• Borders Group, Inc. (BGP) ousted its Chief Executive George Jones and replaced him with outsider Ron Marshall, a Wildridge Capital Management executive whose primary experience is turning around ailing companies, Reuters reported. George had been Borders’ CEO for the past three years.

• The New York Times Co. (NYT) opened its front page to advertisers, a controversial move within journalism circles but also one that follows rivals the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. The ad space is two-and-half inches high and runs across the bottom of the page, Reuters reported.

• Apple Inc. (AAPL) investors and fanatics breathed a sigh of relief when Steve Jobs said in a letter that his much rumored weight loss is likely due to a hormone imbalance and that he would remain as chief executive, CNNMoney.com reported. Apple’s stock responded accordingly, moving 4.22% on a day the tech sector was mum.

• On Jan. 16, the United Kingdom said it will lift the temporary short-selling ban on 34 of its financial companies, Bloomberg reported. The ban was introduced in September because short selling was believed to be the cause for market instability.

• Former eBay Inc. (EBAY) chief executive Meg Whitman – one of the people mentioned by John McCain in his presidential campaign as a possible nominee for a cabinet post – might run for political office in California, The Associated Press reported. Whitman resigned from board December 31 for personal reasons. Whitman resigned from the boards of The Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), eBay and Dreamworks Animation SKD (DWA) all as of December 31.

• Light, sweet crude for February delivery yesterday (Monday) rose $2.47 cents to settle at $48.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, as Israeli forces seized control of high-rise buildings and attacked houses in the Gaza Strip.

• Russia yesterday (Monday) reduced gas flows to Europe via Ukraine by one-sixth, a measure intended to stop its neighbor siphoning off fuel, Reuters reported. Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on New Year’s day but several countries in southern and eastern Europe have reported new falls in gas supplies from Russia. About 80% of Europe’s gas supply passes through Ukraine.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Tuesday, January 6th, 2009