Bottomline

NEW YORK:

Shares in 21st Century Fox soared Monday after reports the controlling Murdoch family held talks to sell most of the media-entertainment giant to rival Disney.

Reports in the Wall Street Journal and CNBC television said the discussions over the past few weeks had so far made little progress toward a deal.

They added the family-led empire created by mogul Rupert Murdoch had been in discussions to sell Fox’s movie and television studios and leave a media company tightly focused on news and sports.

Also on the block would be much of Fox’s international distribution operations and its 39 percent stake in Britain’s Sky, in which Fox has been seeking full control pending regulatory approval. (AFP)

LAVAL, Quebec:

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (VRX) on Tuesday reported third-quarter net income of $1.3 billion, after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier.

The Laval, Quebec-based company said it had net income of $3.69 per share. Earnings, adjusted for nonrecurring gains, were $1.04 per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 90 cents per share. (AFP)

DETROIT:

Electric car company Tesla Inc is buying Perbix, a Minnesotabased maker of highly automated manufacturing equipment.

Perbix has been a supplier to Tesla for three years. It has built custom machinery for Tesla’s Fremont, California, assembly plant as well as its battery plant in Nevada.

Perbix will continue to be based north of Minneapolis. It currently employs 150 people, but Tesla says it will recruit more.

Tesla didn’t say how much the deal is worth. Company CEO Elon Musk has said he is determined to make Tesla’s factories more efficient, and the machines Perbix makes are part of that effort. (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO:

I.am+, the tech startup founded by pop star and entrepreneur will.i.am, has raised $117 million in venture funding, the company told Reuters on Monday as it announced its entry into the corporate computing market with a voice assistant for customer service.

The company, founded in 2012, initially focused on consumer electronics devices such as headphones. The new artificial intelligence product, similar to Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, marks a sharp departure for the firm, which now employs about 300 people.

Its most recent funding round, an $89 million investment by a group including Salesforce Ventures, closed in March but had not been previously announced. (RTRS)

HILO, Hawaii:

Online auction and sales company eBay has removed multiple listings of sand said to be taken from Hawaii beaches.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Saturday that it asked the company about the listings before they were taken down. Among them was a listing claiming to have sand from Papakolea Beach, also known as Green Sands Beach.

It is illegal to take sand from Hawaii beaches, state Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward said. The law contains a limited number of exceptions that do not include personal or commercial sales. Fines for illegally collecting Hawaii sand can reach upward of $100,000. (AP)

NEW YORK:

The health insurer Humana is cutting about 1,300 positions a couple months after starting an early retirement program.

A spokesman said Tuesday that the positions amount to less than 3 percent of the insurer’s workforce. Those who lose jobs can apply for another position with Humana, which also has 1,450 openings. The final number of cuts has not been determined.

The insurer said more than 1,150 people volunteered for early retirement, and will leave next year. (AP)

FORT WORTH, Texas:

American Airlines and a subsidiary will pay $9.8 million in stock to settle claims that they failed to help disabled employees return to work.

Federal officials say American and Envoy Air fired or put some workers on unpaid leave instead of making reasonable efforts to reassign them.

The workers’ disabilities ranged from cancer to back and knee injuries.

A lawsuit and consent agreement were filed Friday in federal court in Phoenix by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for 12 named former workers and others in similar circumstances. (AP)

BERLIN:

German automaker BMW AG says its third-quarter earnings were 1.8 percent lower than a year earlier as a result of increased costs for investments, research and development.

The luxury car maker said Tuesday that it earned 1.79 billion euros ($2.08 billion) in the July-September period, down from 1.82 billion euros last year. Revenue edged up 0.3 percent to 23.42 billion euros from 23.36 billion euros.

The company said the BMW Group, which also includes Mini and RollsRoyce, delivered 590,415 vehicles in the third quarter, 1.2 percent more than a year earlier. Its core brand was helped by the new 5 Series, launched in February. (AP)

TOKYO:

Toyota Motor Corp reported Tuesday that it saw a 16 percent gain in fiscal second quarter profit as sales grew and a cheaper yen offset higher marketing costs.

Toyota, Japan’s top automaker, said its July-September profit totaled 458.2 billion yen ($4 billion), up from 393.7 billion yen the same period last year. Quarterly sales grew 10 percent to 7.14 trillion yen ($62.7 billion).

Toyota, which makes the Camry sedan, Lexus luxury models and Prius hybrid, raised its annual profit forecast through March 2018, to 1.95 trillion yen ($17 billion) from the earlier 1.75 trillion yen ($15 billion). (AP)

SINGAPORE:

Singapore Airlines said Tuesday second-quarter net profit almost tripled due to passenger growth and improvements in its cargo business, but warned of challenges ahead.

The flag carrier said it earned Sg$190 million ($139 million) in the three months to the end of September compared to Sg$65 million in the same period last year. (AFP)