IBT Staff Reporter

Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt on Friday expressed his company's dislike of China's censorship policies, even as it pursues opportunities to remain in the country without censoring its search engine.

BlackRock Inc said on Friday that Kendrick Wilson, a former Treasury Department adviser and veteran investment banker, will join the world's biggest asset manager as vice chairman and member of the chairman's office.

The rating impact of recent Lehman Brothers court rulings in the English Court of Appeal and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on existing structured finance ratings could be wide-ranging globally, Fitch Ratings said on Friday.

French media company Vivendi SA is liable for potentially billions of dollars in damages because it misled investors about its financial condition before a $46 billion merger nearly 10 years ago, a U.S. jury found on Friday.

The newly released Apple iPad tablet retails at $499, but according to an analyst, the tablet device costs Apple about $270 to make.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is cutting prices on high-definition TVs ahead of the U.S. Super Bowl championship game, looking to entice shoppers to spend now that the holiday season has ended.

The economy grew at its fastest pace in more than six years in the fourth quarter, surprising economists, as businesses curbed their aggressive cut in stocks and stepped up spending.

The stock market closed lower after climbing in early trading as enthusiasm over the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) faded and the signs of risk aversion returned.

Chevron Corp posted a drop in quarterly profit on Friday, and its new boss said the second-largest U.S. oil company had plenty of work to do on its own project line-up without making any big acquisitions.

Stocks dropped on Friday, as worries about fiscal turmoil in Europe and a drop in technology stocks pushed the S&P 500 to its worst monthly decline since February 2009.

Stocks ended lower on Friday as investors pared exposure to riskier assets amid worries about fiscal turmoil in Europe.

Friday night will be the first full moon of 2010 and the biggest full moon of this year a phenomenon commonly called Wolf Moon, Old Moon or Ice Moon.

Garment factories are spinning out T-shirts again and street markets are packed, but Haiti's wrecked capital and damaged port show the huge task ahead in repairing the economy after a huge earthquake.

French media company Vivendi SA is liable for damages because it misled investors, a U.S. jury found on Friday.

Leaders from across Iceland's political spectrum met Dutch and British ministers on Friday over more than $5 billion in Icesave bad bank debts, but the talks ended with no signs of progress.

As state legislators across the United States enact laws that ban phoning and texting while driving, a new study is showing no reductions in crashes after hand-held phone bans take effect.

Stocks fell on Friday, erasing an earlier advance, as worries about fiscal turmoil in Europe and a drop in technology stocks offset positive reports on the economy.

President Barack Obama on Friday proposed a $5,000 tax credit per new employee in 2010 as well as tax break for salary increases.

The day after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to the Congress, leaders in the Senate and the House of Representatives said they would not abandon the bill despite sharp Democratic divisions on how to proceed.

A study of stimulant-deaths in Britain between 1997 and 2007 found that those who died after taking ecstasy were mainly younger and healthier than those who died after taking amphetamines.

Loss-making Swedish auto maker Saab will return to profit in the foreseeable future, the chief executive of its buyer Spyker Cars said, and the key will be to restore confidence in the distinctive and quirky brand.

Linebacker Jordan Hicks of Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio who is one of the elite recruits in the U.S., announced Friday afternoon that he chose the scholarship offered by Texas.

Staples Inc said it agreed to pay $42 million to settle several class-action lawsuits accusing the office supplies seller of misclassifying assistant store managers as exempt from overtime pay.

Kraft Foods Inc is expected to easily win support from Cadbury shareholders for its $18.73 billion (11.68 million pound) takeover of the iconic British chocolatier.

Electronic Arts, maker of the Madden NFL and FIFA soccer video games, is looking to build sports games for Facebook after buying social-games maker Playfish for $275 million, and may buy other similar companies.

Nokia and Motorola Inc are regaining some market share in smartphones but while Nokia has profited from the gains, Motorola predicted a loss in the current quarter.

Newell Rubbermaid Inc posted a fourth-quarter profit on cost-cutting and lower raw materials prices, but the maker of Rubbermaid containers and Sharpie pens said the recent devaluation of Venezuela's currency would hurt 2010 results, sending shares down 4 percent.

Lloyds TSB raised $1 billion via a residential mortgage-backed bond on Friday, reopening a U.S. market that had been shut since mid-2008 because of the credit crunch.

Citigroup has increased its stake in a Chilean financial firm that controls the country's No. 2 bank, Banco de Chile, in an operation worth $513 million, the firm's parent company said on Friday.