| Another Round of Chrysler Bids Expected This Week
Potential Chrysler suitors are expected to make another round of bids for the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker this week. The bids could trickle in as early as today because parent company DaimlerChrysler AG [ticker: DCX] is preparing for senior-level management meetings Wednesday, with the sale an expected hot topic. If a deal were to take place in the near future, operations and production of automobiles would likely transfer to the new parent quickly, while DaimlerChrysler might retain a stake in the financing operations for an extended period of time, according to unnamed sources in a Detroit News article. Daimler’s minority stake would likely preclude them from any day-to-day management over any part of the company, an unnamed source said. Private equity firms Cerberus Capital Management and The Blackstone Group as well as Canadian auto parts maker Magna International with partner Onex Corp.
EBay posts better than expected profits
EBay Inc posted better than expected profits in the first quarter as several of its newer businesses compensated for disappointing results in its mainstay auction service. The faster-growing units include shopping.com, a price comparison site; some classified listing sites; a service to let online merchants accept credit cards; and Skype, the online voice chat service. "We are on track with our well-crafted portfolio," Meg Whitman, eBay's chief executive, said in an interview after the earnings report was published by the firm on Wednesday. The results sent eBay's stock up about 3 percent in after-hours trading. Overall, the company earned US$377 million in the first quarter, up 52 percent from a year earlier. Excluding charges related to stock-based compensation and some other items, the company earned US$0.33 a share, above the US$0.29 average that analysts had predicted.
Controversial 'Jane Austen' portrait fails to sell at auction
NEW YORK (AFP) - The painting, which depicts a young woman in a full-length white dress holding a green parasol, failed to reach its reserve price, Christie's auction house said. It had been expected to fetch between 400,000 and 800,000 dollars. The so-called Rice Portrait, described by Christie's as one of the world's most intriguing literary portraits, was believed to have been painted by British painter Ozias Humphry and is owned by Austen's direct descendants. The controversy over the portrait goes back to the 1940s, when leading Austen scholar R.W. Chapman said that the fashions in the picture dated from 1805 or later, and not from the late 1780s, when it was supposedly painted. Another debate has focused on the supplier's stamp on the reverse of the original canvas. Detractors say the merchant's mark does not fit with the period, while Christie's disputed both arguments.
Auction of state's slots licenses proposed
INDIANAPOLIS -- Licenses to operate slot machines at Indiana's horse tracks should be auctioned to the highest bidder if track owners aren't willing to pay substantial license fees, a senator negotiating a compromise on the legislation said yesterday. Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said lawmakers have a responsibility to taxpayers to get as much money as possible for the licenses, although he prefers that the two state racetracks run the slot operations. .
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