Market Share

Bolivia's principal privately owned airline, AeroSur, was down to a single domestic route Monday and hoping for an infusion of capital to stave off bankruptcy. U.S. mining investor William Petty was in talks with company executives after proposing to make an investment without assuming any of the airline's debts, which exceed $20 million. Petty is a shareholder in Franklin Mining Inc. of Colorado. A representative of the airline's owners, Sergio Asbun, told The Associated Press that they were analyzing an offer from Petty but would not offer details.

Procter & Gamble won't be accelerating its expansion in its largest emerging markets, but it won't be slowing down either as it seeks to resume building its market share and improve its operating results. CFO Jon Moeller said Wednesday that the company might have been expanding a bit too fast, particularly as it faces high commodity costs and an uncertain economy. Moeller said P&G now plans on stabilizing growth in its top 40 country-category combinations, which are disproportionately in North America and China.

Callaway Golf’s new interim president and CEO, Anthony Thornley, said Thursday that the golf equipment maker will put some savings from planned job cuts toward boosting marketing spending and gaining back market share. Callaway Golf Co. has suffered losses as the golfing industry has been slow to rebound after the recession. Late Wednesday, the Carlsbad, Calif.-based company announced layoffs in an effort to cut pretax costs by $50 million, said CEO George Fellows would step down and issued a weak forecast for the second quarter.

Mark Reuss has arguably the most important job at General Motors. He runs the company's North American business, its largest and most profitable. Lately, the unit has made more than enough money to offset problems in other parts of the world. The veteran engineer took the post in December of 2009 after running GM's operations in Australia and New Zealand. Reuss, 48, quickly scrapped cumbersome meetings, replaced executives and helped shepherd new products through the pipeline, including the Chevrolet Cruze compact, the new Malibu midsize sedan and two new Cadillacs that...

DETROIT — If investors pay what General Motors hopes to get for its stock in a planned IPO, they’ll have to buy the logic that the company’s stock-market value should be similar to its closest competitor, Ford Motor Co. But Ford is making far more money these days, its US market share is rising while GM’s is falling, and GM’s new management team has little auto industry experience. Ford’s market value — calculated by multiplying its current share price by the total number of shares outstanding — is almost $50 billion.

It takes Mikael Ohlsson five minutes — and the help of one other person — to assemble IKEA's Ektorp sofa. After 33 years at the Swedish home-ware chain, the 54-year-old chief executive is an expert at configuring IKEA's famous flat-pack furniture. But Ohlsson is not bragging about the fact that he can beat the assembly time the company itself advertises by some 10 minutes. What makes him proud is that the Ektorp can be flat-packed at all. Seated on a "Blekinge white" example of the Ektorp in a cozily furnished exhibition room at an IKEA store...

SAN FRANCISCO - Boston Scientific Corp. plans to introduce two dozen new products this year, part of a plan by its new executives to broaden the device maker's business base and increase earnings at a double-digit rate over the next five years. That ambitious agenda was laid out by Boston Scientific's new chief executive, Hank Kucheman, and new president, Mike Mahoney, to investors at the 30th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. While profits at the Natick, Mass., company have been squeezed in recent years by reimbursement cuts...

...and you'll wind up at Apple. When it comes to smartphones, Android's getting the market share, but Apple's getting the profits.

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. tumbled on Wednesday after the retailer of preppy teen apparel reported third-quarter results that missed expectations due to higher costs and a slowdown in Europe. After losing market share to cheaper competitors during the recession, Abercrombie & Fitch has focused on expanding internationally with flashy flagship stores in places like Milan and Paris and on closing underperforming stores in the U.S. But it is facing challenges on two fronts, higher costs and the increasingly shaky economy in Europe.

NEW YORK - PepsiCo Inc. is going on a reunion tour with The King of Pop. The company has a deal with the estate of Michael Jackson to use the late star's image in its marketing. The promotion will vary by country, but will include cans bearing Jackson's image and a chance to download remixes of some of his songs. Pepsi, which first partnered with Jackson in 1983, did not disclose the terms of its deal with the singer's estate. The promotion is part of a global marketing blitz planned for the year ahead by Pepsi, which is looking to...

Bolivia's principal privately owned airline, AeroSur, was down to a single domestic route Monday and hoping for an infusion of capital to stave off bankruptcy. U.S. mining investor William Petty was in talks with company executives after proposing to make an investment without assuming any of the airline's debts, which exceed $20 million. Petty is a shareholder in Franklin Mining Inc. of Colorado. A representative of the airline's owners, Sergio Asbun, told The Associated Press that they were analyzing an offer from Petty but would not offer details.

TORONTO - Research In Motion Ltd., bolstering its executive ranks as the BlackBerry maker attempts a comeback, named a Sony executive as chief operating officer and a LightSquared official as head of marketing. Kristian Tear, who served as executive vice president at Sony Mobile Communications, will take the operating job, RIM said Tuesday. Frank Boulben, who was executive vice president at LightSquared after a career at wireless carriers, will be chief marketing officer. The appointments represent the first major personnel additions for chief executive Thorsten...

Toyota's January-March profit more than quadrupled to 121 billion yen ($1.5 billion), and the automaker gave upbeat forecasts, marking a solid recovery from a hardship-filled year following the tsunami in Japan. Toyota Motor Corp.'s profit for the fiscal year ended March plunged 30 percent to 283.6 billion yen ($3.5 billion), down from 408 billion yen the previous fiscal year, as last year's tsunami damaged supply chains in northeastern Japan and hobbled Toyota production around the world.

DETROIT - General Motors said Thursday that its profit increased 30 percent in North America in the first quarter, but a loss in Europe and a one-time charge contributed to a 69 percent decline in total earnings. GM posted $1 billion in net income attributable to common stockholders in the quarter, down from $3.2 billion a year earlier, when it benefited from several large isolated gains. Revenue in this year's quarter rose 4 percent to $37.8 billion. Despite the overall earnings decline, GM surpassed analyst estimates that averaged 85 cents a share,...

NEW YORK - Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire sales slumped in the first quarter as Apple Inc.'s iPad widened its lead in the tablet market to 68 percent, according to IDC. The Kindle Fire, which runs on Google Inc.'s Android operating system, saw its share tumble to about 4 percent, from 17 percent in the December period, the Framingham, Mass.-based research firm said. Apple's market share climbed from 55 percent. The Kindle Fire's price, at less than half that of Apple's cheapest iPad, helped Amazon grab the number two spot in the market, behind Apple, in the Fire's debut quarter.

NEW YORK—Wells Fargo & Co., already the largest US home lender, won the biggest market share ever recorded as competitors led by Bank of America Corp. pulled back after suffering more than $65 billion in combined mortgage losses. Wells Fargo made 33.9 percent of the $385 billion of mortgages originated in the firstquarter, up from 30.1 percent in the previous quarter, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Itsclosest competitor, JPMorgan Chase&Co., had 10.6 percent. US Bancorp moved into thirdplace from fifth, with 5.2 percent, ahead of Bank of America, with 4.2 percent.

Cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc.'s fourth-quarter net income grew nearly 8 percent as it commanded higher prices for its brands. The seller of Marlboro and other brands outside the U.S. said Thursday it earned $1.88 billion, or $1.08 per share, for the period ended Dec. 31. That's up from $1.75 billion, or 96 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted earnings were $1.10 per share, matching analyst expectations. Excluding excise taxes, revenue grew 9 percent to $7.67 billion.

Ginger beer and ginger ale quickly lost market share in their brewed but nonalcoholic form once Prohibition was over. But Fever-Tree's reinventions of both ($4.99 to $6.99 for a 4-pack) may change that. Even without fermentation, most beverages and mixers with ginger as the key ingredient have a sharply slap-happy and reverberating taste. In contrast, Fever-Tree Ginger Beer offers a tamed first impression, while preserving the kick. It's not the brash Caribbean thirst-quencher that can taste like a herbal remedy.

NEW YORK - PepsiCo Inc. is going on a reunion tour with The King of Pop. The company has a deal with the estate of Michael Jackson to use the late star's image in its marketing. The promotion will vary by country, but will include cans bearing Jackson's image and a chance to download remixes of some of his songs. Pepsi, which first partnered with Jackson in 1983, did not disclose the terms of its deal with the singer's estate. The promotion is part of a global marketing blitz planned for the year ahead by Pepsi, which is looking to revive its brand and win back...

NEW YORK - P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc., the biggest Asian full-service restaurant operator in the United States by market share, has agreed to be taken private by Centerbridge Partners LP in a deal valuing the company at $1.1 billion. That would give Centerbridge, which has about $20 billion in capital under management, a chain with almost 400 restaurants under the P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Pei Wei brands. Centerbridge offered $51.50 a share in cash, about 30 percent higher than the average share price over the past 30 days.