ENTERTAINMENT

GROKSTER SHUTS DOWN SERVICE, WILL SETTLE LAWSUIT FOR $50M

Grokster shut down its online file-sharing service and will pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit by music and film studios accusing the company of helping people pirate copyrighted songs and movies. Trade groups for the recording and film industries, which represent companies including EMI Group and Walt Disney, reached the settlement with Grokster four months after the Supreme Court ruled that file sharing networks encourage copyright infringement. The $50 million will be part of a damage award in the case, the Recording Industry Association of America said yesterday.

– Bloomberg News

PHARMACEUTICALS

GUIDANT SUES JOHNSON & JOHNSON TO TRY TO FORCE ACQUISITION

Guidant filed a federal lawsuit yesterday seeking to force health care conglomerate Johnson & Johnson to close its $25.4 billion acquisition of Guidant, a deal J&J has soured on due to safety problems with Guidant’s heart devices.

But even as Guidant escalated the dispute, it became apparent that Guidant’s own legal woes had worsened, as Guidant disclosed yesterday the Securities and Exchange Commission had begun a formal inquiry into its product disclosures and trading in Guidant shares. Also, Guidant reported a substantial decline in third quarter earnings and sales, citing the product recalls.

– Dow Jones Newswires

PUBLISHING

MANHATTAN MEDIA TO BUY TWO FAMILY PUBLICATIONS

The publisher of four weekly newspapers in New York, Manhattan Media, said last week it would acquire the assets of two family-oriented publications.

The company will buy New York Family and Long Island Parenting from United Parenting Publications. The president of Manhattan Media, Tom Allon, said in a statement that the acquisitions would help the company “more fully serve our readers and advertising clients in the family arena.” Manhattan Media also publishes Our Town, West Side Spirit, Chelsea Clinton News, and the Westsider.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

IN BRIEF

Refco’s defaulted bonds are trading at the highest price since the arrest of the former chief executive, Phillip Bennett, as five bidders vie for the futures broker’s assets in an auction this week … The founder of Paxson Communications, Lowell Paxson, resigned as chief executive officer and gave NBC Universal an option to buy his controlling stake in the network … VNU, the owner of market researcher ACNielsen, may scrap a $6.3 billion agreement to buy IMS Health … Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reduced a bet against the dollar after losing more than $900 million from foreign-currency investments this year … The European Union urged China to eliminate trade restrictions harming companies from Arcelor to Volkswagen and threatened to bring its first WTO complaint against the communist nation … Borrowing by American consumers fell for the first time in 10 months in September … Treasury Secretary Snow, starting a four day visit to India, said he would talk to political and business leaders about speeding up the legal process as a means to attract more international investment … Flyi, which launched low-fare Independence Air just one year ago from its hub at Washington’s Dulles Airport, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday and said it hopes a court-supervised auction will attract a new investor in the next 60 days … The compensation of recent business school graduates from Harvard, Dartmouth, and Stanford rose at least 9.5% from a year earlier, fueled by increased hiring at investment banks and consulting firms.

– Bloomberg News and Associated Press