Sponsored by Credit Suisse

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Skype CEO Tony Bates jointly announced on Tuesday that the two companies have entered into a deal under which Microsoft will acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. Apart from creating value and emerging as a strategically important player in the voice and chat connectivity segment of the exploding web business, Skype also won real big time suitors like Microsoft, Google and Facebook. Perhaps the rivals' attempt to outbid each other and own Skype resulted in the Estoni...

Microsoft turned the tables on long-time Skype wooers Google and Facebook to reportedly land an $8.5 billion deal to buy the popular Voice over Internet Protocol service. The following are some key facts about Skype:

JPMorgan Chase & Co is in advanced discussions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve a probe into its role in selling collateralized debt obligations, the bank said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over failed mortgages, Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the investigation.

Credit Suisse was subpoenaed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week for documents related to securitized home loans, according to court documents filed on Thursday by a bond insurer suing Credit Suisse.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Wednesday are: Ralcorp Holdings, CBS, AOL, Teradyne, Comcast, Applied Materials, Sanofi-Aventis, Las Vegas Sands, JinkoSolar Holding, MGM Resorts and McKesson Corp.

In the run-up to one of the hottest social media IPOs of the year, China's Renren Inc lowered the number of users it said it gained in the first quarter of 2011, raising questions about the rest of the information it provided to investors in official filings.

Britain is probing investment banks over insurer Prudential Plc's failed $35.5 billion bid for rival AIG's Asian business AIA <1299.HK> last year, two people familiar with the matter said.

Shares of Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) touched a new life-time high of $56.27 on Wednesday. The company said it will commit to investing $37 million in products and services to promote high-growth entrepreneurship across the country in partnership with President Barack Obama’s Startup America campaign.

A probe has been launched into the handling of insurer Prudential's failed $35.5 billion bid for AIA <1299.HK>, the Financial Times said on Thursday.

China's largest social networking site Renren filed for an initial public offering with U.S. regulators to raise up to $573.1 million.

Level 3 Communications said it agreed to acquire Global Crossing for about $1.9 billion stock deal to boost its service portfolio.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) touched a new life-time high of $55.17 on Thursday. The company reported a 25 percent growth in fourth quarter earnings, which came in ahead of its expectations as well as Street view.

Credit Suisse expects strong stock and fundamental performance from NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) in the second half of the year.

Credit Suisse expects Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will sign network sharing deals both LightSquared and Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) between now and mid-year.

The European Central Bank is poised to raise interest rates from a record low 1.0 percent on Thursday and more is likely to follow but, fearful of heaping more pain on the euro zone's stragglers, it will give few clues about when the next move will come.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Wednesday are: Jabil Circuit, Pultegroup, Cintas, Bristol Myers Squibb, Textron, Netflix, Bank of America and Adobe Systems.

Shares of companies active in Monday's early trade are: Walgreen, Canadian Pacific Railway, Netflix Inc., Express Inc., Molycorp and St. Jude Medical.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Tuesday are: Bristol Myers Squibb, Netflix, Aflac, Verizon Communications, Nordstrom, Akamai Technologies, Wynn Resorts, Frontier Communications, Walgreen and Suntrust Banks.

Credit Suisse has outlined three moves the Leo Apotheker-- new Chief Executive of Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) -- should consider.

Credit Suisse initiated coverage of Apple with an outperform rating and price target of $500.

Nomura Holdings (NYSE: NMR), Japan's number one securities firm, has appointed a woman to be its chief financial officer for the first time ever.

Investment bankers have been villified by the public since the financial crisis, and regulators are cracking down on their pay, but Britain's university graduates still aspire to become them. At the country's top universities, the generation of students who started their degree just as Lehman Brothers collapsed are still pursuing lucrative

Foreign banks have not gotten the message when it comes to helping American clients avoid paying taxes, a top U.S. tax prosecutor said on Thursday.

Foreign banks have not gotten the message when it comes to helping American clients avoid paying taxes, a top U.S. tax prosecutor said on Thursday.

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release on bond of a Credit Suisse banker arrested on charges of helping wealthy American clients hide their money from U.S. tax authorities when he worked for UBS AG.

Europe's EADS is entitled to protest the loss of a new refueling plane contract to Boeing Co if it believes the procurement was flawed, and would not face retribution for doing so, a top U.S. Air Force official said on Wednesday.

A Northern California hedge fund manager faces one count of wire fraud for improperly diverting more than $12 million, but that charge will be dismissed after three years provided he fulfills an agreement with U.S. prosecutors, according to a court filing.

A Bay Area hedge fund manager settled civil charges that he secretly diverted more than $12 million in proceeds to other entities he controlled, securities regulators announced.