HP CEO Meg Whitman pilloried over $8.8 billion start-up acquisition charge for Autonomy as stock plunges and former CEO comes out of woodwork.

News Corp. reportedly eyeing Simon & Schuster as add-on to HarperCollins and acquires 49% of YES Network as former newspaper execs charged with bribery. YES, meanwhile, extends Yankees TV rights through 2042.

Amazon unveils brand pages and looks to reinvent publishing model with Tim Ferriss book.

Apple products top kids' holiday wish lists, while spaceship-like campus delayed until 2016.

BlackBerry dropped by US agency over device reliability concerns.

Big Ten college sports conference brand could be diluted by eastern driven.

Darden CMO defects to Ruby Tuesday.Continue reading...

Penn State players, alumni and other supports are in shock today following the NCAA's unprecedented actions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal: a $60 million fine, a four-year college bowl ban and 40 scholarships axed, in addition to erasing all 14 seasons of victories under late coach Joe Paterno. The move follows a damning report by former FBI director Louis Freeh that accused the university of enabling former Penn State football coach Sandusky's crimes.

The NCAA's executive committee chair Ed Ray stated at a press conference, "The historically unprecedented actions by the NCAA today are warranted by the conspiracy of silence that was maintained at the highest levels of the university in reckless and callous disregard for the children. There is incredible interest in what will happen to Penn State football. But, the fundamental story of this horrific chapter should focus on the innocent children and the powerful people who let them down." Are the NCAA sanctions excessive in your opinion? Post a comment below. (Update: Click here for Penn State president Rodney Erickson's response.)

The horrific actions of former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky have gripped a nation since he was arrested last fall and found guilty of 45 counts of child abuse a month ago. Now it is Penn State’s turn.

The release of former FBI Director Louis Freeh’s independent report Thursday morning is a major blow to the PSU brand, with one immediate fallout: Nike immediately reversed its November decision to stand by Sandusky's former boss, the late Joe Paterno, whose name graces a childcare center at its global HQ.

Before the report's release, even with the Sandusky talk swirling before his trial and conviction, the University managed to raise millions of dollars. In fact, the 2011-12 fiscal year had the school bringing in the second-highest annual fundraising tally in its history: a whopping $208.7 million.

It remains to be seen how much money comes PSU’s way now that its former leaders are more in the public eye than Sandusky, who has now been entered into American criminal lore as one of the most clued-out offenders of all time — and protected. As the Freeh report on Penn State's role states in one damning sentence, "In short, nothing was done and Sandusky was allowed to continue with impunity."Continue reading...

Apple still sees consumer demand for iPhone 3GS.

AT&T warns blocking T-Mobile deal will lead to higher prices.

Amazon provokes retailers with new price-check app.

Banana Republic opens Paris flagship.

Bill Gates rumored to consider returning to Microsoft.

Billabong uses augmented reality in new campaign.

Carrefour mulls merger with French supermarket chain.

Dean & Deluca expands from New York to Singapore.

Jamba Juice to tap into schools market with self-serve units.

Ford to restart dividend after five years.

GM CEO Dan Akerson acts aggressively to staunch Volt damage.Continue reading...

Where to begin with the damage to the Pennsylvania State University brand?

For starters, Netflix no longer has to worry about finishing atop any 2011 "brand disasters" lists. Penn State has wrapped up that "honor" in a way only possible by associating your brand with "child rape cover up."

While Penn State administrators struggle with the current day to day PR nightmare the university is managing, what is the future of the school's brand? Which brand partners will stand with it and which are fleeing? That Penn State will recover is a foregone conclusion; time is always the best reputation rejuvenator.

But will it fully recover? That is not so clear.Continue reading...

Sprint sues AT&T to block T-Mobile USA merger; AT&T replies 'bring it on.'

Groupon delays IPO. 

Yahoo ousts CEO Carol Bartz in surprise shake-up.

Bing and Twitter renew partnership.

BMW signs Big Ten sponsorship deal.

BP's former CEO, Tony Hayward, is staging a comeback.

China to overtake Japan in luxury demand.Continue reading...

Labor Day is fast approaching, and US college-sports fans are already unpacking their face paint, pennants, and big foam fingers (not too mention their coolers, hibachis, and tortilla-chip bowls) to prepare for another full year of football, basketball, water polo, fencing, bowling, and all the rest. 

And who is going to be enjoying all those intense rivalries right alongside some of America’s most ardent fans? That’s right, it’s the execs of UPS, who will be enjoying the fruits of three different sponsorship deals in the world of college athletics.

Post and Parcel reports that UPS has struck new “deals with college sports marketing and branding firm IMG College, along with sports conferences Big Ten and Pac-12 (that) will help it build growth in the business-to-business sector as well as accessing college sports fans across a country where college sports are arguably more popular than national professional sports.”Continue reading...

The Big Ten Conference, America's oldest and largest division 1 college athletics association, today revealed a new logo to be used for all sports beginning with the 2011-12 academic year.

As with many new logos these days, immediate reaction by fans and observers was mixed, garnering reactions such as #designfail on Twitter, "could have done better" (an ESPN blogger) and and "looks like it took 25 seconds to make" by sports TV network NESN.

The new logo, replacing the "i" in "Big" with a 1, was deemed necessary following the addition of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln as the conference’s 12th member school, making the previous design's hidden "11" numerically incorrect. There's already a Big 12 conference, so a name change was out of the question.Continue reading...