Stocks to Watch: Tudou, Youku.com (Update 1)
NEW YORK -- Chinese online video giant Youku.com announced it is buying peer Tudou in an all-stock deal valued at more than $1 billion. The combined entity will be called Youku Tudou and will be a leading online video company in the world's largest Internet market. Tudou reported a net loss of 511.2 million yuan ($81.2 million) last year, while Youku on Monday posted a net loss of 172.1 million yuan. Youku shares were plunging 10% to $22.50 in premarket trading Monday while Tudou shares were surging 118.8% to $34. FuelCell Energy reported a first-quarter loss of 5 cents a share, narrower than the loss of 6 cents a share expected by analysts. Shares were gaining 9.3% to $1.64. Carnival shares were rising 2.3% to $31.28 after being upgraded to outperform from underperform by Exane BNP Paribas. The stock has been hurt recently by Carnival's cruise ship accidents. PepsiCo on Monday named former senior Wal-Mart executive Brian Cornell to head Pepsi's largest and most profitable unit, the Americas-wide food division. PepsiCo also named longtime company executive John Compton to the new position of president. Cornell and Compton, along with European operations chief Zein Abdalla, are viewed as the top internal candidates to succeed CEO Indra Nooyi, who has been getting heat from investors. "Today marks an important and essential step in PepsiCo's journey to continue to deliver sustainable growth," Nooyi said in a press release. "John and Brian are superb executives and will both contribute enormously in their new roles to ensure that we compete effectively and efficiently in the global marketplace." Shares were adding 1% to $63.80. Japan's Asahi Kasei agreed to buy Zoll Medical , the medical equipment maker, for $2.21 billion. Asahi Kasei, which makes chemicals and construction materials, agreed to buy Zoll for $93 a share in a tender offer. The transaction price is a premium of 29.6% over Zoll's average closing stock price over the last 30 trading days. Zoll closed Friday at $75.10. JetBlue has held talks with senior management of Aer Lingus about taking a stake in the Irish airline, the Irish Times reported. JetBlue is Aer Lingus management's preferred trade investor at a time when the Irish government is planning to sell its 25% holding in the airline, the newspaper said, citing informed sources. The stake is valued at about 116 million ($152.3 million). LDK Solar is expected by analysts to post a fourth-quarter loss of 67 cents a share. Federal prosecutors investigating whether U.S. executives at beauty products company Avon broke foreign-bribery laws have presented evidence in the probe to a grand jury, The Wall Street Journal reported. Authorities are focused on a 2005 internal audit report by the company that concluded Avon employees in China may have been bribing officials in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Journal said. -- Written by Joseph Woelfel and Andrea Tse >To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel Related links: Investors Still Skeptical of Bank Stocks Why Apple Didn't Release a $299 iPad
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Stocks to Watch: Tudou, Youku.com (Update 1)