Amazon settled its long-running dispute with Hachette, a big publisher, over e-book pricing. Amazon (and readers) wanted low prices; Hachette (and authors) wanted higher margins. The deal artfully gives Hachette better terms when it sets lower prices. Amazon has also removed restrictions on its sale of Hachette’s printed books—just in time for the holiday season.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy Procter & Gamble’s Duracell battery business. P&G, which is shedding non-core brands, will put $1.8 billion in cash into Duracell. Berkshire will pay with the $4.7 billion-worth of P&G’s shares it now owns: Mr Buffett thinks Duracell the better choice.
Baker Hughes, an oilfield-services firm, said it was in talks about a possible takeover by a bigger competitor, Halliburton. Any deal would reportedly value Baker Hughes at a premium—ie, well over $20 billion. The sector has been hit by falling oil prices. Yesterday the price of a barrel of Brent crude fell below $80 for the first time since September 2010.
Twitter’s share price fell by 6% after its debt was rated “junk” by Standard & Poor’s. Twitter’s shares had risen by 7.5% on Wednesday after it outlined new growth plans.
A World Trade Organisation agreement on streamlining customs procedures, said to be worth up to $1 trillion to the world economy, was rescued by a deal between America and India. India had blocked the accord unless its food-subsidy programme was protected from legal challenge at the WTO beyond 2017.
Islamic State released an audio recording which it said had been made by its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It had been rumoured that Mr Baghdadi had been wounded or killed by an American airstrike in Iraq last weekend. The speaker referred to events since the attack and called for “volcanoes of jihad”.
Médecins Sans Frontières said clinical trials of treatments for Ebola would begin in three of its centres in west Africa next month. This week the World Health Organisation said the death toll from the outbreak had passed 5,000, though it suggested the virus’s spread was slowing in Guinea and Liberia. Yesterday Liberia’s president lifted the state of emergency in her country.
