PUBLISHING

VNU EXPECTED TO END $7B AGREEMENT TO BUY IMS HEALTH

Dutch publisher VNU is expected to terminate its $7 billion agreement to purchase pharmaceutical research provider IMS Health as early as today, according to people familiar with the matter. The move is a victory for VNU shareholders, who reacted strongly to the plan that would marry Fairfield, Conn.-based IMS with VNU, based in Haarlem, Netherlands. Nearly half of VNU shareholders said they would not vote for the deal under any circumstances, essentially dooming the transaction before it could be put to a full vote.

That stiff reaction forced VNU to withdraw its merger plan. As part of the agreement, it will have to pay IMS’ merger-related expenses, according to the people familiar with the matter, which totaled $15.9 million according to recent securities filings. After the planned merger of IMS is terminated, it is expected that some or all of VNU will be put up for sale, and several private-equity firms are looking into a possible deal, according to people familiar with the matter.

– Dow Jones Newswires

ADVERTISING

GOOGLE STARTS OFFERING ONLINE CLASSIFIED ADS, JOB LISTINGS

Google introduced a test version of a Web site for classifieds ads and job listings yesterday, a move that may spark new competition for online auctioneer eBay.

Google Base is a free site that lets users submit ads and other content such as recipes or product reviews, according to the Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s Web site. Google will host the information on its site and provide links to other sites. Initial postings include Porsches for sale, help-wanted ads from sites including Careerbuilder.com, and a recipe for a bacon and cheese omelet.

– Bloomberg News

CONSUMER CREDIT

AMERICAN EXPRESS WARNS OF LOWER-THAN-EXPECTED EARNINGS

The chief executive of American Express, Kenneth Chenault, said fourth-quarter earnings won’t be as high as some analysts estimate. Shares of the fourth-biggest credit-card issuer fell as much as 5.3%. Mr. Chenault, speaking to investors today at a conference in New York sponsored by Merrill Lynch, said “a number of analysts” are expecting a 25% increase in profit from continuing operations. “Now I do appreciate the optimism that’s out there, but I can tell you that this number is far too aggressive,” he said.

– Bloomberg News

TRADE

PAINTINGS SEIZED IN EFFORT TO RECOVER OIL DEBTS

Swiss bailiffs yesterday seized dozens of Impressionist masterpieces on loan from Moscow as part of an octogenarian businessman’s long campaign to recover debts from Russia.

The impounding of the paintings – insured for $1.2 billion and including works by Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Monet – provoked indignation in Russia itself. The Swiss government later overruled the canton that ordered the seizure and allowed the canvasses to return home – but not before a diplomatic scandal had blown up. Bailiffs, backed by police, stopped lorries taking the paintings back to Moscow’s Pushkin Fine Arts Museum after a five-month exhibition in Martigny. The seizure was the result of a court order won by Nessim Gaon, 83, a Sudanese-born Jew, now a Swiss national, who served in the British Army during the Second World War. Mr. Gaon claims the Russian government owes his company, Noga, hundreds of millions of pounds after it reneged on a 1992 deal in which Noga supplied it with food in exchange for oil.

– The Daily Telegraph

IN BRIEF

The Justice Department approved big mergers yesterday planned by the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market, saying the new combinations were not likely to damage competition … Helped by a retreat in gasoline prices, consumer inflation slowed last month after racing ahead in September at the fastest clip in a quarter-century. But natural gas prices rose sharply, a troubling sign for the upcoming home heating season … Swiss drugmaker Roche said yesterday it has ended a dispute with an American biotechnology company Gilead Sciences over the manufacture of Tamiflu, in what they said was a joint effort to build up stocks of the drug in the face of a threatened flu pandemic.

– Associated Press