Media Digest 1/5/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NY Times, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Kraft (NYSE:KFT) sold it pizza business to Nestle and lifted the cash portion of its deal to buy Cadbury (NYSE:CBY).

Reuters:   Cold weather pushed oil prices near $82.

Reuters:   US healthcare spending is slowing.

Reuters:   Ford’s (NYSE:F) China JV sales rose 55% in 2009.

WSJ:   Big oil is moving more drilling offshore as land reserves dwindle.

WSJ:   Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will ship its tablet PC in March.

WSJ:   US manufacturing rebounded in December.

WSJ:   Kia and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will offer a car voice system.

WSJ:   Lilly (NYSE:LLY) will use outside contractors to test drugs.

WSJ:   Biogen’s (NASDAQ:BIIB) CEO will retire.

WSJ:   GE (NYSE:GE) realigned its lighting and appliance units.

WSJ:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) unveiled a new small car in India.

WSJ:   E-books are becoming popular in China.

WSJ:   Global chip sales rose 3.7% in November.

WSJ:   Personal bankruptcy filings are rising quickly.

WSJ:   The outlook for start-up companies in 2010 is poor.

WSJ:   A growing movie audience overseas is helping films like “Avatar.”

WSJ:   The IRS is increasing oversight of tax preparation firms.

WSJ:   Asia nations are starting to sell debt in international markets.

WSJ:   KKR and Apollo are expected to list on the NYSE this year.

NYT:   Visa (NYSE:V) has improved its revenue by charging special fees for debit card transactions.

NYT:   Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) will launch its Nexus One phone to keep up its momentum in smartphones.

NYT:   HD TVs from LG and Panasonic will use Skype for video chat.

FT:   US public pensions face a $2 trillion deficit.

FT:   Bond funds are cutting holdings in US and UK debt.

FT:   News Corp (NYSE:NWS) will merge two Dow Jones units.

Bloomberg:   Mobius says emerging markets could loss 20% of value as IPOs undermine demand.

Douglas A. McIntyre