHINGTON
Georgian Bank shut down by regulators
Regulators on Friday shut down Atlanta-based Georgian Bank, the 95th U.S. bank to fail this year as loan defaults rise in the worst financial climate in decades.
In coming months, more banks are expected to buckle under the weight of commercial real estate and other loans that go sour. Those failures could imperil the insurance fund for deposits, already at the lowest point in nearly 20 years.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Georgian Bank, with about $2 billion in assets and $2 billion in deposits as of July 24. First Citizens Bank and Trust Co., based in Columbia, S.C., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of the failed bank.
LOS ANGELES
Third-quarter loss shrinks for KB Home
KB Home posted a smaller third-quarter loss on Friday as new home orders increased and the builder cut costs.
The company lost $66 million, or 87 cents a share, in the three months ended in August. That compares with a loss of $144.7 million, or $1.87 a share, the same period last year.
Revenue fell 32.7 percent, to $458.5 million from $681.6 million.
WASHINGTON
Officials consider fresh bailouts for small banks
Treasury officials and regulators are weighing a fresh round of bailouts for banks that were deemed too risky to qualify for earlier aid.
Representatives from the Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and House Financial Services Committee discussed the plan by phone Thursday, said California Bankers Association Chairman Dan Doyle, who was on the call.
Small community banks are struggling as commercial real estate and other loans go sour. Officials and industry representatives are considering how to get money to those banks, Doyle said Friday.
The program could force Treasury to postpone closing its $700 billion bailout fund, which is scheduled to expire this year.
AMSTERDAM
Unilever will acquire Sara Lee businesses
Consumer products giant Unilever NV said Friday it has agreed to buy soaps and personal care businesses, including the Sanex and Duschdas brands from Sara Lee Corp. for $1.88 billion.
The businesses to be acquired, subject to regulatory approval, include Sara Lee's worldwide body care products business and its European detergents arms.
SAN FRANCISCO
Sweet tweets: Twitter valued at $1 billion
Twitter Inc.'s founders now have a billion-dollar baby, and they seem determined to raise it without a corporate parent.
That was the message underlying Friday's news that Twitter has lined up $100 million to finance its operations while founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone plot ways to make money off one of the Internet's most popular communications tools.
The investment values the 3-year-old company at $1 billion, even though it has yet to generate any meaningful revenue, let alone profits.
Bank of America denies SEC claims in lawsuit
Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. bank, formally denied Securities and Exchange Commission claims that it misled investors about bonuses to be paid executives at Merrill Lynch & Co., which the bank was buying.
The bank on Friday filed its formal answer to an SEC lawsuit brought last month. The bank's filing takes the case, which the SEC and the bank had tried to settle, a step toward a trial early next year.
Citigroup files lawsuit against Morgan Stanley
Citigroup Inc. filed a federal lawsuit against Morgan Stanley, claiming its rival failed to pay $245 million due under a credit default swap agreement.
The breach-of-contract lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Citigroup's Citibank unit says it entered into the swap with Morgan Stanley in 2006 to protect the bank against losses from a revolving credit line that Citigroup provided to an entity known as Capmark VI. After Capmark defaulted last year, owing Citibank $366 million, Morgan Stanley refused to pay $245 million due under the swap, the lawsuit says.
