World Business

Facebook’s IPO one of the world’s largest, prices at $38 per share

NEW YORK — Facebook’s initial public offering of stock is shaping up to be one of the largest ever. The world’s definitive online social network is raising at least $16 billion, a big windfall for a company that began eight years ago with no way to make money.

Facebook priced its IPO at $38 per share on Thursday, at the high end of its expected range. If extra shares reserved to cover additional demand are sold as part of the transaction, Facebook Inc. and its early investors stand to reap as much as $18.4 billion from the IPO. READ

At twin summits, Obama will have home field advantage

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will find his diplomatic clout tested at twin summits on his own turf beginning Friday. READ

Early Facebook investors boost stock offering by 25 per cent

NEW YORK — Insiders and early Facebook investors are taking advantage of increasing investor demand and selling more of their stock in the company’s initial public offering, the company said Wednesday. READ

Industrial output falters

Indian laborers work at a factory producing metal door handles in New Delhi, India, Saturday. India’s industrial output fell 3.5 percent in March from a year earlier on weak manufacturing and investment. READ

Yahoo’s fallen CEO leaves without severance package after uproar

Yahoo ended Scott Thompson’s four-month stint as its CEO without giving him a severance package. The struggling Internet company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday that it isn’t paying Thompson anything more. Thompson stepped down Sunday in a management shake-up triggered by inaccurate information in his official biography. READ

PMorgan Chase CEO keeps chairman’s job

TAMPA, Fla. — The CEO of JPMorgan Chase offered a quick but blunt apology to shareholders Tuesday for a US$2 billion trading loss that “should never have happened” and survived a push to strip him of the title of chairman of the board. READ

Facebook raises IPO range to $34-$38

NEW YORK — Already expected to be the largest-ever initial public offering for an Internet company, Facebook is making its IPO even bigger. READ

Euro ministers plead with Greece to stay the course

BRUSSELS, Belgium — Leading European Union finance officials on Monday pleaded with Greece not to renege on its bailout terms and to stay the course of its painful austerity program to prevent even worse economic hardship. READ

How old is enough for a CEO?

Don’t let the hoodie and sneakers fool you. Mark Zuckerberg is no wet-behind-the-ears CEO. READ

German minister ready to take over

Germany’s finance minister has made it clear that he is prepared to become chairman of the so-called eurogroup, a position that involves chairing eurozone finance ministers’ regular meetings. READ

Report says 3 JPMorgan executives to leave after $2-billion trading loss

Three executives at JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, are expected to leave their jobs this week after a $2 billion trading blunder, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. READ

Yahoo names Levinsohn interim CEO, replacing Thompson

Yahoo says it is appointing Ross Levinsohn as interim CEO and Fred Amoroso as chairman of its board, effective immediately. READ

JPMorgan executives will step down after $2 billion trading loss

NEW YORK — Three executives at JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, are expected to leave their jobs this week after a $2 billion trading blunder, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. READ

Greek bailout in jeopardy as left-wing leader rejects commitment to austerity

ATHENS — The smouldering debate over European austerity flared hotter Tuesday as the left-wing politician trying to form a new Greek government declared that his country is no longer bound by its pledges to impose crippling cutbacks in return for rescue loans. READ

‘Austerity can no longer be inevitable!’

The day after Francois Hollande rode to power in France on a slogan of “change now” the conversation in Europe is already different: Austerity has become a dirty word. In Greece, political parties who reject the extreme belt-tightening required by international bailouts were the big winners in parliamentary elections. German voters in a northern state ousted the coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party, which has pressed the case for austerity. READ

Greek coalition talks fail

Greece sank deeper into a political and financial morass on Monday as initial efforts to form a new coalition government failed a day after angry voters punished parties backing the country’s international bailout. READ

Beef company closing plants, blames ‘pink slime’ controversy

Beef Products Inc. will close processing plants in three states this month because of the controversy surrounding its meat product that critics have dubbed “pink slime,” a company official said Monday. About 650 jobs will be lost when the plants are closed in Amarillo, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; and Waterloo Iowa, company spokesman Rich Jochum said. The closures will take effect May 25. READ

Heirs of Pepsi formula developer sue company

The heirs of the man who helped develop the formula for Pepsi are suing the soda company over their right to share with the public documents detailing their father’s invention. READ

Buffet backs keystone XL pipeline

Billionaire Warren Buffett supports building the Keystone XL pipeline that TransCanada wants to build to carry Canadian oil south across the Great Plains to connect to Gulf Coast refineries. Buffett was asked about the project that would cross Nebraska Monday on Fox Business Network. READ