In Brief

AUSTIN, Minn.

Lower grain costs help increase Hormel Foods' quarterly profits

Hormel Foods Corp. said Tuesday that fourth-quarter net income rose 17 percent on better prices for turkey and lower grain costs.

The company cited strong sales for its Jennie-O Turkey Store and refrigerated foods divisions.

The maker of Spam, Dinty Moore canned beef stew and other prepared foods said its net income for the quarter ended Oct. 31, was $121.1 million, or 90 cents a share, compared with $103.9 million, or 77 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 22.6 percent to $2.06 billion from $1.68 billion.

NEW YORK

J. Crew will be taken private
in $3 billion transaction

Preppy fashion retailer J. Crew Group Inc. on Tuesday agreed to be taken private in a $3 billion deal that would be the second multibillion-dollar specialty retail buyout launched in two months.

The announcement of an offer from two investment firms -- including one that used to own J. Crew -- came as the retailer reported Tuesday that its third-quarter net income fell 14 percent, hurt by weaker women's clothing sales. The company also lowered its guidance for the year.

Under the deal as proposed, J. Crew shareholders would receive $43.50 per share from private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners. That is a 16 percent premium to the stock's closing price Monday of $37.65.

TPG took a majority stake in J. Crew Group Inc. in 1997 and remained majority shareholder until the company went public in 2006.

As part of the proposed deal, J. Crew can solicit other offers until January 15, although there is no guarantee the company will get a higher bid, J. Crew said.

WASHINGTON

Sale of General Motors stock yields $11.7 billion for Treasury

The Treasury Department says it has received $11.7 billion from the sale of 358.5 million shares of General Motors stock.

Treasury announced that the net proceeds from the GM stock sold last week were delivered on Tuesday. Treasury officials said that the government could receive an additional $1.8 billion assuming the bankers exercise options to purchase an additional 53.8 million shares of GM common stock within 30 days of the initial stock offering.

The government put $49.5 billion into GM as part of its bailout of the giant automaker.

In addition, Treasury said it will receive another $2.1 billion from GM when the automaker repurchases preferred stock that was issued under the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. That sale is supposed to take place in December.

The $11.7 billion in net proceeds represented the amount the government received after subtracting fees paid to the banks that handled the initial public offering.

SAN FRANCISCO

Jury orders SAP to pay Oracle $1.3 billion for filching papers

A federal jury on Tuesday ordered SAP AG to pay $1.3 billion to its archenemy, Oracle Corp., for stealing customer-support documents and software in a scheme to siphon off customers.

The verdict came after less than a day of deliberations and is devastating for SAP. SAP's entire after-tax profit last year was just more than $2 billion.

The three-week trial turned into a spectacle involving three of the world's biggest technology companies.

BOSTON

Janus Capital Group facing insider-trading investigation

Janus Capital Group Inc. said Tuesday that it has received an inquiry in an investigation of insider trading on Wall Street, as mutual fund companies came under scrutiny in a probe that initially targeted hedge funds geared toward wealthier investors.

A day after federal investigators raided offices of three hedge funds, Janus disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it received an inquiry seeking "general information."

The Denver-based manager of $161 billion in mutual funds and other investments said it will cooperate with the request. A company statement said Janus "maintains rigorous compliance procedures" and "has confidence in the integrity of its processes and its people." Janus said it did not intend to provide further updates "unless and until required by applicable law."

Google said to be in talks
to license Miramax movies

Google Inc. is said to be in talks to license Miramax movies, several news outlets said Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times reported, citing unnamed sources, that Google is talking to the holding company, led by Ron Tutor and Colony Capital, that is set to acquire Miramax for $600 million from Walt Disney Co. next month.

The news outlets said that a Google acquisition of the digital rights to Miramax's catalog of more than 700 films could help Google-owned YouTube compete for viewers and advertisers with online video businesses of Netflix, Apple and Hulu. The sources didn't disclose a price for the film rights.

By securing the rights to some or all of Miramax's films, which include "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," Google could bolster YouTube's paid rental store for newer titles and its free, ad-supported offering for older titles, a source told the Journal.

NEW YORK

Guns N' Roses singer suing game maker over use of song

Welcome to the courtroom, Activision.

Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose is suing video game maker Activision Blizzard Inc. for $20 million over the company's use of the song "Welcome to the Jungle" in the game "Guitar Hero III."

In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the singer rails against Activision executives for guaranteeing the song would not be used alongside anything to do with estranged former band mate Slash -- and then putting the guitar player's likeness in the game anyway.

The latest installment in the "Guitar Hero" franchise includes an animated character with Slash's distinctive top hat, dark glasses and curly black locks.

The lawsuit says that Rose has been trying to distance Guns N' Roses from Slash since he left the band in 1996.