The board of Yahoo agreed on Sunday to buy the popular blogging service Tumblr for about $1.1 billion in cash, a signal of how Yahoo plans to reposition itself in the age of social media, The New York Times reports, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. The deal, expected to be announced as soon as Monday, would surpass Facebook’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram last year.
“For Yahoo and its chief executive, Marissa Mayer, buying Tumblr would be a bold move as she tries to breathe new life into the company,†Michael J. de la Merced, Nick Bilton and Nicole Perlroth write in The New York Times. “The deal, the seventh since Ms. Mayer left Google last summer to take over Yahoo, would be her biggest yet. It is intended to give her company more appeal to young people, and to make up for years of missing out on the revolutions in social networking and mobile devices. Tumblr has over 108 million blogs, with many highly active users.â€
Still, the question remains: can Tumblr and other social media sites make money? For a comparison with Instagram, Mr. de la Merced lists details of the two companies.
COHEN GETS SUBPOENA TO TESTIFY  | “Steven A. Cohen has received a subpoena to testify before a grand jury in the government’s insider trading investigation into his hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, a development that signals a newly aggressive phase in the multiyear inquiry, according to lawyers and executives briefed on the case,†DealBook’s Ben Protess and Peter Lattman report. “Issued last week, the grand jury subpoena came as part of a broader round of requests from criminal authorities. Other SAC executives were also named in the subpoenas, the lawyers and executives said, and the fund itself received requests for information about its activities.â€
The subpoenas suggested authorities were intensifying their efforts to build a case against SAC executives and the fund itself. On Friday, the fund, which had cooperated with the government’s inquiry, appeared to balk, telling investors it was no longer fully cooperating with the investigation. DealBook writes: “The curbing of the fund’s cooperation appeared to suggest that Mr. Cohen, rather than testify before the grand jury and be subject to questions from prosecutors on a broad range of topics, would assert his constitutional right against self-incrimination, the lawyers briefed on the case said.â€
AT JPMORGAN, A TEST OF STOCKHOLDERS’ POWER  | On Tuesday, shareholders of JPMorgan Chase will have the opportunity to deliver a humbling rebuff to Jamie Dimon and the board, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Susanne Craig write in DealBook. “If shareholders vote to separate the jobs of chairman and chief executive â€" positions that Mr. Dimon has held since 2006 â€" it would signal a shift in the balance of power in corporate America, an inflection point in shareholders’ push for greater say in the boardroom.â€
JPMorgan has minted profits and its stock price is on the rise, unusual traits for a company facing a possible shareholder protest. “A victory against a bank that prides itself on its ‘fortress balance sheet’ would go a long way toward proving that shareholders can push for changes even at strong companies.â€
ON THE AGENDA  | Yahoo has scheduled a news event at 5 p.m. in New York. Sallie L. Krawcheck, a former finance executive who is buying the women’s network 85 Broads, is on CNBC at 11 a.m. Urban Outfitters and Tivo report earnings on Monday evening.
BLACKROCK, QUIETLY STIRRING  | BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has tremendous influence during proxy season. Yet the firm has never sponsored a shareholder proposal and rarely broadcasts its actions. “There is agreement, however, that the firm has become more active in recent years, as other shareholders, too, have been expressing themselves more forcefully,†Ms. Craig reports in The New York Times. “It’s easy to be cynical about the value of voting on what are ultimately nonbinding resolutions that companies can ignore. But investors can now wield more power than in the past, partly because of recent laws that require companies to hold a vote on issues like executive pay.â€
SUSPENSE AT SONY  | The picture of success at Sony Pictures Entertainment is not quite what it seems, Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply reportin The New York Times. Sony is at a troubled crossroads, with aging stars and steep costs. But the true surprise came on Tuesday, when the hedge fund manager Daniel S. Loeb proposed a spinoff of up to 20 percent of Sony’s studio and other entertainment holdings.
“Overnight, Michael M. Lynton, the C.E.O. of both Sony Pictures and Sony Entertainment, and Amy Pascal, co-chairwoman of Sony Pictures, found themselves under a kind of weight rarely felt in Hollywood since the 1980s, when corporate raiders and high-yield bond peddlers like Saul Steinberg, the Bass brothers and Michael Milken delved into studios, looking for hidden value.â€
Goldman to Sell Remaining Stake in Chinese Bank  | Goldman Sachs on Monday offered about $1.1 billion worth of shares in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a sale that would end Goldman’s investment in the Chinese bank, Reuters reports. REUTERS
Chesapeake Energy Chooses a C.E.O.  | Chesapeake’s directors chose Robert Douglas Lawler, an executive at Anadarko Petroleum, to succeed Aubrey K. McClendon as chief executive, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Morgan Stanley to Sell Indian Wealth Management Business  | Morgan Stanley is selling the unit to Standard Chartered. REUTERS
More Deals for Elan  | Reuters reported that the Irish drug firm Elan had agreed on Monday to buy two private drug firms, spin off its lone experimental drug and buy back more shares “to give a firmer idea of how the company will be reconfigured as shareholders weigh up a takeover bid.†REUTERS
Onex Said to Call Off Auction for Carestream Health  | Onex failed to find a buyer for its medical imaging business Carestream Health, according to Reuters. REUTERS
3 Foreign Firms Invest in U.S. Project to Export Liquid Natural Gas  | Mitsui and Mitsubishi of Japan, and GDF Suez of France each plan to take a stake in a gas export project being developed at Hackberry, La. DealBook »
R.B.S. Appoints New Chairman for Asia  | The Royal Bank of Scotland said on Monday that Donald Workman would succeed John McCormick as the executive chairman of its Asia unit, in the latest high-level management change at the bank. DealBook »
Investor Group Asks S.E.C. to Intervene on Access to Shareholder Vote Totals  | The Council of Institutional Investors asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to intervene after Broadridge shut off access to real-time vote totals for the sponsors of shareholder proposals. DealBook »
As Scotland Looks Toward Independence, Concern for Banks  | The New York Times writes: “An independent Scotland could find its banks too big to rescue in the event of another crisis, according to a British government report that compares the Scottish financial sector with those of debt-laden Iceland and Cyprus.†NEW YORK TIMES
Blankfein Says Risk of a Euro Breakup Has Lessened  | “Americans have a history of underestimating the political will of the Europeans to see through the successful creation of a united Europe,†Lloyd C. Blankfein, chief of Goldman Sachs, told a German newspaper, according to Bloomberg News. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Dueling Jobs at a REIT Â |Â Stanford L. Kurland, chief executive and chairman of the PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, has reaped even greater returns than shareholders through his involvement in a mortgage servicing unit and an investment adviser that externally manages the REIT, Gretchen Morgenson writes in her column for The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
A Toehold for China on Wall Street  | The China Investment Federation, a new organization supporting Sino-American deal-making, celebrated the opening of its New York office on Thursday with officials from Wall Street and China. DealBook »
Fosun of China Said to Plan Private Equity Fund  | The Chinese conglomerate Fosun International “is raising a $1 billion private equity fund that will invest in Europe and international companies seeking to expand in China, according to a person familiar with the situation,†The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Middle Eastern Wealth Funds Gravitate Toward Private Equity  | The Financial Times reports: “Cash-rich Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are increasing their investments in private equity, but a much-hyped move into property and infrastructure is petering out.†FINANCIAL TIMES
Short-Seller Takes Aim at Chinese Banks  | “We believe that the domestic Chinese banking system is a mess, with an enormous amount of bad loans, or loans waiting to go bad,†Carson Block, founder of Muddy Waters Research, told The Sunday Telegraph. TELEGRAPH
The Top Hedge Funds, According to Barron’s  |Â
BARRON’S
Icahn Succeeds in Effort to Oust Transocean Chairman  | But shareholders did not back Carl C. Icahn’s proposal for a $4 dividend. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Virtus Health Hunts for Acquisitions After I.P.O. Â |Â Virtus Health, a provider of fertility services in Australia, is seeking acquisitions and planning to expand internationally, its chief executive said on a television program, according to Bloomberg News. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Silicon Valley Seeks to Amend Immigration Bill  | The technology industry has already managed to get much of what it wanted in a bill that overhauls federal immigration law; now, the industry’s lobbyists are trying to get rid of certain provisions it finds unappealing, The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Rajat Gupta’s Lust for Zeros  | As Rajat K. Gupta’s appeal is scheduled to be heard this week, a New York Times Magazine article examines the circumstances that led to his partnership with Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire head of the Galleon Group hedge fund. DealBook »
Corruption as a Growth Business  | A new survey conducted on behalf of Ernst & Young found that corporate officials and employees in 36 countries â€" in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East â€" believe there is plenty of corruption that needs investigating, Floyd Norris writes in The New York Times. DealBook »
Fed Reaches Deal With Bank on Compliance  | The Federal Reserve reached an agreement with the Bank of Montreal to bolster its efforts to detect and prevent money laundering at its branch in Chicago. DealBook »
Firms’ Ties to Insurers Under Scrutiny  | The Wall Street Journal reports: “New York’s top financial regulator subpoenaed a handful of Wall Street investment firms about their entries into a corner of the insurance industry that guarantees steady payments to hundreds of thousands of retirees and other consumers.†WALL STREET JOURNAL
Former Spanish Banker Spends a Night in Jail  | “Miguel Blesa, the former executive chairman of Caja Madrid, has become the first prominent Spanish banker to go behind bars since the start of the financial crisis. He is accused of leaving the company saddled with huge losses because of an ill-advised takeover of a bank based in Miami in 2008,†The New York Times writes. NEW YORK TIMES
Where the I.R.S. Investigation May Go From Here  | In the criminal investigation into how the Internal Revenue Service processed tax-exempt applications from conservative organizations, the critical issue may hinge on what agency officials told Congress rather than the underlying actions, Peter J. Henning writes in the White Collar Watch column. DealBook »
The Problem With the Fed’s Easy Money Policies  | Are we moving from the bust to the bubble, Jesse Eisinger asks in The Trade column, and missing the recovery for average people? The Trade »
