Boeing's troubled 787 Dreamliner grounded in Japan.

JPMorgan cuts Jamie Dimon's pay, tops estimates with profit.

Dell falls from PC king to buyout fodder.

Apollo Group to offer course on innovation.

Audi bows out of sponsoring inaugural this time around.

Boeing sees Dreamliner make another emergency landing, in Japan.

Bristol-Myers Squibb plans to discuss settling Hepatitis C claims.Continue reading...

HP hires former eBay CEO (and "prolific deal maker") Meg Whitman to replace an unaware Leo Apotheker and turn around the company.

AT&T seeks trial to challenge Dept. of Justice opposition to T-Mobile merger.

Yum! Brands unloads A&W and Long John Silver's chains to separate buyers.

American Express sees top spenders curb luxury purchases.

Dish Network and Blockbuster are ready to unveil Netflix streaming competitor.

Google TV apps leak.

Molson Coors unveils corporate citizenship initiative.Continue reading...

KFC owner Yum! Brands — which also owns quick-serve restaurant brands Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's and A&W — is about to get itself a major footprint in the largest marketplace in the world: China.

According to the Louisville, KY, Courier-Journal, the locally-based Yum! is about to acquire Little Sheep, a Mongolian hot pot eatery that has 700 locations in China, for $860 million.

Yum currently operates 38,000 stores worldwide, but the company is hoping to add a lot more as it expands Little Sheep (which has seven US restaurants, with New York City launching "soon") globally.Continue reading...

"We're at a f**king IHOP."

Like that one for the International House of Pancakes, many of the brand and product appearances in The Hangover 2 come, to some degree, at the expense of the brand. P.F. Chang's. Long John Silver's. MSNBC. Teen People Magazine. Fanta soda. Skype. Hard Rock Cafe. Bally Total Fitness. All of these brands are the punchline to varying jokes.

Then there are the straight placements, including Delta Airlines, Singha beer, Adidas and Smart Water.

But the most interesting product placements in Hangover 2 are the ones the audience can't see, including where to get Zach Galifianakis' labrador t-shirt. Continue reading...

American seafood restaurant chain Long John Silver's today unveiled its first commercial promoting its new "We Speak Fish" tagline, logo and brand positioning.

Long John Silver's today unveiled a new logo and tagline — "We Speak Fish" — as part of a new branding push, including a refreshed menu and restaurant design, that kicks off during "the biggest seafood season of the year" — Lent. 

More new campaigns after the jump, including a peek at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week's hot models.Continue reading...

McDonald's may be the first brand name that comes to mind when you think of fast food restaurants, but it is actually the restaurant empire of Yum! Brands Inc. that leads the world in QSR (quick service restaurants), with more than 37,000 outlets in over 110 countries and territories.

Yum! is better known, of course, by its brand portfolio, which includes KFC, A&W, Long John Silver's, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Wing Street. The good news for Yum!, according to information the company shared at an investors meeting this week, is that it projects robust growth from areas outside North America and China through its Yum! Restaurants International division.Continue reading...

In sad news for the Village People, the YMCA follows KFC, NPR and AARP in formally adopting its acronym and shedding three letters to become just the Y. Individual branches will still be known as "The YMCA of ____." (Update: Village People respond, more details here.)

BP shares rise on news it's making progress on oil spill containment but not making promises — and that it's rumored to be in talks to sell assets to Apache, and facing a possible ExxonMobil takeover bid. Louisiana is pitching BP on a scheme to get unemployed commercial fishermen back on the job.

Spain's octopus-predicted triumph over the Netherlands in the World Cup final drew Nelson Mandela to the closing ceremony while Uruguay's Diego Forlan won the Adidas Golden Ball (not the unpopular Jabulani) for individual achievement. A likely terrorist attack in Uganda killing at least 60 World Cup fans marred yesterday's celebrations.Continue reading...