COMPANIES

As the economy recovers, companies across industries indicate a cautious but definite return to attractive packages for its top bosses.

German luxury auto major BMW on Saturday announced that it will give away 2-year 2011 X3 lease in Facebook contest. The contest, dubbed The X3 Matchup, will give viewers the opportunity to guess the configuration of the BMW X3 featured in the advertisement for a chance to win a Grand Prize two-year lease on the vehicle. In addition, the winner will receive a trip for two to BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant to pick up their vehicle, see where it is built and to take a two-day pe...

I was shocked when Google ousted Eric Schmidt from his CEO position. However, the reason that I didn't understand this move is the same reason that typical CEOs like Eric Schmidt can't thrive at consumer tech companies.

The Ferrari FF will make its official presentation in the 2011 GenevaMotor Show.

Zsa Zsa Gabor and her husband Frederic Prinz von Anhalt are planning to sell their Bel Air, Calif., mansion for about $28 million. An option of lease and buy is also available, said John Blanchette, a publicist for Gabor.

Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom has put his home in the Hollywood Hills for rent at a whooping $18,000 a month.

Nintendo raised questions about the health effects on children of using the 3DS, but the console also offers promise in treating visual problems, according to one expert.

Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's sister-in-law Marion Madoff has listed her Palm Beach, FL home for $6.5 million.

A court in France has fined Edgar Bronfman Jr., the chairman of Warner Music Group,5-million euros ($6.7-million) on criminal charges related to the prior bankruptcy of Bronfman’s former company, media conglomerate Vivendi Universal.

Donald Trump, billionaire real estate mogul and outspoken critic of China, has been on a freewheeling China-baiting spree of late. The Chinese are not friends, but enemies, and that they do not understand niceness, Trump said in CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.

Duke research suggests offshoring is more a result of the shortage of adequately skilled domestic employees, rather than the economic motive to cut costs.

Special Forces from South Korea stormed a cargo ship taken over by pirates in the Arabian Sea and rescued the 21-member crew. The rescue attempt occurred a week after the cargo ship, Samho Jewelry, was hijacked by Somali pirates. The ship had eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 people from Myanmar and was carrying chemicals from the UAE towards Sri Lanka.

India’s third largest software exporter Wipro Ltd. has announced the resignation of the joint Chief executives of its IT Business, Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe

General Motors will invest $540 million to build fuel-efficient engines at its plant in central Mexico.

Wipro Ltd surprised markets with the resignations of the joint-CEOs of its information technology business, after reporting profit growth rates which lagged rivals Infosys Technologies LTd and Tata Consultancy Services.

Abdel Nur, a Guyanese national, has been sentenced by a U.S. district court judge to 15 years in prison for providing material support to a terrorist group that had conspired to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, by exploding fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport.

A Detroit-based strip club owner has pleaded guilty to using computer software program to delete the club's sales and under-report the income at his two strip clubs to cheat the government on his taxes.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has introduced a program to promote healthy, affordable foods, in a measure backed by First Lady Michelle Obama’s efforts to reduce childhood obesity.

Safaricom's second tranche of its five-year medium-term note worth 4.5 billion shillings was fully subscribed, the Kenyan mobile phone operator's chief executive said on Thursday.

Indian pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd on Thursday said it has launched a generic version of Protonix, a drug used to control the amount of acid in the stomach, in the United States.

China's vice-like grip on world rare earths supply is forcing next generation carmakers to look for alternative technologies that don’t rely on these metals. At the forefront of such efforts is world's largest carmaker Toyota, according to ETF Database.

Abdullah al-Attiyah, who spearheaded the Gulf state's crude output expansion in the 1990s and, more significantly led the country's emergence as the LNG capital of the region, has stepped down as the energy minister following his appointment as the Chairman of the Emir's court.

India's top listed biotechnology firm Biocon said quarterly profit rose by a fourth, aided by strong sales of its biopharmaceutical drugs and profit in research services, lifting its shares over 3 percent.

Major state automaker China Changan Automobile Group aims to sell 2.4 million vehicles this year, up slightly from a record 2.38 million units in 2010, the China Securities Journal reported on Thursday.

Apple has the potential to be the most valuable tech company ever, said Ted Moore, a portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management.

Groundbreaking on new U.S. home construction fell more than expected in December to its lowest in over a year, suggesting the battered housing sector remains a major roadblock to economic recovery.

South African mobile operator MTN and insurer Sanlam said on Wednesday they have teamed up to offer health services through mobile handsets.

Goldman Sachs earned less money in fourth quarter 2010, led by declines in their ultra-profitable market making business.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) boss Steve Jobs sought cancer treatment in Switzerland in 2009, according to a report in Fortune magazine.