Business Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
TECHNOLOGY
AOL CLOSER TO DEAL WITH GOOGLE, SHUTTING OUT MICROSOFT
Time Warner’s AOL and Google have entered exclusive negotiations about deepening their advertising partnership, shutting out Microsoft, which has been wooing AOL since January, according to people close to the situation.
The deal being discussed involves Google paying $1 billion for a 5% stake in AOL, according to a person close to the situation. AOL would also be able to sell advertising among the search results provided by Google on its Web properties. AOL’s sales staff would also sell display ads across Google’s network of Web publishers.
Google will promote AOL’s Web properties among the sponsored links in its search results, and will include AOL’s collection of online videos among its search results. Google’s arrangement to provide search technology for AOL, which was set to expire at the end of next year, will be extended for five years.
The deal won’t likely be finalized until after Time Warner’s board meets on Wednesday.
Microsoft had hoped to convince AOL to use MSN’s search engine instead of Google’s. Time Warner had been in talks with Microsoft throughout the year, but in September began talking to Google as well.
– Dow Jones Newswires
ECONOMY
CONSUMERS GAIN CONFIDENCE, REPORT EXPECTED TO SHOW
Orders for durable goods rose in November and personal spending accelerated, evidence that business investment is building momentum and consumers are gaining confidence, economists said reports this week may show.
Orders for goods that last at least three years, such as autos and furniture, probably rose 1% last month, according to the median forecast of 46 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News ahead of the Commerce Department’s December 23 report. Consumer spending probably rose 0.4% after a 0.2% gain in October, as auto sales improved, a Commerce report a day earlier may show.
– Bloomberg News
COMMODITIES
RALLY IN GOLD MAY RESUME
A rally in gold may resume as investors seek an alternative to stocks and bonds because of inflation concerns, a Bloomberg survey shows.
Thirteen of 33 traders, investors, and analysts surveyed from Sydney to Chicago on Thursday and Friday advised buying gold, which touched a 24-year high last Monday before ending the week down $24.30 at $505.90 an ounce in New York. Ten respondents urged investors to sell gold and 10 were neutral.
– Bloomberg News
WALL STREET
NYSE DELAYS AUCTION OF TRADING LICENSES
The New York Stock Exchange pushed back a planned auction for licenses to trade stocks on its floor to give its members more time to prepare for the process, which will be used to allocate trading rights to be used after the exchange completes its acquisition of Archipelago Holdings. The trading licenses are being introduced because the NYSE membership is giving up its “seats” in the merger, swapping them for cash and stock in the new, publicly traded company, to be known as NYSE Group. The deal is expected to be completed early next year.
– Dow Jones Newswires
HOLLYWOOD
‘KING KONG’ EARNS $50 MILLION
“King Kong,” director Peter Jackson’s remake of the 1933 classic, was the no. 1 film this weekend, taking in $50.1 million for Universal Pictures and meeting analysts’ estimates.
– Bloomberg News