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SAN FRANCISCO Shares of Demand Media Inc. rose more than 4% to $ 9 in early trades on Wednesday, bouncing back from a 6% drop in the previous session that was sparked by a downgrade from Goldman Sachs. In an early note Wednesday, Jordan Rohan of Stifel Nicolaus wrote that he believes Goldman’s “assertion is incorrect” that Demand Media is “arb-ing Google paid search to drive traffic/revenues.” He noted that paid traffic from search engine monetization, or SEM, “is roughly 1% of gross revenues and less than 1% of traffic.” He trimmed his price target on the shares to $ [...]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Britain’s Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expecting first child Report: royal couple had hoped to keep news under wraps until Christmas Day Catherine in hospital receiving treatment for severe morning sickness Bookmakers accepting bets for baby’s name and even its weight How did pregnancy change you? Send your advice for Kate. — “A nation’s joy, a husband’s nerves,” exclaimed Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, as it contrasted Prince William’s anxious wait at his pregnant wife’s bedside with the excitement generated by news of her impending motherhood. The revelation that Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, was pregnant came after she [...]

STORY HIGHLIGHTS The Leveson Inquiry was called by Cameron in response to public anger about hacking Lord Justice Leveson is to make recommendations on press regulation and standards His inquiry has heard from politicians, police, the media and victims of press abuses “Citizens have to be protected” against violations, says a media reform campaigner London — A landmark report to be released on Thursday by an independent inquiry led by Lord Justice Leveson could make recommendations that change Britain’s media landscape irrevocably. Media moguls are waiting with bated breath to see if Brian Leveson will recommend that the current system [...]

SAN FRANCISCO Demand Media Inc. on Monday reported a third-quarter profit of $ 3.2 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenue excluding traffic-acquisition costs of $ 92.8 million. During the same period a year ago, the Internet content and media company lost $ 4.1 million, or 5 cents a share, on $ 78.1 million in sales, excluding the costs of acquiring traffic. On an adjusted basis, Demand Media would have earned 11 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Demand Media to earn 10 cents a share on $ 91.5 million in revenue. For its fourth quarter, [...]

MELBOURNE Shareholders in Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd voted in favor of a A$ 2 billion ($ 2.07 billion) takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, giving News Corp a greater share of Australia’s pay-TV market. The deal will double the stake of News Corp’s Australian unit in dominant pay-TV operator Foxtel to 50 percent and give it 100 percent of content provider Fox Sports, boosting its pay-TV exposure at the same time as it cuts back print operations. The board of Consolidated Media had backed the offer. (Reporting by Victoria Thieberger; Editing by John Mair)

TOKYO Hitachi Ltd <6501.T>, Japan’s largest industrial electronics maker, is close to buying British nuclear new-build project Horizon in a deal expected to be worth more than 50 billion yen ($ 628.46 million), Japanese media said on Saturday. Horizon, which plans to build 6 gigawatts of nuclear capacity, was put up for sale by its German owners E.ON AG and RWE AG in March, as Germany’s decision to pull out of nuclear power hurt the utilities’ finances. Hitachi is expected to hold a board meeting on Tuesday to approve the deal and officially announce it later that day, both the [...]

LONDON A high-profile advertising campaign by Olympic champions Mo Farah and Usain Bolt helped pay-TV group Virgin Media to sign up a record number of net new cable customers in its third quarter and boost its profitability. Virgin, which provides pay-TV, broadband and telephony, said it had added 39,500 customers in the three months to the end of September, with subscribers drawn to the super-fast broadband offering and TiVo digital TV service. The average spend per user was also up 1.8 percent and the number of people dropping the service was down, as customer loyalty increased. The willingness of customers [...]

MILAN The sale of Italy’s No.3 broadcaster Telecom Italia Media risks falling apart as potential bidders worry about the future of the industry and parent Telecom Italia considers a more radical sale project. Private equity fund Clessidra, Hutchison Whampoa’s <0013.HK> Italian telecom operator, U.S. TV group Discovery Communications and advertising firm Cairo Communication are circling and have until November 19 to submit binding offers. But poor advertising sales and rising competition in Italy’s TV market mean the sale is not straightforward. “A TV business in a G8 country is certainly valuable. But there are clear risks of offers below market [...]

Millennials are foregoing the traditional consumer-brand relationship, leaving brands scrambling to reclaim their influence.By embracing tech, social media, millennials are changing the retail landscape, experts sayMillennials favor shopping based on “what’s interesting to them,” Copious founder saysFrugality, loyalty to brands with social agendas characterize their habits, experts sayMillennial says she puts her own twist on popular trends: “More than anything, it’s about the look”Editor’s note: To many Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, the millennial generation is a mystery. These 18- to 29-year-olds are history’s very first “always connected” generation, defined by all their phones and gadgets, and they’ve been accused [...]