JPMorgan Chase reaches nearly $6 billion in losses on "whale trades" but posts multi-billion-dollar quarterly profit.

Digg, a social-media pioneer, sells for pittance and gains new CEO.

Richard Branson takes on Stephen Fry in new Virgin UK campaign.

Axe replaces bikini-clad women with Kiefer Sutherland in new spot.

Coca-Cola launches Hispanic campaign for Olympics and reintroduces controversial drink colors in Freestyle dispensing machines at UK Burger Kings.

Olive Garden owner Darden to buy Yard House for $585 million.

Facebook starts automating home-page ad buying and monitoring chats for criminal activity.Continue reading...

The Google I/O three-day annual developer event in San Francisco today kicked off with a slew of product news.

Google is expanding its Nexus sub-brand of smart products from an Android phone (with Samsung, unveiled in October) to a streaming media player and the product that garnered the most buzz today: its first tablet, Nexus 7, a 7-inch device co-developed with Asus.

Nexus 7 is a bigger challenge to Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire than it is to Apple's iPad. The tablet costs $199 (8GB) or $249 (16GB) and is available to purchase now, with shipping starting in July.Continue reading...

The United Nations on Friday wrapped up the Rio+20 Earth Summit, a once-a-decade conference on sustainable development, with the message that the world needs to clean up its act. Some major-league companies signed on to put some financial muscle and their brands' influence behind the effort. PepsiCo and Coca-Cola have found something they can agree on as both have put cash behind the UN’s goals. Others involved include Microsoft, and Bank of America, according to Bloomberg.

The pledges are worth billions of dollars and will help to “curb the use of fossil fuels, conserve water and encourage wider use of renewable energy,” Bloomberg reports. There are at least 517 commitments from different companies and at minimum $2 billion will be coming from the U.S. “We won’t save the world alone, but we’ll get half of it done, and we’ll get some momentum,” said Bank of America Chairman Chad Holliday at Rio+20. 

For its part, Coca-Cola is allocating $3.5 million to help create more sustainable water access in some African countries. "Access to safe water is essential for our company and our world,” stated Bea Perez, the company's Chief Sustainability Officer. “The sustainability of water resources is a top priority."Continue reading...

Richard Branson’s diary was stolen last week. Promoted on Twitter and Facebook, the so-called "crimson bandit" behind the theft posted three videos on YouTube with this comment: "As willing as I am to play this game with you and your fans in Australia, South Africa, the UK and the US, you must know there's no way for you to catch me Richard!”

The game: “Solve the puzzles left behind on the participating Virgin Company pages and you could win amazing prizes.” It shouldn't come as a huge surprise that the bandit was no other than Branson himself, as he revealed in a tweet and on his blog. 

The graphics are fun, but as social media teaser campaigns go, Virgin could do a bit better than this — Americans, for instance, wouldn't know that "diary" refers to his planner or schedule.

From his humble roots as a seller of vinyl LPs to the spotty youths of Great Britain, Sir Richard Branson has extended the Virgin brand name from record shops to an array of businesses including airlines, mobile phones, space and deep sea travel, hotels, bridal boutiques, cheeky health clubs, beverages (including vodka, cola and wine), gaming, banking and beyond. Now Brits will soon be finding the Virgin brand on another product: water.

The home of the elastic brand today announced a partnership with Israel-based Strauss Water to rebrand its Strauss Water UK business as Virgin Pure, a system that filters water straight from the plumbing system to provide consumers with chilled or boiling water “at the touch of a button.”

"I love businesses that help to improve our way of life,” Branson stated. "Pure, chilled and boiling drinking water at the touch of a button means no more lugging bottles home, waiting for filter jugs to trickle through or kettles to boil for that great cup of tea."Continue reading...

It may be soon that “musk” may not just signify male perfume. Instead, American consumers may immediately associate it with space travel or, more likely, with gobs of cash.

Like Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Paul Allen, Elon Musk is a wealthy man who can now fund his boyish billionaire enthusiasm for space travel, and has now taken a major step toward making those kinds of trips more accessible to the common man.

The founder of SpaceX was obviously thrilled that his rocket made it off the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Tuesday following an aborted attempt. Its next challenge will be to hook up with the International Space Station on Friday to drop off a few things with the folks stationed there.Continue reading...

If you’ve ever seen Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group and the fourth wealthiest citizen of the United Kingdom, in action, "shy" is not the first word you’d use to describe him.

"Cocky," "confident," "swaggering," "bold," "cheeky," "brash," "daredevil," "nuts" — these are words more often than not associated with Branson’s name and house of Virgin brands. But it hasn’t always been that way for the face (and head) of Virgin.

In fact, Branson and Virgin wouldn't be household names today if it wasn't for his tenacious mother, Eve, who took drastic measures during his childhood to push him out of his shell and into the world — literally.Continue reading...

Facebook faces doubts by advertisers as it gears up for IPO roadshow.

Lifetime unveils new logo and tagline.

BlackBerry launches "Touch Awesomeness" campaign, test keyboardless version to challenge Apple.

Apple files for touch-based music-sharing patent.

CNN delivers lowest monthly ratings in a decade.

CVS succeeds in grabbing drugstore customers from Walgreens.

Chesapeake Energy board crimps CEO's power.Continue reading...