Electronic Arts Ditches Take-Two; Nucor’s Positive Outlook; Best Buy Snaps up Napster; Target’s New Ballpark; Oil Hits Six-Month Low; Wilbur Ross Expects 1,000 U.S. Banks to Fail; Hewlett-Packard Slashes Payrolls

• Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (TTWO) shares plunged yesterday (Monday) after Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) withdrew its bid for the maker of the popular Grand Theft Auto 4 video game. Take-Two shares shed $5.32, a decline of 24%, to close at $16.57. But Ben Feder, Take-Two’s chief executive, said in an interview yesterday the company is “very, very happy to stay independent,” The Associated Press reported.

• Steelmaker Nucor Corp. (NUE), a recent feature in Money Morning’s “Buy, Sell or Hold” column, raised its third quarter earnings target, The Wall Street Journal reported. Due to improved performance and recent acquisitions, Nucor upped its project to $2.15 – $2.20 per share from an earlier estimate of $1.80 – $1.85 per share. Nucor’s recent acquisitions include scrap purchaser SHV North America and Harris Steel Group Inc.

• Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) announced yesterday (Monday) that it would purchase Napster Inc. (NAPS) in a deal valued at $121 million. Best Buy’s acquisition includes Napster’s roughly 700,000 subscribers, its Web-based customer-service platform and mobile capabilities, MarketWatch reported.

• Target Corp. (TGT) and the Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins announced a deal that will put the second-largest U.S. discount retailers name on the new ballpark that is expected to be ready in time for the 2010 season, Bloomberg News reported. It’s the second sports venue contract for the Minneapolis-based Target, which already has its name on the arena of the National Basketball Association’s Minnesota Timberwolves.

• Oil prices closed below $100 a barrel for the first time in six months Monday, tumbling more than $5 as the outlook for both the global and domestic economy darkened. Light, sweet crude for October delivery fell $5.47 to settle at $95.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange – the first time crude has settled under $100 a barrel since March 4.

• Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co. LLC, said in an interview with CNBC that as many as a thousand banks could fail in the coming months. “I do think a lot of the regional ones will (close), just as they did in the last savings and loan crisis in the 1990s,” Ross said.

• Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) announced yesterday (Monday) that it plans to cut over 24,000 jobs as part of its takeover of Electronic Data Systems (EDS). The cuts represent about 7.5% of the two company’s combined workforce, MarketWatch reported. The restructuring should result in an ultimate $1.8 billion in annual savings.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Tuesday, September 16th, 2008