COMPANIES

In early April, Jon Corzine was in a tough spot. MF Global, the company he had run for the previous year, was about to post a fourth-quarter loss, marking its fourth successive fiscal year of red ink.

Australia's Qantas Airways scrambled to get back in the air on Monday, having grounded its entire fleet over the weekend in a bold tactic to force the government to intervene in the nation's worst labor dispute in a decade.

Krispy Kreme is giving away a free doughnut on Oct. 31 for anyone who shows up at participating locations wearing their Halloween costume. It's like trick-or-treating at a doughnut shop!

Television and radio host Montel Williams told the Associated Press Sunday that he admires Israel's liberal attitude toward medical marijuana and believes all of the U.S. should legalize it.

It may not be the largest amount of prize money in history but the Powerball jackpot has reached $245 million for Wednesday night.

The CW and Hulu have reached a five-year deal for the rights to stream in-season episodes of the CW's content on Hulu's subscription service Hulu Plus, the network announced Friday. The deal makes Hulu Plus the only online subscription service that will carry in-season episodes of CW shows. The shows will be available for streaming on free, ad-supported Hulu.com site shortly after they appear on the subscription site.

Before Indra Nooyi became CEO of PepsiCo Inc. or Vikram Pandit took the reins at Citigroup Inc., there was Rajat Gupta, the original global Indian who was the first to head a major Western business.

Japan's Sony Corp., struggling with a loss-making television business, is considering dissolving its liquid-crystal-display joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in a bid to cut costs, sources familiar with the matter said Sunday.

Sony Corp, struggling with a loss-making television business, is in negotiations to pull out of its LCD joint venture with South Korea's Samsung Electronics in a bid to cut costs.

Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's regulator on Saturday rejected criticism he was obstructing a housing recovery by taking too narrow a view of his mission to protect the financial health of the two massive, taxpayer-supported mortgage firms.

Bank of America will keep the $5-a-month fee for debit card use that's scheduled to start early next year, while other banks, like J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, announced Friday that they are shying away from the fees.

Members of MF Global Holdings Ltd.'s board of directors met Saturday to discuss options for the sale of the brokerage, Bloomberg News reported.

Diversified financial services firm Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) said it is cancelling its planned five-state pilot of a monthly $3 fee for users of its debit cards as a response to customer feedback the bank has received.

The BMW Museum is hosting a special exhibition dedicated to commemorating the development of the big BMW coupés and convertibles in Munich. Starting on Oct. 28 and scheduled to finish in September, 2012, the exhibition will feature 14 outstanding exhibits that span the years 1937 to 2011.

Maruti Suzuki, India's top automobile manufacturer, posted a larger-than-expected 60 percent fall in its quarterly profit. The company has been hit by labour unrest, rising interest rates and vehicle costs that has hurt demand in Asia's third-largest economy.

The Bank of America Corp., after receiving heavy public criticism for a planned $5-per-month debit-card fee, is likely to give customers more ways to avoid the fee, a person familiar with the bank's plans said Friday.

Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. grounded its entire fleet Saturday over a bitter labor dispute in an unprecedented move that the government said it would ask a labor tribunal to stop.

Groupon Inc. is considering raising the price range of its initial public offering, as underwriters grow more confident about demand after completing the East Coast leg of a two-week road show to woo investors.

During the past three years, the foreign-exchange franchise at the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has been challenged by unhappy clients who want more transparent pricing and by the advent of electronic trading.

MF Global Holdings Ltd. is racing to sell all or part of its business this weekend, with its futures brokerage business seen as the most attractive, a source familiar with the situation said Friday.

Bank of America Corp, after receiving heavy public criticism for a planned $5 per-month debit card fee, is likely to give customers more ways to avoid the fee, a person familiar with the bank's plans said Friday.

CBRE Group Inc., the world's largest real estate brokerage and services company, reported third quarter revenue to $1.5 billion, up 21% from $1.3 billion in 2010.

Gitanjali said it envisions having 75 ATMs in shopping centers, retail, temples and airports

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT.N) reported a much higher-than-expected third-quarter profit, helped by an 18 percent rise in revenue per tire, and its shares rose more than 7 percent.

Whirlpool Corp., the world's largest maker of household appliances, will cut production and axe about a tenth of its workforce in North America and Europe, as demand softens for big-ticket items like washing machines and fridges.

Merck & Co. announced on Friday that its net income grew to $1.69 billion from $372 million in the prior-year quarter, as gains from the company's diabetes and asthma medication offset losses from their Remicade and Simponi treatments for inflammatory diseases.

Preference and savings shares in Italian auto maker Fiat SpA and truck and heavy machinery maker Fiat Industrial SpA soared on Friday after the two groups announced plans to convert these share classes into ordinaries.

Occidental Petroleum Corp expects to have drilled 195 shale oil wells in its home state of California by the end of this year, although it would like to drill far more if the permitting process allowed it.

Third-quarter profit at Canadian Oil Sands Ltd (COS.TO: Quote), the biggest partner in the Syncrude Canada Ltd joint venture, rose 25 percent on higher oil prices and increased production, the company said on Thursday.