COMPANIES

The first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer won U.S. approval on Thursday when health officials cleared a Merck & Co. Inc. shot to block a sexually transmitted infection that causes the deadly disease.

Brookfield Properties Corp. said Monday that it will buy Trizec Properties Inc. and its Canadian investment arm in a $4.8 billion deal that pairs two of the largest commercial real estate companies in North America.

Istithmar Hotels, a Dubai government-owned firm, announced Monday that it had acquired the classic, Beaux-Arts style Knickerbocker Hotel in New York's Times Square for $300 million.

United Airlines' parent, UAL Corp., four months out of bankruptcy, must hone its focus on additional cost cuts or risk losing its advantage over airlines currently restructuring under court protection, industry experts say.

German drugs and chemicals group Bayer is not currently considering a bid for Pfizer's consumer healthcare business, an industry source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

Luxury goods giant Gucci Group is gearing up to launch in India next year and is confident smaller designer brands will meet profit targets as its three-year growth plan bears fruit, CEO Robert Polet told Reuters. Niche brands Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga are growing rapidly -- by more than 100 percent in Balenciaga's case in the first quarter. Both reached profitability two years ahead of schedule.

Germany's major automakers reported mixed results in the sales of their cars in North America during May, with BWM and Volkswagen reporting solid gains while sales by Porsche dipped, the companies said Friday.

Euronext's $10 billion tie-up with NYSE Group Inc. puts pressure on other exchanges to seek partnerships to catch up with what will be the world's largest financial marketplace, analysts said on Friday.

NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V. announced on Thursday that they will merge in a cash and stock trade deal worth about $10 billion to create the first trans-Atlantic stock exchange to be called NYSE Euronext.

Albertsons, the nations second largest supermarket chain, announced its first quarter earnings were up 67 percent on Tuesday.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares fell on Tuesday after Chief Executive Henry Paulson said he was leaving to become the U.S. treasury secretary, but investors say his heir apparent, Lloyd Blankfein, could continue the bank's winning ways.

German chemical maker BASF has agreed to buy U.S. catalyst producer Engelhard for over $5 billion, clearing the way for the biggest takeover in BASF's 140-year history.

German chemical maker BASF is set to announce an agreed deal to buy U.S. catalyst firm Engelhard for around $5.1 billion, sources familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Arcelor said on Friday it has agreed to buy Russia's Severstal to create the world's biggest steelmaker, in a move that threatens to block Mittal Steel's bid for the European group.

More than 20,000 blue-collar workers at General Motors Corp. have accepted buyout offers, surpassing the automaker's internal target, with a month to go before the deadline, the Detroit News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation.

German media conglomerate Bertelsmann will buy out the 25-percent stake held by Belgium's richest man, Albert Frere, for 4.5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) and thereby avoid a public listing of the family company.

Internet phone service provider Vonage Holdings Corp. on Tuesday priced an initial public offering worth about $531 million, according to an underwriter.

Worldwide output at Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Japan's second-largest auto maker, plunged by a fifth in April, the company said on Wednesday, a drop that reflects planned inventory cutbacks but also falls in sales.

States already competing for Honda's proposed sixth U.S. auto plant have an added incentive to pursue a deal with the expanding carmaker after Honda's CEO said on Tuesday that the new plant will start small but leave room for growth.

Saudi Arabia's Aramco and French energy company Total signed a deal on Sunday to build an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia at an estimated cost of $6 billion.

A Nigerian court has given Royal Dutch Shell a Monday deadline to pay $1.5 billion in damages for pollution in the oil-producing state of Bayelsa, the energy giant said on Saturday.

DaimlerChrysler could face a $640 million fine as a result of a bribery probe by the U.S. justice department and the U.S. stock market regulator, German weekly Der Spiegel said on Saturday.

Kenya has annulled an agreement by Royal Dutch Shell to buy BP's 50 percent stake in their oil products marketing joint ventures in the east African nation, Shell said on Saturday.

Insurer Royal & Sun Alliance is being sued in Britain for about $1 billion by General Motors, the U.S. auto giant, in a long-running dispute about personal injury claims linked to asbestos, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.

Northrop Gumman Corp announced on Thursday that it has promoted its chief financial officer Wesley Bush to the post of president, assisting the current chief executive officer Ronald Sugar.

Burger King Holdings Inc., the parent company to the popular Burger King chain of fast food restaurants, successfully finished their initial public offering at the close of Wednesday's stock exchange, raising more funds than any other restaurant in history.

French media and telecoms group Vivendi on Wednesday rejected what it said was a demand from shareholder Sebastian Holdings to break itself up, while denying the fund had made a bid approach worth over 40 billion euros ($51.2 billion).

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., announced on Tuesday that it had beat Wall Street expectations for its first fiscal quarter.

Myspace.com, one of the Internet's fastest growing websites, will begin to offer Fox's popular 24 series as a download through its site next week.