Deal Stocks and the broader market ticked up on Thursday, as the looming dark cloud that is fuel prices looked a bit brighter with crude oil dropping 10 cents to close at $124.12 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Dow Jones Industrial Average logged its second straight gain, climbing 94.28 points to close at 12,992.66.
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Cnet Networks Inc. was a standout, skyrocketing 43.52% to close at $11.41 as CBS Corp. unveiled plans to buy the online media company for about $1.8 billion, or $11.50 per share, a nearly 45% premium to its Wednesday close.
Meanwhile, billionaire activist Carl Icahn gave Yahoo! Inc. another needed lift as he officially launched a proxy fight to replace its current board with a new a slate of 10 directors in hopes of negotiating a merger with Microsoft Corp. Yahoo!'s stock jumped 2.25% to close at $27.75. Yahoo! shares lost 15% to close at $24.37 on May 5 after the online search engine rejected Microsoft's $47.5 billion acquisition offer.
Another Deal Stock that needed a boost got one, as Countrywide Financial Corp. increased 2.47% to close at $4.97. The troubled home lender's stock has lost about 18% since the beginning of the month as its pending $4 billion acquisition by Bank of America Corp. continues to be questioned by the Street due to the rapid deterioration of Countrywide's loan portfolio. A Los Angeles federal judge ruled Thursday that Countrywide must face a shareholder lawsuit alleging that it engaged in risky lending practice that led to a decline of its stock price late last year, according to an
Associated Press report. -
Michael Rudnick
