“U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google, which dominates web display advertising, has broken antitrust law in how it handles some ad sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday….”

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“NEW YORK (AP) — Household products giant Procter & Gamble Co. is hoping its former CEO can work his magic once again.

The Cincinnati company said late Thursday that former CEO A.G. Lafley, a 33-year industry veteran, is returning its top post. The surprise move comes as the world’s largest consumer-products maker tries to spur growth in the face of stiff global competition.

Lafley, 65, replaces CEO Bob McDonald, effective immediately. McDonald, who will retire June 30 after a transition period, has served as CEO since 2009.

Lafley, who led P&G from 2000 to 2009, also is taking the president and chairman titles.

The 175-year-old company’s Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste and other products can be found in 98 percent of American households. But it is struggling to grow.

In his first stint at the helm, Lafley helped right an ailing P&G, emphasizing innovation and a “consumer-is-boss” focus. That included spending more time in personal observation and interviews with consumers.

He also pulled off the blockbuster $57 billion acquisition of the Gillette Co. in 2005, expanding P&G’s reach into male-oriented products with Gillette’s shavers and razors.

“A.G.’s track record and his depth of experience at P&G make him uniquely qualified to lead the company forward at this important time,” said board director Jim McNerney….”

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“Sony Corp. (6758) directors are discussing whether to adopt billionaire Daniel Loeb’s proposal for an initial public offering of its entertainment business, a week after the TV maker said the assets weren’t for sale.

“It’s only a start,” Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai said of the talks, without giving a timeframe for any response. “It’s important that the board will discuss this and come to a decision that represents Sony’s stance.”

Sony has jumped 22 percent since Third Point LLC’s Loeb told Hirai that partially spinning off the entertainment assets would bring a higher valuation and raise cash for the company, whose movie studio topped the U.S. box office last year. Film and financial services earnings have helped the Tokyo-based company counter nine straight annual losses from making TVs.

“Sony will consider how to keep control of the company and may be forced to throw a bone to prevent a long, ugly fight,” said Edwin Merner, president of Tokyo-based Atlantis Investment Research Corp. “They will try to give up as little as possible and are no doubt receiving advice on how to fight off the aggressor.”

Elissa Doyle, a spokeswoman for Third Point, declined to comment.

Sony, which held its corporate-strategy meeting yesterday, rose to the highest in more than two years in Tokyo. Japan’s biggest TV maker surged 5.9 percent yesterday to 2,290 yen, extending gains this year to 139 percent, while Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.6 percent. Sony American Depositary receipts fell 3.3 percent to $22.15.

Third Point

The Nikkei newspaper reported that the board may discuss a potential IPO. Hirai said during a news conference yesterday that talks have started, and he declined to give his view on the proposal….”

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“General Electric Co. (GE)’s finance unit plans to return $6.5 billion in dividends to the parent company in 2013 as Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt pursues his plan to shrink the size of the business.

The payments from GE Capital will consist of $2 billion in earnings dividends and a $4.5 billion special dividend, GE said today in a statement. GE Capital paid a first-quarter earnings dividend of $447 million on April 19, it said.

“This announcement is consistent with our goal to reduce the overall size of GE Capital and for it to return significant cash to GE,” Immelt said in the statement.

Transportation and other manufacturing businesses such as health care and energy have been a focus of Immelt’s growth strategy….”

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“As JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s Jamie Dimon prepares for a vote tomorrow on whether he should keep his chairman and chief executive officer titles, he may take comfort knowing most of his biggest shareholders are led by men with the same dual role.

Seven of JPMorgan’s 10 largest owners — including top five BlackRock Inc. (BLK), Vanguard Group Inc., State Street Corp. (STT), Wellington Management Co. and FMR LLC — are run by CEOs who are also chairmen. The top 10 hold a combined 29.5 percent of New York-based JPMorgan’s stock, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“People just like him are going to vote on this,” said Erik Gordon, a business and law professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “If you’ve told your own board that the best structure for the sake of the company is to combine the roles, then how do you turn around and say, ‘But that’s not true for JPMorgan?’”

Of JPMorgan’s top 10 shareholders, only Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price, the seventh-biggest with a 2.15 percent stake, has commented publicly on Dimon’s role. Brian Rogers – T. Rowe Price’s chairman and chief investment officer, and not the CEO – - said in a May 16 statement that “I fully support the combined chairman and CEO role at JPMorgan under the superb leadership of Jamie Dimon.”

No Formula….”

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“Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) just won’t (can’t) stop, apparently. Shares were up as much as 11 percent in pre-market trading on Thursday after the electric-vehicle maker announced an offering of more stock and convertible senior notes aimed at raising as much as $830 million. CEO Elon Musk put his personal brand behind the offering, stating that he intends to purchase about $100 million worth of stock directly from Tesla.”

“Verizon Wireless, the mobile-phone joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) andVodafone Group Plc (VOD), plans to pay a $7 billion dividend to its co-owners, defusing a source of tension between the two companies.

Verizon, which owns 55 percent of the business, will receive $3.85 billion, while Vodafone, owner of the rest, will get $3.15 billion, according to a filing yesterday. The dividend will be paid on June 25….”

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“Microsoft is preparing to reverse course over key elements of its Windows 8 operating system, marking one of the most prominent admissions of failure for a new mass-market consumer product since Coca-Cola‘s New Coke fiasco nearly 30 years ago.

“Key aspects” of how the software is used will be changed when Microsoft releases an updated version of the operating system this year, Tammy Reller, head of marketing and finance for the Windows business, said in an interview with the Financial Times. Referring to difficulties many users have had with mastering the software, she added: “The learning curve is definitely real.”

Analysts warned that changing course would be a significant admission of failure for Steve Ballmer, chief executive, who called the October launch of Windows 8 a “bet-the-company” moment as Microsoft sought to respond to the success of Apple‘s iPad.

(Read More: Microsoft Is ‘Not Dead Yet,’ Say Wall Street Pros)

“It’s a horrible thing for this to happen to your flagship product – he’ll take a hit for that,” said Mark Anderson, an independent tech analyst. “But he’s also responsible for a renaissance inside the company. There’s a level of risk and creativity going on that would never have happened two years ago.”

Richard Doherty, analyst at tech research firm Envisioneering, said: “This is like New Coke, going on for seven months – only Coke listened better.” Coca-Cola dropped its New Coke formula in response to a consumer backlash less than three months after launch.

Windows 8 was an ambitious attempt to update the personal computer for the tablet era by moving to a new touchscreen interface based on colorful tiles, hiding the “desktop” launch screen familiar to white collar workers and consumers around the world….”

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“TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Men who are bashful about needing help in the bedroom no longer have to go to the drugstore to buy that little blue pill.

In a first for the drug industry, Pfizer Inc. told The Associated Press that the drugmaker will begin selling its popular erectile dysfunction pill Viagra directly to patients on its website.

Men still will need a prescription to buy the blue, diamond-shaped pill on viagra.com, but they no longer have to face a pharmacist to get it filled. And for those who are bothered by Viagra’s steep $25-a-pill price, Pfizer is offering three free pills with the first order and 30 percent off the second one.

Pfizer’s bold move blows up the drug industry’s distribution model. Drugmakers don’t sell medicines directly to patients. Instead, they sell in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute the drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices.

But the world’s second-largest drugmaker is trying a new strategy to tackle a problem that plagues the industry. Unscrupulous online pharmacies increasingly offer patients counterfeit versions of Viagra and other brand-name drugs for up to 95 percent off with no prescription needed. Patients don’t realize the drugs are fake or that legitimate pharmacies require a prescription.

Other major drugmakers likely will watch Pfizer’s move closely. If it works, drugmakers could begin selling other medicines that are rampantly counterfeited and sold online, particularly treatments for non-urgent conditions seen as embarrassing. Think: diet drugs, medicines for baldness and birth control pills.

“If it works, everybody will hop on the train,” says Les Funtleyder, a health care strategist at private equity fund Poliwogg who believes Pfizer’s site will attract “fence-sitters” who are nervous about buying online.

The online Viagra sales are Pfizer’s latest effort to combat a problem that has grown with the popularity of the Internet….”

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