Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit and COO John Havens quit unexpectedly; board elevates EMEA CEO Mike Corbat to top spot.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, back from two-week maternity leave, poaches new COO from her previous employer Google.

RIM sees its once-iconic BlackBerry slip into black-sheep territory.

CBS extends CEO Les Moonves for two more years to 2017.

Chrysler opens availability of natural-gas-powered Ram pickup to retail sales.

Facebook opens UK engineering hub to focus on mobile.

Foxconn admits to breaching child labor laws.Continue reading...

China is the second latest economy in the world, every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse!); but who's got the time?! Enjoy these China bites that will make you look like a keen China branding observer. Today's round-up: Lenovo ousts HP, Diageo becomes Diabaijiu, auto downshift, Looper's China product placement, mocking the iPhone 5 and more.Continue reading...

Avon's Jung to leave board early, shifting focus to new CEO.

Mondelez creates Oreo and Cadbury Dairy Milk hybrid chocolate bar, acquires Italian biscuit maker from Danone.

Foxconn faces more unrest at iPhone factory as new battle brews between Apple and Samsung.

BAE deal with EADS is questioned by major shareholder.

Baxter looks to its medical-product pipeline to sustain growth.

Budweiser donates to military families via tie-in with Major League Baseball.

BuzzFeed bets on online sharing of sponsored content.

Coca-Cola India signs Bollywood star Salman Khan as brand ambassador.Continue reading...

China is the second latest economy in the world, every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse!); but who's got the time?!  A weekly potpourri of ten reads that will make you look like a keen China observer during any conversation about China.

This week Estée Lauder, Weibo, Foxconn, Yum!, Walmart, McKinsey on consumer changes and more...Continue reading...

NFL settlement with referees clears the way for marketers.

Tempur-Pedic goes to the mattresses to buy Sealy for $228.6 million.

American Greetings hears buyout offer from founding family and CEO.

Amazon rejects false advertising claim in Apple app store suit.

Apple-Google maps talks failed on voice navigation.

BAE proposed merger with Airbus parent EADS hits snag in Germany.

Bayer partners with feline vets.

BlackBerry 10 will determine RIM's fate as company courts app developers.Continue reading...

Toys R Us is really aiming for this holiday season to bring in some big bucks. As a result, the company is hiring 13% more seasonal help than it did last year, hiring 45,000 temporary employees across the U.S.

Why the need for all the extra folks? Well, the retailer is planning to have 50 more pop-up shops than it did last year across the country  and it is, of course, very excited about the revenue possibilities for its new made-for-kids-tablet called Tabeo, a featured item on its 2012 Hot Toys List.

Of course, it remains to be seen if the store's proprietary $150 Tabeo is going to hit its stores, as planned, in October. Fuhu, the Taiwanese manufacturer of the kid-friendly Nabi tablet that Toys R Us sold before Tabeo, is attempting to block its sale with a lawsuit claiming intellectual property infringement.Continue reading...

Apple takes a subtle dig at Samsung in new iPhone ad as its supply is tested by record sales thanks to use of thin display.

Burberry tops London Fashion Week tweets thanks to One Direction's Harry Styles.

Dave & Busters prices IPO lower than expected.

Diageo is in talks about buying stake in United Spirits.

Estee Lauder develops brand just for China.

Ford's CMO promotes social- and product-dirven brand.Continue reading...

At least five million new iPhone 5 owners were busy checking out their new devices over the weekend, and factories have been churning them out as quickly as they can make them to meet the global demand. 

In the midst of all the good news, though, Apple was forced to halt production for three days. A "massive brawl" Sunday night at Foxconn's Taiyuan factory in northern China that produces parts for the iPhone 5 reportedly involved around 2,000 people and took 5,000 police officers to contain, although details are still unclear. The tensions reportedly stemmed from a personal dispute that flared up, the BBC is reporting. M.I.C. Gadget uploaded two videos from the scene.Continue reading...