Amazon sees its big spending hurting its profits as Barnes & Noble escalates rift by blocking titles.

Chrysler kicks off monthly auto-sales reports with huge January and posts first annual profit since emerging from bankruptcy.

Darden is sued by restaurant workers' group.

Denny's targets fast-growing Hispanic clientele.

Deutsche Borse and NYSE can't merge, European Commission rules.

Disney takes controlling interest in large media conglomerate in India.

Exxon plans to push on with gas exploration through expected lower prices.

Facebook picks Morgan Stanley to lead IPOContinue reading...

Jobs, jobs, jobs — they remain a topic utmost on Americans' minds as the slowly dropping unemployment rate largely belies the reality of a U.S. labor market that is only slowly picking up momentum. Brand executives know this, and more of them have taken to wielding job creation as a branding device, like Subway.

But corporate strategy sometimes dictates a different turn even when eliminating jobs is the last thing a brand wants to do. Among the big brands announcing layoffs in recent days: Novartis, which is restructuring its U.S. business and cutting 1,960 positions; Goldman Sachs, which laid off 2,400 employees last year with more to come; Citigroup, which is shedding about 5,000 jobs globally; Kraft, which announced that it will cut 1,600 North American jobs as it prepares to split into two companies. All eyes are on Kodak, too, as the company prepares to restructure.

Kraft — which made headlines with one high-profile hire in the past year: golden-voiced homeless-to-Hollywood phenom Ted Williams, at top — is now shedding ballast in order to survive a difficult future, where its strategy is to split into a global snack company and a North American grocery operation later this year.Continue reading...

Apple suspends iPhone 4S sales in China after riot breaks out at Beijing launch.

Delta eyes bid for American Airlines, AFP says, and so do others.

MetLife cuts 4,300 jobs as company exits mortgage business.

BMW and Daimler plan to raise U.S. output.

Bank of America ponders retreat from some regions of U.S.

Best Buy sees fallout from holiday delivery foul-up.

CBS talks with David Letterman about a new contract.

CVS Caremark settles deceptive-pricing charges.

Chipotle plans to open second ShopHouse Asian restaurant.

Coca-Cola expands social marketing to Tumblr.Continue reading...

It's the time for end of the year lists and Nielsen’s "Tops of 2011: Advertising" collection is certainly worth a look.

The media tracking firm covers everything from Volkswagen’s Little Darth Vader Super Bowl phenomenon to product placement. Nielsen says these "best-liked ads reflect the enduring value of traditional ad elements that have withstood the test of time – strong creative, simple and engaging messaging, and a solid emotional connection."

The Nielsen charts that caught our eye were the two pertaining to product placement, because both tell us almost nothing about measuring product placement except to underscore how nobody can properly measure product placement.Continue reading...

Remember "New Twitter"? Get ready for the "New New Twitter," as the 140-character driven social platform prepares to unveil a redesign. While the video touting the redesigned Twitter makes it sound like it's a great way to hook up with friends, the redesign is featured in a microsite that touts a consistent mobile experience, new user icons (Home, Connect, Discover, Me and Tweet) and a rearranging of the furniture.Continue reading...

Ndamukong Suh was featured in a Chrysler TV commercial in May, a big vote of confidence for the rising NFL star from a fellow Detroit icon. But now, he's in the hot seat for acting like a turkey on Thanksgiving.

While most of America was stuffing its face full on Thanksgiving Day, the Detroit Lions defensive tackle was banging the head of Green Bay Packers lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith into the turf three times while his team went down 27-15 to the undefeated Pack.

CBSSports.com reports that Suh, who was ejected from the game but denies stomping on the linebacker’s arm, will get suspended for two games by the league. Whatever happens, this isn’t the first time Suh has been called a dirty player and his sponsors are starting to notice, according to the Detroit News.Continue reading...

Apple could lure customers with pricing despite lack of iPhone 5, even as its new iPhone 4S fails to wow. AT&T, meanwhile, claims its iPhone 4S will be the fastest, while Samsung moves to ban the device in France and Italy.

Amazon Kindle Fire pre-orders top 2,000 per hour.

BNY Mellon gets sued by feds, state of New York.

Coca-Cola Amatil eyes Foster's assets in Australia.

Diageo to open "Happy Hour" on ESPN in two languages.

Disney gets 3-D fever.

Estee Lauder launches breast cancer awareness Facebook app.

Friendly's files for bankruptcy.Continue reading...

Fast-food burgers and pizza restaurants have long been a staple of dining in the United States, but American diets are changing. Fast food joints and family restaurant chains are having “their lowest sales all year,” according to ABC News, but another inexpensive dining category is growing quickly: fast casual.

“In the last year alone sales in the fast casual sector reached $18 billion,” ABC reports. One of the things driving this trend is sudden explosion of celebrity chefs from such television shows as Iron Chef, Top Chef, and The Chew.

"We're seeing people interested in all sorts of tastes ... Mexican, Asian, Indian is really big right now," said Blair Chancey, editor of QSR (quick-service restaurant) magazine, according to ABC.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, which uses chickens that are fed a vegetarian diet and naturally raised pork beef has been one of the category’s leaders since it launched in 1998. Now, it's expanding into Asian cuisine with the ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen fast casual concept it's testing in Washington, D.C. (Perhaps McDonald’s, a majority owner in the chain until it divested in 2006, got out too soon?)

"Americans want high quality, but they want it to be an affordable value and inexpensive, and that's what I think the fast casual industry is trying to do," said Jonathan Kaplan, creator of the Flip video camera, who is starting a chain of grilled cheese restaurants called The Melt, according to ABC. "There's really a niche there where restaurants are able to offer high-end quality ingredients, artisanal breads, really high quality cheeses, but they can do it at a fast casual price point."

This week, Domino's Pizza tried to get a slice of the action by launching 'artisanal' pizzas to appeal to foodies on a budget. And the founder of Domino's, Tom Monaghan, is starting a new restaurant that will only serve a two different gourmet burgers, ABC reports.

“My philosophy is not to try to be all things to all people — to do one thing and do it extremely well, better than anyone else can possibly do it and I'm hoping that will spell success," Monaghan told the network.