SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will sell as much as half of its 40 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group for $7.1 billion, ending years of fractious talks over how to extract value from its most prized asset. Yahoo also increased its stock buyback authorization by $5 billion to $5.5 billion …

LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco boss Philip Clarke has opted not to take an annual bonus of about 372,000 pounds ($588,000) following a poor performance by the world's third-biggest retailer in its main British market. Shares in Tesco, which issued a shock profit warning in January, have lost almost a quarter of their value this …

(Reuters) - In the run-up to Facebook's $16 billion IPO, Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the deal, unexpectedly delivered some negative news to major clients: The bank's consumer Internet analyst, Scott Devitt, was reducing his revenue forecasts for the company. The sudden caution very close to the huge initial …

TOKYO (Reuters) - Fitch cut Japan's sovereign credit status on Tuesday to the lowest level among global ratings agencies as a political stalemate dims the chance that the country can curb its snowballing debt. Fitch Ratings cut Japan's long-term foreign currency rating by two levels from AA to A plus, the fifth highest …

(Reuters) - Apple has maintained its place as the world's most valuable brand over the past year, leading a group of technology-related companies that dominate the top 10, according to a study published on Tuesday. The iPhone and iPad maker has boosted its brand value by 19 percent in the past year to $183 billion, or 37 …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose more than 1 percent on Monday, with the S&P 500 snapping a six-day losing streak in a rebound from equities' biggest weekly drop in almost six months, but Facebook slumped in its second session after a disappointing debut. Tech shares were among the day's biggest gainers, with an S&P sector …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Tuesday, led by financial and housing shares, after home resales rose in April to their highest annual rate in nearly two years in another sign that the housing market may be on the road to recovery. But gains were capped as Facebook shares lost about 20 percent of the online social network's …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - China can now bypass Wall Street when buying U.S. government debt and go straight to the U.S. Treasury, in what is the Treasury's first-ever direct relationship with a foreign government, according to documents viewed by Reuters. The relationship means the People's Bank of China buys U.S. debt using …

HONG KONG (Reuters) - European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said on Tuesday he does not expect Greece will exit the euro and urged Athens to work with Europe to remove the risk of its crisis spreading to other countries. "I don't think the worst is going to happen in Europe. I don't anticipate Greece will …

(Reuters) - Citigroup said it has a cautious view on the U.S. small-and mid-cap companies on concerns over earnings pressure in the second half amid the euro zone crisis and the political uncertainty in the United States. Analyst Scott Chronert downgraded the small and mid-cap technology sector to "market weight", saying …

HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co Ltd said it aims to triple global sales of its premium Infiniti brand by 2016 and take 10 percent of China's luxury vehicle market, challenging leaders like Audi AG and Mercedes Benz maker Daimler AG. Infiniti on Tuesday became the first global car brand to open a headquarters …

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta "threw away his duties" by divulging bank secrets to hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, a U.S. prosecutor said at the start of Gupta's insider-trading trial on Monday. The defense punched back that the government had no direct evidence. Gupta, 63, once a boldface …

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook's lackluster initial public offering performance is a black eye for many on Wall Street and could have ramifications for similar upcoming deals such as an offering by Twitter, but venture capitalists in Silicon Valley are keen to shrug off Facebook's stumble - at least for now. ...