Bristol Myers Moves for ImClone; Kodak Earnings Fade; Diana Shipping Doubles Earnings; Crude Stumbles Again; Google to Start VC Fund; Primetime Ad Drama; MasterCard Slumps on Less Spending; S&P Says U.S. Car Companies are “Junk”

• Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) yesterday (Thursday) offered $4.5 billion in cash for biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc. (IMCL), the Associated Press reported. ImClone’s board has yet to comment on the proposal, which offers its stockholders $60 per share, a 30% premium to its Wednesday closing price of $46.44. Bristol-Myers already owns about 17% of ImClone.

• Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) said yesterday (Thursday) that second-quarter profit fell, as traditional film-based revenue slumped 14% to $847 million. Sales climbed 1% from $2.47 billion to $2.49 billion, and revenue from digital businesses rose 10%…

Small online businesses are in for a serious wake-up call in 2011, says Mark Nestmann in The Sovereign Society. This is because it will then become mandatory for all electronic payment systems to report sales data to the IRS. The agency will then be able to check these records against filed tax returns from business owners.

New Home Sales Plummet; Mexico Staves off U.S. Slowdown; Monsanto Reaps Big Rewards; MasterCard Pays AmEx $1.8 Billion; Buffett Concerned About Stagflation; Reduced Damages for Exxon; Nike Strong in Asia; More Cuts for Penney’s.

With earnings season starting to wind down, investors are not anticipating many new surprises.

Consumer Confidence Hits 5-Year Low; Citi to Offer $3 Billion in Common Stock; Denny’s Satisfied by 1Q Earnings; IBM Bumps Dividend; Merck Drops on FDA Rejection; Airline Shares Take-off; MasterCard’s “Priceless” Quarter; Gildan Shares Sacked for a 30% Loss.

The U.S. buyout market is about to enter a new phase, as corporate takeovers pick up where private-equity firms left off last fall. The deal-making market is a key to the health of the U.S. stock market.