Mergers & Acquisitions | featured news

Delta Air Lines said it will buy almost half of Virgin Atlantic for $360 million as it seeks a bigger share of the lucrative New York-to-London travel market. Delta plans to form a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic, where the two airlines would share money from the flights operated under the partnership. In order to coordinate the schedules of the two airlines, they’ll need antitrust approval from U.S. and European regulators. Landing rights at London’s Heathrow Airport are limited.

Japanese mobile operator Softbank Corp is near a $20 billion deal to acquire control of U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp, sources familiar with the matter said, as the firm led by billionaire Masayoshi Son seeks a foothold in the U.S. market.

T-Mobile and MetroPCS have agreed to combine their struggling cellphone businesses in a deal aimed at letting them compete better with their three larger rivals. The combined company will use the T-Mobile brand and have 42.5 million subscribers.

Avon says it's considering a sweetened buyout offer of almost $10.7 billion from Coty Inc. Avon says that it expects to respond to the new offer within a week.

AT&T is in talks to sell a majority stake in its Yellow Pages business to Cerberus, in a deal that would value the business at as much as $1.5 billion. TPG has also held talks about buying the business.

AT&T's board of directors has reportedly moved to slash CEO Randall Stephenson's 2011 compensation by more than $2 million due to the executive's role in the unsuccessful attempt to acquire competitor T-Mobile.

Capital One Financial completed its $6.3 billion acquisition of ING Direct USA from ING Groep.

Yahoo Inc and its Asian partners, China's Alibaba and Japan's Softbank Corp, have called off talks over a tax-free sale of the U.S. company's Asian assets, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Bringing Hollywood's two biggest independent film studios and the blockbuster young adult franchises "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" into one powerful entity, Lions Gate Entertainment has agreed to acquire Summit Entertainment for $412.5 million in cash and stock.

Lions Gate Entertainment is close to an agreement to acquire Summit Entertainment, the studio behind the "Twilight" movies, in a deal expected to close as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter.