IN BRIEF
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
Bank of America told to disclose bonus data
A New York state judge on Wednesday ordered Bank of America Corp. to disclose information about bonuses given to employees at Merrill Lynch & Co. just before the bank bought the brokerage company.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Bank of America have been sparring over the release of the information for weeks. Cuomo is investigating whether Bank of America and Merrill failed to provide proper disclosures to shareholders about the bonuses.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried ruled that the compensation figures didn't constitute a trade secret, as Bank of America had claimed.
Bank of America and the attorney general's office did not immediately comment on the ruling.
SAN FRANCISCO
IBM in talks to acquire Sun Microsystems
IBM Corp. is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. for at least $6.5 billion in cash, a deal that would shake up Silicon Valley and the corporate computing market, The Associated Press has learned.
A person familiar with the situation told the AP of the negotiations, confirming an earlier report Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal. This person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing.
The Journal cited unnamed people familiar with the matter and said the deal could occur as early as this week.
SAN FRANCISCO
Oracle profits decline but top Street forecast
Oracle Corp.'s profit and revenue from new software licenses dipped in the latest quarter, but the business software maker's results came in ahead of Wall Street forecasts.
Oracle said it earned $1.33 billion, or 26 cents per share, in the three months ended Feb. 28, down from $1.34 billion, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.
Stripping out one-time charges, profit was 35 cents per share, 3 cents better than the average estimate from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters on that same basis.
Total revenue rose 2 percent to $5.45 billion.
MILWAUKEE
General Mills profits weighed down by costs
High costs weighed down General Mills' third-quarter profit even as sales of top brands like Cheerios, Pillsbury and Gold Medal flour grew as more consumers ate at home.
The Golden Valley, Minn.-based company earned $288.9 million, or 85 cents per share, in the three months ended Feb. 22, down from $430.1 million, or $1.23 per share, a year ago.
Excluding an insurance settlement, the reversal of a tax benefit and other items, earnings were 79 cents per share compared with 87 cents in the prior-year period. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who generally exclude one-time items, expected 88 cents per share. Overall, revenue rose 4 percent in the quarter to $3.54 billion.
General Mills shares fell $6.03, or 11 percent, to close at $47.63 on the New York Stock Exchange. They traded as low as $47.08 earlier in the day.
BEIJING
China denies Coke bid to buy juice producer
China denied Coca-Cola Co.'s closely watched $2.5 billion bid to buy a major Chinese juice producer Wednesday, highlighting Beijing's rejection of foreign control over its top companies even as they step up acquisitions abroad.
Coca-Cola's acquisition of Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd. was rejected because it would reduce competition and raise prices, the Commerce Ministry said. But the bid also provoked an outcry from nationalists who opposed letting a successful Chinese brand fall into foreign hands.
NEW YORK
Treasury prices surge on news of debt buy
Treasury prices surged Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it would buy as much as $300 billion in government debt. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note posted its biggest one-day decline in decades.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note soared 4.09 points to 101.95. Its yield tumbled to 2.54 percent from 3 percent late Tuesday. Prices move opposite yields.
The 30-year bond jumped 5.25 to 99.47, and its yield fell to 3.57 percent from 3.8 percent.
