Cerberus acquires Chrysler for $7.4bn
Mumbai: Private equity firm Cerberus is acquiring a majority stake interest in Chrysler Group and related financial services business for Euro 5.5 billion ($7.4 billion) from DaimlerChrysler.

Cerberus Capital Management will get 80.1 pc stake in Chrysler Group and its related financial services business, according to an official release on the DaimlerChrysler website.
The terms of the deal include:

• Obligations for pensions and healthcare costs to be retained by Chrysler companies
  
• Transaction expected to result in net cash outflow of Euro 0.5 billion for DaimlerChrysler
  
• DaimlerChrysler's net profit according to IFRS in 2007 to be reduced in a range of Euro 3-4 billion
  
• Equity ratio of DaimlerChrysler's industrial business is expected to be over 40 pc by the beginning of 2008
  
• Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting to decide on change of name to Daimler AG.

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Thomson-Reuters takeover deal gets go ahead
London: Media reports on Sunday said that the Reuters Founders Share Company, the trust that acts as guardian to the editorial independence of Reuters Group Plc, is backing the proposed takeover of the media group by Canada's Thomson Corp and that a formal announcement by Thomson and Reuters could be made as early as this week.

The Reuters Founders Share Company has a "golden share" which it can use to block a takeover of the company.

A takeover of Reuters by Thomson would create the world's biggest financial news and data company with a market share of 34 per cent, slightly more than the 33 pc market share held by privately owned Bloomberg according to Inside Market Data.
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China's inflation rate drops
Beijing: China's inflation rate has fallen for the first time this year in April to three per cent the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. It said the drop in growth of the index is the first time it has slowed this year. In March, the index rose 3.3 per cent year-on-year, the largest growth of the index for 25 months after hitting 2.2 per cent and 2.7 per cent in January and February. The NBS said inflation jumped by 2.8 per cent in the first four months of this year compared to the same period last year.

Food price hikes are the leading factor behind the inflation.
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No access to YouTube, MySpace for US cadets overseas
Denver: US soldiers appointed in overseas location will no longer have access to YouTube and MySpace under a department of defence policy that would take effect today.

The defence department will begin blocking access worldwide to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular websites on its computers and networks, according to a memo sent Friday by General BB Bell, the US Forces Korea commander.

The policy is being implemented to protect information and improve security as well as reduce the drag on the department's networks. Officials said the recreational traffic had begun to impact the US army's DoD network and bandwidth ability, and was also posing a significant operational security challenge.

Members of the military can still access the sites on their own computers and networks - but defence department computers and networks are the only ones available to many soldiers and sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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